Trump order gives agencies 180 days to propose hunting access rules

Hunting on federal land would be presumed allowed unless a specific closure is justified by local resource conditions, under rule changes four agencies have 180 days to propose following an executive order President Donald J. Trump signed Thursday. Nothing changes immediately: the order directs the secretaries of the Interior, Agriculture, War and Commerce to propose the modifications. The changes would reach the Tongass and Chugach National Forests, together more than 21.9 million acres of National Forest System land in Alaska, including about 14.7 million acres of inventoried roadless area, and the roughly 70 million surface acres the Bureau of Land Management says it manages in the state.

The order states: "We will apply a presumption of accessibility to federally managed lands." National parks and monuments are excluded, except that Interior has 90 days to allow hunting of species not protected under 16 U.S.C. 1533 at Castle Mountains and Craters of the Moon, two Lower 48 monuments. The 180-day proposals would also permit traditional lead ammunition and tackle, authorize assistive technology at hunting locations, prioritize voluntary easements, land exchanges and cooperative agreements, and allow access infrastructure. Shorter deadlines set a 60-day Forest Service review of high-demand river-access lotteries to prioritize U.S. citizens and bar automatic computer entries, a 90-day Interior proposal on migratory game bird hunting authorization, and 90-day Labor and Education guidance on federal funding for school archery and hunter education. Within 365 days Interior is to encourage states to expand Sunday hunting. Other sections prioritize VA hunting and fishing grants, direct habitat and predator management with states, and back wild-game donation programs.

Alaska News previously covered the USDA proposal to rescind the 2001 Roadless Rule across roughly 9.3 million roadless acres in the Tongass and roadless land in the Chugach, with comments due Sept. 21, the Tlingit & Haida tribal government's opposition, and a federal expansion of hunting and fishing access on national wildlife refuges that would land most heavily here.

Federal agencies do close Alaska hunts on resource grounds; the Yakutat District Ranger closed part of the 2026 federal subsistence goat hunt in Unit 5A effective July 24. The Department of the Interior, which in March 2026 proposed aligning hunting regulations in Alaska's national preserves with state practices, says access policy should still keep restrictions needed to protect wildlife or sensitive lands. Rural subsistence users and Alaska Native communities, whose federal-land harvests run under federal subsistence rules, are most exposed; the Tanana Chiefs Conference has told members Alaska's "subsistence way of life" is at a turning point. The state and federal governments own the bulk of Alaska's public lands, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game says.