On August 9, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke announced that the Bureau of Land Management will accept a nearly 3,600 acre donation of land that will open access to the Sabinoso Wilderness Area in northern New Mexico. The donated land will allow public access to the 16,000-acre wilderness area that was previously land-locked by privately owned lands. The announcement came the same day that the Secretary announced that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would open or expand hunting and fishing opportunities on 10 national wildlife refuges.

“With Secretary Zinke's leadership, the team at the Fish and Wildlife Service is happy to expand hunting and fishing opportunities where they are compatible with wildlife management goals,” said USFWS Acting Director Greg Sheehan. “Sportsmen and anglers play a huge role in the conservation of wildlife and their habitat, so it only makes sense that refuges provide opportunities for folks to get outside to hunt and fish. Refuges provide all Americans with places to hunt, fish, observe the natural world firsthand and experience the great outdoors.”

The announcements came just one week after sportsmen’s organizations met with senior Department of the Interior officials on August 2. The participants at the “sportsmen’s summit” discussed implementation of key policies identified in a 10-year recreational hunting and wildlife conservation plan that was developed in 2008 following President George W. Bush’s Executive Order 13443.