Federal Hunting Lands In Jeopardy?

For many years, sportsmen and women have carried pride in knowing they have paid for so many national forests, preserves, and other public lands that serve to provide wildlife with needed habitat as well as wild lands for hunters to roam.

A recent Circuit Court ruling in Michigan get the attention of all hunters.  On December 28 a Federal Circuit Court ruling on the Forest Plan for the Huron-Manistee National Forest in central Michigan mandated that the Forest consider banning all firearm hunting on all or portions of 13 Semi primitive Areas.  The concern by some is that such a ruling sets a troubling precedent that could threaten gun hunting on this and other Federal lands, displacing thousands of hunters across the Country.

The National Forest Service has filed a Notice Of Intent in which they intend to comply with the Federal Circuit Court ruling by developing an Environmental Impact Statement regarding the impacts of gun hunting on the Michigan forest.

This will be an interesting case because if gun hunting has become a negative to the ecology of the area, hunters will likely want to know how, especially when understanding all of the other uses that occur on the forest.  If they are not posing any real threat to wildlife or their habitats, they will want that to be recognized as well.  Hunting on Federal lands supports a proud tradition of paying for wildlife habitat and then sharing such uses with many other user groups for such wild lands.   I intend to see how this one turns out!

Get Em’ Out There

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