COLORADO, USA — The Department of Interior (DOI) on Wednesday announced a proposal that would expand hunting and fishing opportunities across more than 2.3 million acres at 97 national wildlife refuges and nine national fish hatcheries across the U.S.
Three national wildlife refuges in Colorado are part of that proposal.
They are: Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge, Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge and Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge.
Alamosa and Monte Vista wildlife refuges are in southern Colorado, while Browns Park is in northwestern Colorado near Dinosaur National Monument.
A news release from the DOI said the expansion at Alamosa would allow for migratory bird and upland game hunting to new acreage along with allowing sport fishing there for the first time ever.
At Monte Vista, the proposal would expand migratory bird and upland game hunts to new acreage.
In Browns Park, the proposal would open moose and pronghorn hunting on land that is already open to other hunting.
Four national wildlife refuges in Wyoming are also included in the proposal.
They are: Cokeville Meadows, Hutton Lake, Bamforth and Pathfinder national wildlife refuges.
In Cokeville Meadows, the proposal would open light geese hunting and sport fishing on acreage that already allows other hunting.
At Hutton Lake, it would open upland game and big game hunting for the first time on acreage that already allows other hunting.
At Pathfinder, the proposal would allow mourning dove hunting on acreage that allows other hunting.
At Bamforth, big game and upland game hunts would be allowed for the first-time ever.
Bamforth National Wildlife Refuge is located just northwest of Laramie.
Cokeville Meadows National Wildlife Refuge is located in western Wyoming near the borders of Idaho and Utah, respectively.
Pathfinder National Wildlife Refuge is located 59 miles southwest of Casper.
Hutton Lake National Wildlife Refuge is located 12 miles south-southwest of Laramie.
The DOI will seek comments from the public on the proposed rule for 60 days, beginning with publication in the Federal Register on April 9, 2020. The notice will be available at regulations.gov, Docket Number: FWS-HQ-NWRS-2020-0013, and will include details on how to submit comments.
A complete list of locations included in the proposal can be found here.
SUGGESTED VIDEOS: Animals and Wildlife
