On Tuesday, May 7, the Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation held an oversight hearing on “Impediments to Public Recreation on Public Lands.” Click here to view the archived webcast of the hearing. Panelists told members of the Natural Resources Subcommittee that current laws impose costly analysis, limitations on group size and substantial permitting requirements that are crippling their businesses and threatening their ability to provide recreational services to the public. Some of the concerns centered on the National Environmental Policy Act, which the new subcommittee is tasked with overseeing. Witnesses also said recreation “naturally takes a back seat” to other land uses and argued for recreational activity to either be explicitly mentioned as a public land use under existing legislation or be given a designation of its own.
Studies conducted at both the state and federal level have found that the number of hunters and trappers have been on a generally declining trend over the past several decades. To increase recruitment, retention, and reactivation (R3) of hunters and trappers, which initiative do you think would have the greatest impact?
