BHA has been fighting for years to re-open Castle Mountains to hunting...

When Castle Mountains was designated as a National Monument to be managed by the National Park Service in 2016, the conservation community applauded the added protections for this remarkable landscape. The stunning desert ecosystem, home to unique desert flora and fauna, is a favorite destination for many Americans seeking the remote landscapes of the Mojave Desert.  

While hunters have long called for better protections for Castle Mountains, with monument status came a prohibition of all forms of hunting, which disenfranchised a community from the place they sought to protect.  

Hunting disappeared from Castle Mountains not because wildlife managers determined it was incompatible with conservation, but because the 2016 proclamation transferred the land from the Bureau of Land Management to the National Park Service (NPS) without the specific legal authorization needed to continue hunting there (NPS protocol, hunting is usually only allowed where it is explicitly mandated or authorized under law). 

The monument lands once provided ample opportunities to chase bighorn sheep, Gambel’s quail, chukar, rabbit, and mule deer across some of the more unique geology the broader Mojave Desert ecosystem has to offer.  

In the years since that designation, BHA has advocated to end the prohibition on hunting in Castle Mountains, by garnering local support, helping educate California’s hunting community on what was lost, and finding solutions, like Senator Padilla’s S.4222, which would have restored hunting in Castle Mountains via federal legislation by adding monument lands to the Mojave National Preserve which has a governing statute that expressley allows hunting.  

That’s why we welcome the Trump Administration’s recent actions to open Castle Mountains to hunting, while maintaining its monument status and related conservation protections. Executive Order 14429 does many things, (a summary of which can be found here), but one of the most straightforward provisions declares that within 90 days of the order, hunting of game animals shall once again be legal within Castle Mountains national monuments. 

As we all know, hunting is a vital part of conservation and wildlife management, which isn’t possible without the thoughtful participation of the hunting community. This order restores the ability for Californians to hunt in this iconic landscape, restoring the lost opportunities that stemmed from the monument’s designation.  

BHA has advocated for this outcome ever since creation of Castle Mountains National Monument, and we enthusiastically support the return of hunting to these lands and the continued partnership of the hunting community with the many state and federal agencies tasked with managing our wildlife populations.