Fish and Wildlife Service Director Brian Nesvik will wade into some tricky Capitol Hill cross-currents on Tuesday when he appears before a House panel to discuss national hunting and fishing policies.
The hearing scheduled by the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries is being billed as a session on “hunting and fishing access” in the American outdoors. It could go in a lot of different directions.
Some lawmakers want to ban the use of lead ammunition and fishing tackle on the nation’s 570-plus wildlife refuges. Others want to use appropriations bill riders to block the Fish and Wildlife Service from taking any such action.
There’s also a desire to address the agency’s deferred maintenance backlog now estimated at about $2 billion — perhaps by granting the agency greater flexibility to collaborate with nonfederal partners including states, tribes and private organizations.
