The Fish and Wildlife Service on Thursday proposed partially banning lead ammunition on a few refuges where new hunting opportunities could be opening up.
In what’s become the most sensitive part of an annual regulatory exercise, the federal agency said it wants to require use of lead-free ammo in one newly added section of West Virginia’s Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge. The FWS is also proposing that elk hunters in four of North Dakota’s wildlife refuges use lead-free ammo.
In each of these cases, the lead-free ammo requirement would extend to a region or a big-game species not previously covered by the FWS hunting regulations. The agency describes this as a policy where it “will not allow for any increase in lead use on Service lands and waters,” even if there are more hunting opportunities being opened.
“The best available science, analyzed as part of this proposed rulemaking, indicates that lead ammunition and tackle have negative impacts on both wildlife and human health,” the FWS stated.
