The Senators resisted pressure and sided with sportsmen in letter to U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
U.S. Senators Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith joined with other colleagues in signing a letter which encourages the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director, Martha Williams, not to restrict the use of lead ammo and tackle on public lands.
The effort is being led by U.S. Senator Steve Daines (R-Mont.) after pressure was being put on Williams to ban the use of lead ammunition and tackle. These restrictions are much line ones from the Obama administration that were reversed by President Trump.
“Policies or actions that reduce or limit sportsmen activities necessarily implicate wildlife conservation programs by affecting state agencies’ revenue. Such policies or actions also handcuff wildlife managers by removing a critical conservation tool while needlessly alienating one of our original conservationists, sportsmen. Phasing-out lead ammo and tackle on wildlife refuges would disproportionately affect lower-income households and those that depend on hunting and fishing for their subsistence as lead alternatives are often more expensive. The impact of such a policy would be devastating to the sportsmen heritage in our states,” the Senators wrote.
Other Senators that backed the measure:Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-La.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), John Kennedy (R-La.), James Lankford (Okla.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kan.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), John Thune (R-S.D.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) also signed the letter.
Sarah Ulmer
