USSAF Fights to Keep Hunting Open on Refuges
Sign In SHOPPING CART:0 ITEMSTOTAL: $0.00View Cart

Helping You Get the Most From Your Hunting Dogs


USSAF Fights to Keep Hunting Open on Refuges





The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation has asked a federal court judge to not terminate hunting and fishing on 37 National Wildlife Refuges. The court could impose the closures while the federal wildlife agency complies with a ruling to update environmental impact records.

The U.S. Sportsmen’s Legal Defense Fund (U.S. SLDF), the legal arm of the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation, has asked U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina to allow hunting and fishing regulations to remain effective while the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) revises reports on federal environmental studies. Judge Urbina ruled in August that the USFWS must evaluate the environmental impacts of hunting on the entire National Wildlife Refuge System.

“There is no reason to disrupt hunting seasons that are already underway on these refuges,” said U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation Legal Counsel William Horn. “The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has committed to updating the environmental studies, as required by the court, by next summer.”

The case was filed in 2003 in the Washington, D.C. Federal District Court by the Fund for Animals, which has since merged with the Humane Society of the United States. It originally sought to ban hunting on 39 units of the 100 million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System. The case claimed that the USFWS, which manages the refuges, failed to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires extensive Environmental Impact Statements, prior to establishing hunting programs.

In September of 2005, Judge Urbina granted a motion for partial dismissal of the anti-hunters’ case, ruling that since the goals outlined in the USFWS strategy are not final agency action there is no need for comprehensive environmental studies.

The U.S. SLDF is representing sportsmen’s interests in this case along with other defendant interveners, including Safari Club International, Ducks Unlimited, Delta Waterfowl, Izaak Walton League and the California Waterfowl Association.

The U.S. Sportsmen’s Legal Defense Fund is the nation’s only litigation force that exclusively represents sportsmen’s interests in the courts. It defends wildlife management and sportsmen’s rights in local, state and federal courts. The SLDF represents the interests of sportsmen and assists government lawyers who have little or no background in wildlife law.
US Sportmens Alliance on Target

We want your input:
Logo
Copyright ©2024   - All Rights Reserved