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Wildlife Finds Refuge in the Courts

September 8, 2006

By Tanya Mulford

On Aug. 31, U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina declared that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's policy of rapidly transforming the National Wildlife Refuge System from protective sanctuaries to a collection of sport hunting preserves is unlawful. Ruling on a suit filed in 2003 by The Fund for Animals and a group of citizens that use refuges for hiking, bird watching, and other recreational pursuits, the court found that the Fish and Wildlife Service had violated the National Environmental Policy Act as it raced to open or expand sport hunting programs in 37 wildlife refuges in just six years.

At issue in the case is the Fish and Wildlife Service's decision to vastly expand sport hunting without first investigating the cumulative impact on refuge visitors, migratory birds, sensitive resources and threatened and endangered species. In less than a decade, the agency has opened more than 70 refuges to sport hunting in 30 states.

The National Environmental Policy Act requires that the Fish and Wildlife Service look at the whole picture before changing a refuge's hunting policy. In other words, the agency must evaluate not only the effect hunting will have on the plants and animals in a particular refuge, but also the cumulative effect hunting will have on all refuges.

"This is a victory for the integrity of the wildlife refuge system as a whole," said Dr. John Grandy, HSUS Senior Vice President for Wildlife and Habitat Protection. "The Fish and Wildlife Service will not be allowed to sacrifice the welfare of endangered species and other refuge wildlife without even following the federal laws and studying the impacts of such a reckless decision."

The Corruption of an Ideal

At one time, the lands in the National Wildlife Refuge System truly provided refuge for wildlife. The first national refuge was established in 1903 by President Theodore Roosevelt, who—himself an avid hunter—recognized that it is necessary to set aside public lands to provide sanctuary to wildlife. For half a century, refuges were both safe havens for wild animals and areas where people could hike, watch birds, and boat without the threat of hunting. But the sport hunting lobby has hammered at the gates of the refuge system, and the Fish and Wildlife Service, which is responsible for administering refuges, has opened more and more refuges to hunting over the years.

Three new refuges were opened to hunting or expanded in 1998, five in 1999, eight in 2000, 11 in 2001, and 15 in 2002. Since the filing of The Fund's lawsuit, eight new refuges were opened to hunting or expanded in 2003, 16 in 2004, and 13 in 2005. That is a total of 79 refuges in which hunting programs were instituted or expanded in just eight years. More than half of the nation's 545 refuges now allow sport hunting—a loss for both the animals and the people who once used the lands in peace.

And it's not just animal welfare advocates and outdoors enthusiasts who are concerned about hunting on refuges. A 1989 report from the U.S. General Accounting Office showed that many refuge managers considered hunting a "harmful use" of refuge lands and more than half advocated for an end to it. The Fish and Wildlife Service itself has noted a "significant decline" in the number of certain migratory birds that rely on refuges. Indeed, it has referred to the "well documented" adverse effects of sport hunting. Still, the agency has failed in its mandate of responsible stewardship.

No More Decisions in a Vacuum

In rejecting the Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to ignore the cumulative effects of allowing new or expanded sport hunting programs in these three refuges, the court has checked the excess of the agency. Decisions regarding wildlife refuges must not be made in a vacuum—each refuge is part of a system of very special public lands which must be preserved and protected for future generations.

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