I am proud to be one of the more than 500,000 hunters in Minnesota.

Not only do I enjoy spending time with family and friends taking part in this important tradition, I also know first hand that hunting is an important part of our regional economy, helping to create local jobs while also directly contributing to conservation programs that help us all.

I was very disappointed to learn that on the last day of the outgoing Obama Administration, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe signed Director's Order 219. This order bans the use of traditional ammunition in national parks, wildlife refuges and all other lands administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

This overreach was done without the customary opportunity for public comment and there was no outreach to interested parties beforehand.

You may ask why this is important. We all know there are anti-hunting groups that would like to see an end to hunting. One of their tools is restricting access to traditional ammunition, the most abundant and affordable ammunition available, to price hunters out of the sport.

However, trying to limit hunting or discourage hunters is short-sighted. Our nation's hunters are the largest contributors to conservation funding through their purchase of licenses, tags, stamps and the taxes they pay on equipment.

Nearly 80 years ago, hunters lobbied Congress to pass the Pittman-Robertson Act, which created an 11 percent excise tax on hunting equipment such as guns and ammunition. At the time, our nation's wild game was mismanaged and rapidly declining; it was rare to even see a white-tailed deer.

Now, all these years later, the legacy of this act lives on in the benefits to wildlife both hunted and not. It also benefits anyone who enjoys our great outdoors. If you hunt, bird watch, hike, or enjoy any other activity in the great outdoors, you can thank our nation's hunters for supporting wild places and wildlife for future generations to enjoy.

That is why this last-minute order from an outgoing administration is so unfortunate and misguided. We want to do all we can to increase hunter numbers, not add new restrictions that would price some out of the market and keep hunters home. If there are fewer people hunting, there will be fewer people paying the 11 percent excise tax that benefits us all.

I am hopeful that the new administration will work to reverse this last minute political directive and put policies in place that benefit the largest contributors to our nation's conservation — our hunters.

Cal Brink lives in Marshall.