{"id":103488,"date":"2017-09-18T17:43:14","date_gmt":"2017-09-18T23:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/zinke-signs-order-to-expand-hunting-fishing-on-public-lands\/"},"modified":"2017-09-18T17:43:14","modified_gmt":"2017-09-18T23:43:14","slug":"zinke-signs-order-to-expand-hunting-fishing-on-public-lands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/zinke-signs-order-to-expand-hunting-fishing-on-public-lands\/","title":{"rendered":"Zinke signs order to expand hunting, fishing on public lands"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Interior
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke speaks during the service of remembrance tribute to the passengers and crew of United Flight 93 at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 11.<\/span>Associated Press<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

WASHINGTON \u2014 Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke signed an order on Friday to expand hunting and fishing on federal land, saying it would improve wildlife management and conservation.<\/p>\n

Environmentalists dismissed it as \u201ca do-nothing order.\u201d<\/p>\n

The order directs the Fish and Wildlife Service and other agencies to produce a plan to expand access. It also calls for changes to management plans for national monuments to ensure the public\u2019s right to hunt, fish and target shoot.<\/p>\n

Zinke called hunting and fishing \u201ca cornerstone of the American tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the public already has the right to hunt and fish on federal lands, and states have primary authority to regulate hunting and fishing in those areas, said Matt Lee-Ashley, a former Interior official who is now a senior fellow at the left-leaning Center for American Progress.<\/p>\n

\u201cSecretary Zinke is trying desperately to create a distraction from his proposal to dramatically reduce the size of America\u2019s national monuments, which would be the largest elimination of protections for wildlife habitat in U.S. history,\u201d Lee-Ashley said.<\/p>\n

Zinke submitted a report to President Donald Trump last month recommending changes in nearly two-dozen national monuments created by previous presidents. Zinke told the AP that none of the monuments would be rescinded \u2014 as Trump had once threatened \u2014 but said he would push for boundary changes on a handful and left open the possibility of allowing drilling, mining or other industries on the sites.<\/p>\n

The recommendations have not been made public, although Zinke said in a trickle of announcements this summer that no changes would be made at six of 27 monuments under review \u2014 in Montana, Colorado, Idaho, California, Arizona and Washington state. He also said that Utah\u2019s Bears Ears National Monument will be downsized.<\/p>\n

Land Tawney, CEO of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, hailed Zinke\u2019s order, saying lack of access to hunting and fishing sites was the No. 1 reason cited by sportsmen for giving up time spent on those activities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe importance of Secretary Zinke\u2019s commitment to sustaining and expanding public access opportunities to the outdoors cannot be overstated,\u201d Tawney said.<\/p>\n

Dale Hall, a former Fish and Wildlife Service director who now is CEO of the hunting and conservation group Ducks Unlimited, said conserving wetlands and other wildlife habitats is vital to preserving the nation\u2019s hunting and angling heritage.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day it\u2019s all about ensuring that all Americans, and those generations to come, have access to the wildlife and wild places that we enjoy today,\u201d Hall said in a statement thanking Zinke.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t be fooled by Zinke\u2019s secretarial order and his Teddy Roosevelt references,\u201d countered Randi Spivak, public lands program director with the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s best for those who hunt and fish on America\u2019s public lands is protecting and restoring wildlife habitat,\u201d Spivak said, calling Zinke\u2019s order \u201ca PR stunt.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hunting and fishing \u2018a cornerstone of the American tradition\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":103489,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[120,21,13,2009],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-103488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-colorado","tag-cortez","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-hunting"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103488\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103488"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=103488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}