WildEarth Guardians has submitted comments asking five individual national wildlife refuges along the Rio Grande in Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas to reconsider their proposals to carry out the Trump administration’s directive to expand hunting and fishing on national wildlife refuge lands. Our letter to the five wildlife refuges highlights the lack of protections for imperiled species and the conflict the expansion will create with existing public uses on the refuges.
The five wildlife refuges along the Rio Grande provide key habitat for at least 25 species listed and protected under the Endangered Species Act, including the ocelot, Gulf Coast jaguarundi, northern Aplomado falcon, Walker’s manioc, Rio Grande silvery minnow, and Southwestern willow flycatcher. The proposed hunting and fishing expansion will directly impact these species through habitat destruction and disturbance to possible direct harm and harassment. For example, in the Lower Rio Grande Valley refuge expansion, the hunt plan opens a tract to hunting where ocelot have been documented.
“We have an extinction crisis in the American West,” said Taylor Jones, Endangered Species Advocate for WildEarth Guardians. “Expanding hunting and fishing in some of the most important protected habitat for imperiled species is beyond irresponsible, it’s negligent, and we plan to hold the agency accountable.”
Read the press release.
