The public comment period on the future of hunting in the
Hunting is presently allowed in the park, one of only two in the
The matter periodically comes up for review and there appear to be four options taking shape for the future of the New River NRA.
"One of them is to leave hunting the way it is, which we would support strongly," said Neal Roth, Regional Director of Ducks Unlimited for
The other options include continuing to allow hunting–but with some tighter restrictions. This option would require a hunter to "sign in" for a hunt on park property. A third option would limit small game hunting on the park property. The fourth option also being considered would be to ban hunting altogether.
"There are national organizations that are pushing to get petitions signed to have hunting restricted," Roth tells MetroNews. "I heard one report that a group out of
The National Park Service must accept comments from across the nation as it gathers public opinion on the issue since the park is federal property. Park Superintendent Don Striker told a legislative subcommittee the hunting issue was up for review during a recent visit to
Senator Shirley Love (D) of
"My great-grandfather hunted there,” the senator said. "Your great-grandfather hunted there. You hunted with your father. This is something that undoubtedly the people in the NPS are not looking at. What goes on in
Hunting heritage in
"One of the proposals is to restrict the taking of any non-game species, so the raccoons, and the opossums, skunks and things like that would really hurt the turkey and grouse populations down in that area as well as any nesting waterfowl," said Roth. "That’s a big issue, we have to manage the wildlife out there or if we balance the scales too far in one way or another we can really hurt the wildlife that is here."
Interested sportsmen can submit their comments by mail to:
Don Striker, Superintendent
Glen
Or on-line at the Ducks Unlimited Website.