Federal agencies have banned recreational shooting on more than 1.3 million acres of public lands on the Bears Ears National Monument—an area larger than Rhode Island.  The agencies cited no evidence of user conflicts or public safety concerns.  They apparently just don’t like people practicing shooting on public lands.

But the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act REQUIRES federal agencies to prioritize hunting, fishing, and recreational shooting on federal lands. Further, the Dingell Act limits federal agencies’ ability to close public lands to these activities to the smallest possible area for the shortest possible time.  The agencies paid lip service to this Congressional mandate in shutting down Bears Ears but clearly did not comply.

Shutting down recreational shooting has broader impacts than the agencies acknowledge.  The Pittman-Robertson Act directs excise taxes from the sale of firearms, ammunition, and related gear to fund critical wildlife conservation efforts.  The agencies are discouraging purchases of these products, thereby diminishing the tax revenues essential to wildlife management and conservation programs.

While the new Bears Ears plan allows hunting on the monument, the agencies are also severely limiting motorized vehicle access in remote areas, a decision that will disproportionately undercut the ability of older and less mobile hunters who rely on off road vehicles to reach hunting grounds.

SCI and partners are readying legal action to fight this baseless loss of a public recreational opportunity. But we need YOUR support to ensure the Administration and Congress understand that access to public lands matters to the PUBLIC—people like you.

Sign the petition below to make your voice heard.  And if you recreate on Bears Ears, please contact SCI’s legal team at litigation@safariclub.org.  We are looking for hunters and shooters who use the Bears Ears National Monument to help develop a potential lawsuit.