U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Announces Voluntary Pilot Programs for Lead-Free Hunting

Seven National Wildlife Refuges to Pilot Incentive-Based Rebate Program to Hunters who Voluntarily

Use Lead-Free Ammunition

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced it is implementing a pilot program at seven National
Wildlife Refuges during the Fall 2024 hunting season to test voluntary, incentive-based efforts to increase
the use of lead-free ammunition by hunters on Service-administered lands. The best available science
indicates lead ammunition and fishing tackle can have negative impacts on wildlife.
The Service developed the pilot program working with the Hunting and Wildlife Conservation Council, a
federal advisory committee established by the Secretaries of the Department of the Interior and the
Department of Agriculture, and state, non-governmental and industry partners. In December 2023, the
HWCC recommended federal agencies pursue wildlife management approaches that encourage hunters to
voluntarily switch from using lead ammunition to using lead-free ammunition as a non-regulatory means
of addressing lead poisoning in wildlife on federal lands.
“The Service is committed to providing access to National Wildlife Refuges and also to minimizing the
impacts to wildlife from lead exposure,” said Service Director Martha Williams. “This pilot program
and the lessons learned will be critically important in determining our best approach to managing lead use
by outdoor recreationists on refuge lands and waters.”
The Service, in collaboration with the HWCC and with the respective state wildlife agencies, has
identified the following sites to pilot voluntary, incentive-based lead-free hunting opportunities for Fall
2024:

• Patoka River NWR in Indiana – Deer hunting
• Blackwater NWR in Maryland – Deer hunting
• Wallkill River NWR in New Jersey – Hunting for all species
• Pocosin Lakes NWR in North Carolina – Deer hunting
• William L. Finley NWR in Oregon – Elk hunting
• Canaan Valley NWR in West Virginia – Hunting for all species
• Trempealeau NWR in Wisconsin – Deer hunting

The Service will implement a rebate program in each of these refuges for hunters who voluntarily choose
to use lead-free ammunition. This includes prepaid credit cards for reimbursement of the cost of lead-free
ammunition with proof of purchase and other refuge specific economic incentives. The Service will share
refuge specific details as they are finalized. Additionally, a monitoring component will seek to determine
program impacts so more effective models for incentivizing the voluntary use of lead-free ammunition
can be replicated to guide actions by the Service and other land and wildlife managers in addressing lead
poisoning in wildlife. Similar efforts to promote the voluntary use of non-lead ammunition have been
previously undertaken by conservation groups in collaboration with the states of Arizona, Utah and
Oregon and other sporting groups.