Posted on: August 11th, 2015

At Monday night’s Town Meeting we had quite a discussion about recreational shooting.

The Forest Service and Boulder County are working to find good places for designated shooting areas, in order to cut down on random, disbursed shooting. It is very important for people to give feedback to the Forest Service before September 9 (Joshua Milligan: jmilligan@nullfs.fed.us) and to be as detailed as possible. For maps and more information see http://www.fs.usda.gov/goto/arp/recshootingmgt and www.SportShootingPartners.org

There will be a Forest Service Open House  in Boulder County Monday August 31 from 5-7 pm in Nederland at the Community Center.

In addition, if you have ideas about good, safe areas that would be appropriate for designated shooting areas, please contact Garry Sanfacon, with Boulder County (gsanfacon@nullbouldercounty.org or info@nullsportshootingpartners.org Or call him at 720-564-2642 ).

Following are some frequently asked questions and answers from Pam Sherman, Dina Elder, and Peter Swift from the IMA meeting.

 Info about the Shooting Issue–Report from IMA Meeting with County

 Three residents from Gold Hill who attend IMA meetings joined IMA reps from other mountain communities on Thursday Aug. 4 in a quickly convened meeting with Boulder County. We were all looking to get accurate information on the shooting issue that affects all our communities. Here is what we learned.

 Who represents the County on this issue?

Our information came from Garry Sanfacon, who is both managing this for the county and also manager of the Northern Front Range Recreational Sport Shooting Management Partnership (explained later), Boulder County Commissioner Deb Gardner, and Michelle Krezek, Commissioners Office Deputy, who has been working on this issue with the Commissioners’ Office since 2008.

How did this problem come about?

People live almost everywhere in the mountains of Boulder County; our mountains are a mosaic of land owned privately, much of it originally mining claims, surrounded by the U.S. Forest Service. The USFS was created after the mining claims were already legally established. The Forest Service is the largest landowner up here.

People from the plains like to come up here and shoot, an activity legally permitted as one of the many recreational uses of this public Forest Service land.

The problem is that our mountains are so heavily populated, that mountain residents do not feel–and are not objectively– safe with both random, dispersed shooting and some already-used designated shooting sites in the mountains. There are homes as well as hiking and social trails interspersed in the forest most everywhere up here.

Those who come up from the plains to shoot recreationally often do not realize they are anywhere near current human habitation or in areas used daily by local humans.

Is there a wildfire concern with this issue?

There is a big concern about wildfire ignition: dispersed shooters  have already started forest fires in Boulder County. (For a discussion on bullets and fires:

http://wildfiretoday.com/2013/12/05/researchers-study-ignition-of-wildfires-by-rifle-bullets/ )

Do any shooters from the plains feel uncomfortable with dispersed shooting?

Locals, day recreationists, and weekend campers from the plains tell of bullets whizzing by their heads. Over the years people have been shot in the forest, both accidentally and on purpose.

So, yes, some recreational shooters from the plains do feel unsafe with random, dispersed shooting in the mountains; they want to bring their families up here and have a safe, relaxing getaway from the city, which includes their own responsible shooting. And some want to have developed sites where they can sight in their weapons for hunting season.

 Does this issue affect hunting?

Hunting rules and regs are not on the table for discussion; these remain unchanged.

 Why is the issue coming to a crisis point now?

The population of both shooters and residents is increasing, according to Garry, bringing the safety issue to a head. The Forest Service, local counties, mountain residents, and some shooters all recognize that the current situation is “the Wild West,” not safe.

 So what are the Forest Service and County doing about it?

The Forest Service is trying to find a way to allow all who wish access to shooting in the mountains to do so, while protecting local residents and shooters from both mountains and plains who wish more safety and precision. The County is trying, too; it has fielded a lot of calls about this in past years.

The result was the coming together of the Forest Service and local counties–Clear Creek, Gilpin, Boulder, and Larimer–in the formation of the Northern Front Range Recreational Sport Shooting Management Partnership, of which Garry is the manager.

What is The Partnership supposed to do?

(1) Education and Outreach.

(2) Each county is committed to designate one or more shooting sites within its borders where people can come and shoot. These areas could be regulated, supervised, and maintained. There are funds available to develop and engineer them for safety with berms etc. Enforcement was said to be “the easiest piece,” as local sport-shooting, national groups, and private individuals are likely to rally together to help implement this.

(3) The Forest Service is proposing to amend their management plan, designating these specific sites for shooting and making it illegal to shoot in non-designated areas, at least east of the Peak to Peak, thus reducing the risk from dispersed shooting. Thus enforcement would follow the FS plan, not politics.

All the entities in the Partnership (counties and FS) are autonomous, but all are supporting each other and the Forest Service to promote common safety concerns.

Any examples of designated sites that actually work?

Three local designated shooting sites were mentioned as examples of doing it right: one in a canyon in Estes Park, one new one near Silver Plume in Clear Creek near I-70 on a nine-acre former mining site, and a gun club in North Boulder.

Would this really eliminate the dispersed shooting issue?

Per prior experience elsewhere, it’s clear the designated sites would definitely relieve the dispersed shooting issue, but they would probably not eliminate it entirely; there will always be those who just want to come up, enjoy the mountains, and shoot beer bottles.

However, once designated ranges are operating, the Forest Service would close the rest of the forest east of the Peak to Peak Highway to dispersed shooting (hunting excluded). It would be illegal and thus incur a stiff fine or/and other to-be-determined punishment.

What about shooting on our own property?

Of course mountain residents can continue to shoot safely on our own properties.

What about the sites the Forest Service has already designated?

The Forest Service has done Environmental Assessments on its currently proposed sites and found that not all are ideal by a long shot.   Locals who live next to some of these already-designated sites are alarmed because they are too close to homes, school, trails, or other places mountain humans go regularly. The county has been scouting for better sites, but, as Michelle from the Commissioners Office put it, “because of our mining history, there isn’t a site [up here] that doesn’t impact something.” At this point the county is resigned to choose “the best of the worst.”

Why can’t all the designated shooting sites just be on the plains?

The county is looking everywhere for good sites, including on the plains. All the sites cannot be on the plains because people like to come to the mountains; it is their right, as the national forests, in which recreational shooting is one prime use, belong to all of us.

So what can we as mountain residents do about this?

Find good designated shooting sites. Tell the county about sites you think would work well.

Do the sites have to be on Forest Service land?

No. Sites can be on:

• Forest Service land
• County land (if it’s on Parks and Open Space, the county would divest itself of that land, as no shooting is allowed on POS)
• Private land that would be purchased by the county for this purpose.

Who do we contact with good site recommendations?

Contact Garry with site recommendations and questions:gsanfacon@nullbouldercounty.org or info@nullsportshootingpartners.org  Or call him at 720-564-2642

So what’s the Plan of Action after finding a couple good sites?

The Forest Service will do EAs and/or EIS’s (Environmental Impact Statements–we aren’t sure at this writing which or both)

Engineer and develop them.  Determine rules and procedures for maintenance and ongoing safety

The public will continue to be consulted in all phases.

How else can I weigh in on this issue?

• Come to the Forest Service Open House in Boulder County Monday August 31 from 5-7 pm in Nederland at the Community Center. This is the only  USFS open house in our county. This is a chance to talk informally with FS representatives and other residents. There’s no presentation; you can come and go as you please.

• Send your comments to the USFS; the comment period has been extended to Sept. 9. Make them as complete as possible; we’ve heard that after the comment period closes you can only weigh in on topics you’ve written about before. Send comments to Joshua Milligan: jmilligan@nullfs.fed.us

• How can we get more information on this?

http://www.fs.usda.gov/goto/arp/recshootingmgt

 www.SportShootingPartners.org

 Respectfully,

Peter, Dina, Pam