Safari Club International (SCI) welcomes Secretarial Order 3455 as an opportunity to advance clear priorities for America's national wildlife refuges: healthy wildlife populations, actively managed habitat and meaningful opportunities for compatible hunting and fishing.
SCI supports a conservation-first approach that connects responsible public access with effective habitat stewardship. Conserving wildlife and providing opportunities to experience it should reinforce one another, with decisions grounded in each refuge's purposes and conservation needs.
Signed November 6, 2026, Secretarial Order 3455, "Making America's National Wildlife Refuges Great Again," directs the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to strengthen wildlife conservation, restore field-based management and expand compatible wildlife-dependent recreation across the National Wildlife Refuge System. It directs USFWS to prioritize and facilitate hunting, fishing, wildlife observation, photography, environmental education and interpretation, consistent with applicable law and the purposes of individual refuges.
The order also calls for refuge managers to have access to appropriate habitat and wildlife management tools, including prescribed fire, active forest management, livestock grazing, targeted cropland management, water management, invasive species control and appropriate predator management. These tools are to be used consistent with applicable law to achieve refuge conservation objectives.
Just as importantly, the directive calls for staffing, funding, maintenance and infrastructure priorities to support on-the-ground stewardship. It seeks to reduce unnecessary administrative burdens and management layers while strengthening refuge managers' responsibilities and field capacity.
The order directs closer coordination with state fish and wildlife agencies, tribes, local governments, gateway communities, landowners, conservation organizations, sportsmen and women, and other partners. It also reaffirms that the specific purposes for which a refuge was established govern where they conflict with the broader System mission, consistent with applicable law and USFWS policy.
SCI welcomes the opportunity for these priorities to take shape as USFWS implements the order. The order calls for the USFWS Director to submit an implementation plan within 90 days and issue necessary implementing policies, guidance, directives or other actions within 180 days after submitting that plan. While specific new hunting opportunities will depend on subsequent actions and applicable legal and compatibility requirements, the order offers a promising path toward stronger conservation and compatible public access across America's wildlife refuges.