Massachusetts

[Jerry LaBella (Admin)]

NPS Delays will Rob Sportsmen of Hunting Opportunities- (09/29)
Massachusetts
Join our e-mail alert list


The National Park Service is dragging its feet on the completion of a court-ordered environmental assessment. In doing so, it continues to deny sportsmen of hunting opportunities on an important New England federal hunting area.



The National Park Service (NPS) has extended the timeline for completing a Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Cape Cod National Seashore hunting program. By delaying the completion date until January 2007, the NPS guarantees the cancellation of this year’s pheasant hunt at the Seashore.



“The National Park Service, which manages the Cape Cod National Seashore, capitulated to the anti-hunters and is using the EIS as an excuse to shrug off this year’s pheasant hunt,” said Rob Sexton, U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance (USSA) vice president for government affairs. “Blaming the delay on the number of public comments it received and suggesting that its initial timeline did not allow for ‘careful’ and ‘deliberate’ consideration of all the input gives the NPS an easy out.”



The issue was sparked by a federal court case in 2003. Anti-hunters had sued to stop the pheasant hunting program at the Cape Cod National Seashore that had been occurring since 1914. The court ruled that the program be halted while an environmental assessment was completed. The pheasant hunt has been in limbo ever since.



The NPS issued a court-ordered Draft Environmental Impact Statement for public comment earlier this year. It offered three alternatives for the future of the Seashore’s pheasant program – to continue the status quo, to phase it out or to discontinue it. The USSA filed public comment with the NPS that favors continuation of a pheasant hunting program.



The USSA maintains that the pheasant stocking and hunting program poses no impacts or risks to the Cape Cod National Seashore and should be reinstated.





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Information on this website can be reprinted with a citation to the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance and www.ussportsmen.org (http://www.ussportsmen.org)

[administrator]

Anti-Hunting News
Printer-friendly format
E-mail this to a friend

National Park Service Proposes to Reinstate Hunting on Cape Code
Final EIS put forth with recommendation to allow pheasant hunting and stocking

August 17, 2007 (Massachusetts)

The National Park Service has recommended the restoration of hunting opportunities on a popular federal hunting area in New England.



The NPS has released its court-ordered Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Cape Cod National Seashore. The agency has selected as its preferred hunting plan, one that will reinstate pheasant stocking at the Seashore for the next 17 years and allow pheasant hunting to continue indefinitely. The choice also includes increasing upland bird habitat and establishing a spring turkey hunt.



“The National Park Service’s favored selection is in line with the Seashore’s historical hunting program, which has allowed pheasant stocking since 1906, and hunting since 1914,” said Rob Sexton, USSA vice president for government affairs. “The USSA applauds the agency’s intention to resume the hunt.”



The issue was sparked by a federal suit anti-hunting grous brought in 2002 to stop hunting on the Cape Cod National Seashore. The USSAF, along with the Massachusetts Sportsmen’s Council Inc., Barnstable County League of Sportsmen’s Clubs and sportsman Michael Veloza of Manomet, Massachusetts, joined the lawsuit to protect hunting on this and other federal land holdings.



The court ruled in 2003 that the pheasant program be halted while an Environmental Impact Statement was completed. The USSA urged the NPS to swiftly complete the EIS, and encouraged sportsmen to support options within the Draft Environmental Impact Statement that allowed the hunt.



“The Cape Cod pheasant hunt is a tradition that we didn’t want to have taken away, and if it weren’t for the USSA we wouldn’t have gotten this far,” said Michael Veloza, president of the Barnstable County League of Sportsmen’s Clubs. “Massachusetts sportsmen, the USSA, and the Massachusetts Department of Fisheries and Wildlife all worked to keep us on the right track. We look forward to getting the birds and the sportsmen back in the field this year.”

[administrator]

National Park Service Reinstates Hunting on Seashore

Four-year ban on hunting in Cape Cod comes to a close

October 19, 2007 (Massachusetts)
The National Park Service has approved a plan to permit a century-old hunting tradition to resume on the Cape Cod National Seashore, a popular federal hunting area in New England.
On Oct. 12, the National Park Service, which has not always been the American hunter’s best friend, announced the reinstatement of pheasant stocking at the Cape Cod National Seashore for the next 17 years and pheasant hunting indefinitely. The agency will also increase upland bird habitat and establish a spring turkey hunt. The plans are part of a court-ordered environmental assessment of the Seashore’s hunting program.

“Since the anti-hunters filed suit five years ago to stop the hunt, the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation and sportsmen have encouraged the Park Service to do what it must to maintain Cape Cod’s hunting heritage, which has existed there since the early 1900s,” said Pidgeon. “The Foundation applauds the decision to maintain and augment hunting opportunities. It demonstrates that the sport is not a detriment to the Seashore.”

The issue was sparked by a federal suit that anti-hunting groups brought in 2002 to stop hunting on the Cape Cod National Seashore. The USSAF, along with the Massachusetts Sportsmen’s Council Inc., Barnstable County League of Sportsmen’s Clubs and sportsman Michael Veloza of Manomet, Massachusetts, joined the lawsuit to protect hunting on this and other federal land holdings.

The court ruled in 2003 that the pheasant program be halted while an Environmental Impact Statement was completed. The USSA urged the NPS to swiftly complete the EIS, and encouraged sportsmen to support options within the Draft Environmental Impact Statement that allowed the hunt.

[administrator]

Dove Hunting Attacked Again in Rhode Island2/11/09



Yet again anti’s in Rhode Island have loaded up to ban dove hunting. New legislation introduced in the state Senate follows similar efforts taken over the past several years and should be fought by sportsmen in the state.

Senate Bill 109, sponsored by Senator Rhoda E. Perry (D- Providence) would prohibit hunting of doves. Any violation would be grounds for losing one’s hunting license. The bill also includes a $20 fine for each separate violation.

The bill has been referred to the Senate Environment and Agriculture Committee.

“Mourning doves are America’s number one game bird and sportsmen have been successful in defeating these attacks in the past” said Evan Heusinkveld, U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance associate director of state services. “Rhode Island sportsmen must contact their legislators today express opposition to this bill.”

Similar bills have been blocked from moving forward in past legislative sessions and the same level of engagement is needed this time. Sportsmen in Rhode Island should immediately call their state senators. To find contact information for your senator, use the Legislative Action Center.