How much hunting and fishing occurs on national wildlife refuges?
A lot, and more every year. In 1994 there were just over 1.4 million hunting visits and just over 5 million fishing visits to refuges each year. By 2000, those numbers had grown to nearly 2 million hunting visits and 6 million fishing visits each year. Once the final rule is published, 302 national wildlife refuges will be open for hunting and 268 will be open for fishing. What about waterfowl production areas? The Service’s 3,000 waterfowl production areas–small wetland units managed as part of the National Wildlife Refuge System–are all open to hunting and fishing. Nearly 800,000 people visit WPAs each year. How can I learn which refuges offer hunting and fishing? Point your browser to http://refuges.fws.gov/databases/profile-rec.taf?function-form to discover which refuges offer hunting, fishing and other wildlife-dependent recreational activities. Check out http://www.recreation.gov to learn about recreational opportunities on federal lands. Why isn’t every refuge open to hunting an
