Watch your step if you are a hiker, boater or camper. A bill in Congress would make reckless changes to our public lands policy. A huge percentage of our public lands are already open to hunting, but this bill — the Bipartisan Sportsmen’s Act of 2015 (S. 405) — would expand that by mandating that hunting be allowed on all U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands.

However, the worst part about this bill is that it defines “hunting” to include inhumane leg hold and snare trapping, so it would really open millions of acres of federal lands to cruel and dangerous traps.

This misguided legislation prioritizes special interests above the vast majority of land users who do not trap. It would come at the expense of the many of us who use our public lands for other forms of family recreation, and don’t want us, or our dogs, to wind up caught in a snare or steel-jawed leghold trap. Traps are notoriously cruel, and they often catch “non-target” animals, including family pets and other wildlife.

Our senator, Angus King, is an important vote on this bill. I hope concerned Mainers reach out to let him know you oppose this expansion of trapping on our public lands. We should be phasing out inhumane trapping, not expanding it. Please contact Angus King to ask him to vote no on the Bipartisan Sportsmen’s Act of 2015 (S. 405).

Hope E. Cruser