UPDATED | National Parks Silently Allowing More Hunting And Trapping Access

Editor's note: This updates with additional details and Interior Department comments.

More access to hunting and trapping in the National Park System has silently been approved by park superintendents since Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in January told them to open more areas to the activities.

At Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida hunters no longer must tell rangers where they took wildlife and don’t have to label equipment they leave in the backcountry for more than 24 hours with their names and contact information.

At Mississippi National River & Recreation Area in Minnesota, a prohibition against tree stands has been removed, hunting is being allowed in the Coldwater Spring Unit, and hunters can clear vegetation to create a shooting lane.

Staff at the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) said Tuesday that “Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve in Louisiana has lifted a ban on alligator hunting; and a restriction that says weapons may not be fired from, towards, or across a trail at Curecanti National Recreation Area in Colorado has also disappeared.”

The changes were made to “superintendent compendiums,” which serve as park-specific rulebooks that list local area closures, permit requirements, and other restrictions for individual parks.

A memo Burgum sent out to parks last month directed superintendents to ensure that “Closures and restrictions not required by law must be the minimum necessary for public safety or resource protection.” The New York Times reported on the memo Monday.

“We are deeply concerned by language in the reported memo to national park managers, which impacts over 50 parks in the lower-48 states where hunting and trapping are allowed in some form,” Stephanie Adams, NPCA’s wildlife program director, said Tuesday, adding that the memo’s language is “out of line with park values.”

Interior Department staff, in response to questions from the National Parks Traveler as to whether the regulatory rollbacks could jeopardize public safety or lead to poaching, said that, "Secretary Burgum’s Order 3447 advances a commonsense approach to public land management by expanding access to hunting and fishing opportunities where it can be done safely and responsibly. For decades, sportsmen and women have been some of the strongest stewards of our public lands, and this order ensures their access is not unnecessarily restricted by outdated or overly broad limitations that are not required by law."

"Any changes made under this order are carefully reviewed," staff added in an email. "Closures and restrictions that are necessary for public safety, resource protection, or legal compliance will remain in place."

Adams said NPCA isn’t opposed to hunting and trapping but pointed out that “Congress authorized hunting and trapping in some parks, but it also intentionally protected those areas as part of the National Park System for a reason.’’

“The bar for conserving and providing access to national parklands is higher than other public lands,” she continued. “When the Park Service was founded, Congress specifically directed managers to conserve wildlife and provide for visitor enjoyment. In national parks, management decisions must start with public safety and natural resource conservation—not with what appears to be a highly questionable directive to remove what someone deems as barriers to hunting and trapping.”

The secretarial order, signed January 7, ordered park superintendents to review their hunting and fishing guidelines and to submit them to his office to ensure they're not exceeding "statutory mandates."

Furthermore, the order stated that the objective of the review of "all superintendent's compendiums and park-specific regulations" concerning fishing and hunting was to underscore Interior's "longstanding commitment to expanding high-quality hunting and fishing opportunities for the American public while ensuring responsible stewardship of the Nation’s wildlife and natural resources."

How far Interior officials might go to expanding hunting and fishing in the park system remains to be seen, though seven years ago then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke directed Park Service superintendents to defer wildlife and fisheries matters to states.

Zinke's demand could have created issues in parks such as Yellowstone National Park, where the agency's management of bison has created conflicts with Montana interests; in Denali, Katmai, Wrangell-St. Elias and other units in Alaska, where the state has worked at times to reduce predators such as wolves to reduce their predation on moose and caribou, and; at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, where some have objected to the Park Service's management of threatened and endangered species such as sea turtles and piping plovers due to impacts on off-road vehicle access.

President Donald Trump during first term succeeded in getting the Park Service to relax its hunting and trapping guidelines on national preserves in Alaska to bring them in line with state regulations.

More than 100 scientists wrote to oppose that liberalization of hunting regulations intended to reduce wolves and bears while boosting moose and caribou populations for hunting. President Joe Biden reversed that decision when he took office.