Maybe 10 years ago the refuge manager of the Alaska peninsula and Becharof NWR required all guides operating on the refuges to fill out a questionnaire on all their hunters, including bird and waterfowl hunters. From it they extrapolated that yearly there was less than one pellet per acre/ per year used. And therefore there was no need for any additional rules on use of lead
Great factoid to share there. It's a classic example of a false hope that local managers can illicit. As a former fed, my bet is that the refuge management at the time was under some level of pressure to address the issue by their handlers back east. They came up with an excellent way to keep the lawyers and pseudo-scientists at bay. Given the level of human pressure there compared to, say, the Kenai NWR, that study will likely work for Becharof NWR.........until some Washington bureaucrat/tyrant creates a universal reg that a clownish POTUS might sign that all refuges must adhere to.
