President Trump signed a pair of executive orders Thursday rolling back restrictions on hunters and anglers across millions of acres of federal land, and signaled that a sequel to his landmark conservation law is on the way.
At a Rose Garden dinner attended by more than 100 hunters, anglers, and outdoor-industry officials, Trump directed Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to open still more public land to sportsmen and signed a separate order overhauling federal fishery rules to loosen limits on boaters and recreational anglers. The orders reverse a Biden-era ban on traditional lead ammunition and tackle and expand fishing seasons and quotas under a modernized management framework.
The moves build on an administration order issued in August that opened more than 92 million acres of federal land across 32 states. Taken together, the actions represent the most aggressive push in years to widen public access to federally controlled territory, a priority that polls consistently well with rural and suburban voters who hunt, fish, and camp.
The first executive order mandates that Burgum identify additional federal acreage that can be opened to hunting and fishing beyond the 92-million-acre expansion already underway. It also scraps the Biden administration's prohibition on traditional lead ammunition and tackle, a rule that sportsmen's groups had fought for years, arguing it raised costs and limited gear choices without meaningful conservation benefit.
Trump, as The Hill reported, made no effort to hide his enthusiasm for the reversal.
"Lead ammunition was a problem, huh? Is it better than other ammunition? I assume, huh? That's pretty good."
The second order targets federal fishery management. It directs agencies to expand fishing seasons and quotas and to cut red tape that recreational anglers and charter-boat operators say has squeezed them out of waters they once fished freely. The White House framed the action as a modernization effort, though the specific new season dates and quota numbers have not yet been released.
Burgum attended the dinner but did not deliver public remarks. His marching orders, however, are clear: find more land, open it up, and do it fast.
Thursday's orders follow a pattern Trump established during his first term. In 2019, the administration expanded hunting and fishing access across 77 national wildlife refuges covering 2,200 square miles in 37 states. Seven of those refuges were opened to sportsmen for the first time. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt called it "the largest single effort to expand hunting and fishing access in recent history," the New York Post reported at the time.
That earlier expansion also eliminated or simplified roughly 5,000 federal regulations, aligning them with state wildlife rules. Hunting groups cheered the move. Conservationists objected, arguing the changes bypassed environmental review and handed management authority to state agencies without a federal monitoring system to track effects on wildlife.
Jeff Ruch of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility warned at the time that the policy "basically eviscerates federal management," as Breitbart noted. That criticism did not slow the administration then, and there is no sign it will now.
Trump also used Thursday's event to revisit one of his first-term legislative achievements: the 2020 Great American Outdoors Act, which directed billions of dollars toward a maintenance backlog at national parks and provided millions for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The law drew bipartisan support at the time and remains one of the few pieces of conservation legislation both parties claim credit for.
Trump told the crowd a "2.0" version of the law would arrive in the "very near future," though he offered no details on what the legislation would contain or whether a bill had been drafted. As Just The News reported, Trump invoked Teddy Roosevelt as a presidential predecessor who shared his focus on conservation and the outdoors.
Trump addressed the room with characteristic directness about the specifics of one provision:
"I don't know what the h*** that means, but I know one thing: you wanted it. You wanted it, and I'm here for you."
The line drew a reaction from the crowd of sportsmen and industry figures, the kind of audience that has formed a reliable part of Trump's coalition since 2016.
Trump framed the orders around a principle that resonates far beyond the hunting community.
"We believe that public lands belong to the American people and to the public, and hunters, fishers, and outdoorsmen should be able to access them."
That statement captures a frustration millions of Americans share. Federal land belongs to the citizens who pay for it, yet for years, layers of regulation, lead bans, access restrictions, shortened seasons, tightened quotas, steadily narrowed who could actually use it and how. The Biden administration's lead-ammunition prohibition was a prime example: a rule that imposed real costs on sportsmen while delivering uncertain environmental returns.
Rolling back those restrictions is straightforward policy. Expanding access to 92 million acres and counting is tangible. Modernizing fishery management so recreational anglers are not frozen out of public waters is overdue. Whether the promised Outdoors Act 2.0 materializes, and what it contains, remains to be seen. Legislation requires Congress, and Congress requires votes.
But the executive orders signed Thursday need no vote. They take effect now. And for the hunters, anglers, and outdoor workers who filled the Rose Garden, the message was plain enough: the people who use public land finally have an administration that wants them on it.
