Shooting Wire:
(July 02, 2014)
Arizona's Hunter and Ash Canyons Closed to ShootingSIERRA VISTA, AZ -
ANOTHER part of Public Lands is closed to shooters, because of the activity of 'some' shooters'.
And the inactivity of other shooters.
Apparently, this area in the Coronado National Forest in Arizona has been closed to "all recreational shooting" due to the irresponsible conduct of a few members of what we may choose to to call "The Shooting Community".
Beginning July 1, 2014 the Coronado National Forest, Sierra Vista Ranger District, will close Ash and Hunter Canyons to all recreational shooting.This announcement speaks for itself.
The emergency closure is being implemented due to excessive resource damage to trees and other vegetation in both canyons and large amounts of trash, shells and lead being deposited in trees and on the ground.
Closing the area to shooting will allow the area to recover, improving vegetative growth and wildlife habitat, and allow for cleanup of damaged hazard trees as well as lead, shells and shooting debris.
The closure order will remain in effect until July 1, 2015 or until it is rescinded. During this time the Sierra Vista Ranger District will develop an overall Shooting Management Plan for all of the canyons along the east side of the Huachuca Mountains.
The emergency closure prohibits discharging a firearm, air rifle or gas gun in the restricted area. Binary explosives such as Tannerite remain illegal in all areas of the Coronado National Forest at all times of the year.
I know there must be responsible members of "the shooting community" which also use this National Forest land for shooting. If so, I imagine that they try to clean up the area when they visit it. But if the Trash Shooters outnumber the Real People, it's impossible to keep up with the mess those "other people" leave behind.
Perhaps the Real People are outnumbered, and only the Trash Shooters use that area now; in that case, the Forest Service folks have taken the only remaining solution --- to close the area to ALL shooters.
Arizona, you need to clean up your act. I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but the Forest Service can not, and will not, monitor the activities of everyone who uses that area. (And no, I am not familiar with the situation; "all I know is what I read in the newspapers".)
I'm not sure if there's anything that can be done to resolve this situation. I hate to see any area of public range/forest closed to shooting. If anyone is deprived of the opportunity to shoot, and the Forest Service can't keep up with the damage ... then it seems up to the few (?) who are responsible to take it into their own hands to maintain the area.
The use of Tannerite on public lands is, in my mind, entirely responsible.
This is our land, folks. We're responsible for what happens there, even (or especially) if we are not the people who are making the mess.
Otherwise ... no matter how responsible you are, you are not part of the solution.
5 comments:
It happens at clubs too! Every time I go to my local club I clean up trash left behind by slobs.
So by your defination, and the Forest Services, someone that shoots lead containing bullets are trash shooters. More than once the article mentioned lead contamination. Lead is the U.S. Governments new worse than plutonium mineral.
I shoot at a small City owned range. There used to be 50 gallon trash barrels there and shooters dumped their empty shell boxes, soft drink cups etc in the trash barrels. Trash was not a problem. Than the city decided to remove the trash barrels because they had to empty them when they became full (the city has it's own trash p/u). Now the range is overflowing with trash. Almost every private establishment provides trash recepticals. Often government refuses to provide trash recepticals and then complains when there is trash.
Frank
Lead contamination, really!!!
No it is not our land. The U.S. Government has made it very clear that it is their land and it's use will be tightly controlled. Public consideration is only incidental.
Post a Comment