Lead banned in all National Park waterways

[Poke 'Em]

National Park Service Gets the Lead Out!

WASHINGTON ? National Park Service visitors and wildlife have something to cheer about today with the agency?s stepped-up efforts to reduce lead in national park environments.

?Our goal is to eliminate the use of lead ammunition and lead fishing tackle in parks by the end of 2010,? said Acting National Park Service Director Dan Wenk. ?We want to take a leadership role in removing lead from the environment.?

The new lead reduction efforts also include changes in NPS activities, such as culling operations or the dispatching of wounded or sick animals. Rangers and resource managers will use non-lead ammunition to prevent environmental contamination as well as lead poisoning of scavenger species who may eventually feed upon the carcass. Non-toxic substitutes for lead made in the United States are now widely available including tungsten, copper, and steel.

The NPS will also develop educational materials to increase awareness about the consequences of lead exposure and the benefits of using lead-free ammunition and fishing tackle.

Lead is an environmental contaminant affecting many areas of the world, including our national parks. Lead is banned in gasoline, children?s toys, and paint because of its effects on human health. In the United States, there is an accelerating trend to expand efforts to reduce lead contamination associated with firearms and hunting. California and Arizona have recently implemented mandatory and voluntary bans, respectively, on lead ammunition to facilitate California condor recovery. And Yellowstone National Park has had restrictions on lead fishing tackle for years to protect native species and their habitats.

Resource managers recognize that hunting and fishing play an important historical role in the complicated and intensive management of wildlife populations. Because of this history, these activities continue in some parks and, in some cases, even enhance the park?s primary purpose to preserve natural environments and native species. The new restrictions on lead will ensure environmentally safe practices are implemented to protect park visitors and lands.

Wenk adds, ?The reduction and eventual removal of lead on park service lands will benefit humans, wildlife, and ecosystems inside and outside park boundaries and continue our legacy of resource stewardship.?

http://home.nps.gov/applications/rel...ail.cfm?ID=855

[altimas]

Great... All those Lead Molds I have will do me no good at all for fishing some of my favorite rivers.

[nighthawk]

Wow so now we get to hunt with tungsten-carbide bullets. Shazam! That is real safe isn't it. Next we will have to come up with a solution for all of that tungsten, bismuth, tin and copper laying about.

[Quade]

It is sad when something is eradicated. I dont mean the lead, I was thinking about the high-speed lead poisoning, . I know of a deer that was suffering from it last winter.

[nighthawk]

It is sad when something is eradicated. I dont mean the lead, I was thinking about the high-speed lead poisoning, . I know of a deer that was suffering from it last winter.

I tried last year but did not succeed! Oh well that just leaves more for this coming season.

[Quade]

Good luck with that. I have been hunting every year since I got home from the service, and have only taken 2. But then again, thats usually all we will eat so its plenty. I dont know if you can call the deer that we have down here deer though, they are more like a large dog as there are actually to many of them.

[Fatman]

altimas

Use a bismuth/tin mix for your sinkers and jigs and they can't say a word to you.

Fatman

[altimas]

altimas

Use a bismuth/tin mix for your sinkers and jigs and they can't say a word to you.

Fatman

Where would I get Bismuth and Tin though? I have a guy that brings me sheets of lead leftover from installing in X-ray rooms.

[rizeye]

so how do we hunt it the NP's? there are not very many rifle bullets thare are lead free. just another way to ban hunting. this is going way overboard by are government bent on taking away our freedoms. don't give that eco crap either. banning lead will not help 1 animal from extiction.

[Quade]

juat another to keep the people down I suppose. But, its not like anyone wants to fight with them about it.