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Show PERCENTAGE OF BIG GAME 1/ POPULATIONS OCCURRING ON FEDERAL LAND, IN 11 WESTERN AND SELECTED EASTERN STATES 2/, DURING SUMMER AND WINTER SEASONS NEW MEXICO WASHINGTON EASTERN STATES 2/ Percent 40 60 I I 56'\, 55",, jj 54% SUMMER WINTER 21 % 21X Some big game species depend heavily on public land habitat in most western states. and fishing unless expressly prohibited by statute. While there is no controversy with regard to fishing, there has been substantial dispute over the general policy regarding the hunting of resident game on some classes of public lands. National forests and lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management are generally open to hunting, and we recommend that, barring overriding considerations, all such lands should be open for hunting. This is not the case with regard to other classes of public lands as discussed below. To the extent possible, public hunting and fishing should be employed on multiple use public lands as the normal method to harvest or remove excess fish and wildlife that are not reduced by natural processes. However, if public hunting fails, Federal personnel should be utilized to achieve desired wildlife population levels. One of the objectives of maintaining and developing healthy populations of fish and wildlife on the public lands, and of carrying those populations at or near maximum levels permitted by natural habitat conditions, is to provide the recreation opportunity they afford through hunting and fishing. 164 Land management policy should support this objective by permitting maximum use and availability of the public lands wherever population excesses occur. Moreover, that management effort should in fact be directed at producing excesses of game species to provide the recreation opportunities they afford at a sustained level from year to year. By statute, the national parks and monuments are generally closed to public hunting. One of the major purposes of park administration is to protect and preserve the wildlife and fish for public enjoyment and appreciation. The Commission considered the possibility that, through joint Federal-state arrangements, carefully supervised public hunting could be permitted in the parks during off season in order to remove population surpluses that occur at times. We rejected this proposition on the grounds that public hunting in the parks is inconsistent with park purposes and objectives. When reduction of wildlife is required, it can and should be accomplished by Federal personnel in accordance with a program to achieve desired results in a particular park. Migratory bird refuges, which are open to hunting, have the same problems, but for different reasons. Accordingly, if the states involved are unwilling to establish "special" seasons, we suggest the same solution as for the overproduction of wildlife, i.e., reduction by Federal personnel. Public lands used for military purposes are in many cases closed to the general public for hunting purposes. Military personnel, on the other hand, are frequently permitted to hunt on such lands. While the Commission is aware of the need for security control over the entry and use of these properties, and also of the fact that any use of these lands must at certain times and for certain periods be prohibited, we believe that the exclusion of the general public, when military personnel have general permission to hunt on these installations, is inequitable when military security or dangerous conditions are not involved. Similarly, all other public land areas that are closed to fishing and hunting because of the nature of Federal activities should be reviewed and, wherever possible, opened to the public under such controls as may be required. Operational Guidelines Recommendation 63: Statutory guidelines are required for minimizing conflicts between fish and wildlife and other public land uses and values. A number of basic issues in public land policy concerning fish and wildlife point to the need for a clear statutory framework of guidelines to assure that these values and uses are given proper con- |