The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has opened new as well as expanded hunting and sport fishing opportunities across 2.1 million acres, in the largest expansion of outdoor recreation opportunities in recent history.
Increased recreational access, which covers 88 National Wildlife Refuges and one National Fish Hatchery, is part of the America the Beautiful effort to conserve, connect, and restore 30% of lands and waters by 2030.
The new rule opens or expands 910 opportunities for hunting or fishing. The service defines an opportunity as one species on one field station. The action brings the number of units in the Service’s National Wildlife Refuge System where the public may hunt to 434 and the number where fishing will be permitted to 378.
The changes are finalized for the upcoming 2021-2022 hunting seasons. A complete list of all refuges and hatcheries is available online.
The Service has worked closely with states to revise refuge hunting and fishing regulations to align with state regulations where the refuge is located, and to ensure when refuge regulations departed from state regulations, that they would be consistent across all refuges in the state.
Hunting, fishing and other outdoor activities contributed more than $156 billion in economic activity in communities across the United States in 2016, according to the Service’s National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation, published every five years. More than 101 million Americans — 40% of the U.S. population age 16 and older — pursue wildlife-related recreation, including hunting and fishing.
There are 70 national fish hatcheries visited by more than one million people each year. Hatcheries offer opportunities for viewing operations, learning about fish, as well as activities such as fishing, hunting, hiking, sightseeing, nature study, birdwatching and photography. The total number of National Fish Hatchery System units open to hunting or sport fishing now is 22.
The National Wildlife Refuge System is a network of 567 national wildlife refuges and 38 wetland management districts and receives more than 61 million annual visits. There is a national wildlife refuge within an hour’s drive of most major metropolitan areas.