plan could close huge area to shooters

[billrquimby]

I received a bulletin from SCI’s Washington office that says a U.S. Burearu of Land Management plan could close a big chunk of southern Arizona to shooting.

 

Here’s what SCI says about the plan’s four alternatives:

 

“A is the no-action alternative keeping target shooting just as it is. B is the most restrictive management alternative and along with C, would close the Monument to recreational shooting; and D is access-oriented and would allow shooting to continue as is. The problem is that neither A nor D addresses the acknowledged issues related to target shooting and so they are not believable management alternatives. What is missing is some kind of middle ground for target shooting: it is either shoot everywhere or shoot nowhere.”

 

Here is the BLM press release:

 

 

ronwood Forest National Monument Resource Management Plan

 

  Draft Resource Management Plan / Draft Environmental Impact Statement

The BLM Tucson Field Office announces publication of the Draft Resource Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement (DRMP). The document will be available for a 90-day public review and comment period from March 2 to May 30, 2007.

 

The document is now available on the web (link above). A limited number of printed copies and CDs are also available. You may request a copy by contacting Mark Lambert, Project Lead, at BLM Tucson Field Office, 12661 E. Broadway Blvd., Tucson, AZ, 85748, by calling BLM at 520-258-7200, or by e-mail at AZ_IFNM_RMP@blm.gov. Please specify which media type you prefer.

 

During the 90-day public comment period, BLM will hold a number of meetings to introduce the document and provide an opportunity for the public to comment. Meeting dates and locations are posted under Meeting Information.

 

The DRMP presents four different alternatives for management of the Ironwood Forest National Monument (IFNM), which take into consideration comments received by other governmental agencies, public organizations, tribal entities, and interested individuals.

 

Also included in the DRMP is a Draft Environmental Impact Statement which analyzes the potential impacts from the management strategies that would be employed under each alternative.

 

The IFNM was established by Presidential Proclamation in June 2000. The 129,000-acre monument, located about 25 miles northwest of Tucson, encompasses several desert mountain ranges including the Silvebell, Waterman, and Sawtooth ranges, and possesses one of the richest stands of ironwood trees in the Sonoran Desert.

 

The monument contains several archaeological districts and a significant system of cultural and historical sites covering a 5,000-year period.

 

The monument also features a wide diversity of vegetation and wildlife.

[CouesWhitetail]

here is a link to the plan:

 

http://www.blm.gov/az/lup/ironwood/DEIS.htm

[audsley]

This is a tough one. Rapid growth on the north, south and east sides of Ironwood poses a serious threat to the habitat and the mule deer and sheep. ATVs and sign-shooters have BLM and enviros rightly concerned, and we should be too.

 

Part of the problem is illegal dumping. Then shooters come along and shoot up the debris and leave brass all over the place, and shooters get blamed for the whole mess. (I've been guilty myself of shooting at empty propane tanks, etc.; I no longer do it.)

 

Unless the hunting and shooting community steps up and becomes part of the solution, we will be the object of the solution. BLM is clearly unable to provide adequate enforcement. Nothing we say or do will change that. Budgets are tight for all public lands agencies, and we aren't going to change that fact at any meeting.

 

I suggest hunters and shooters living nearby form a "friends" group that cleans up the area periodically. (Note: There is already a Friends of Ironwood group that is made up of enviros, not hunters and shooters. Guess who BLM will likely view as being the "good guys"?)

 

Also note that Tucson Rod & Gun Club recently did a cleanup at Redington Pass. That place is an embarrasment to the shooting sports. We don't need more places like that in the Ironwood Monument for the preservationists to use against us.

 

I'd get directly involved myself, but I live 40 miles away and don't shoot at Ironwood. I have other places to worry about. The neighborhood sportsmen and gun aficianados are in the best position to take the reins.

 

Final note: There is an urban myth in the neighborhood that poaching of mule deer is a huge problem at Ironwood. Recently I got an earful from a local while working on a habitat project up there, and he actually had me convinced. Got me wondering why I bother working my tail off to enhance the mule deer population if some jerks are going to come along and poach them as fast as they're born. But I subsequently learned that this story is greatly exaggerated, if not entirely untrue. I asked both the G&F unit manager and the BLM land manager how likely it is there's a deer poaching problem in the monument. Almost zero, I was told, simply because there is now so few deer in the monument that they could probably give each deer a name and keep them straight, and it's been that way for several years. I mention this because you may hear it at the meeting or from enviros speaking elsewhere. Many may believe it, but it isn't true. What is needed is more wildlife waters (which is being worked on) and fewer coyotes. So if shooters in the Ironwood neighborhood want to lend a hand with wildlife, learn to call and then get busy.

[ultramag]

I have seen those garbage dump areas That some people shoot at. Its a down right disgrace. A pure example of a few that make it bad for many.

[hunterdude]

Alot of the trash in that area is from U.D.A.s i've seen it myself. Yea people go out and shoot and leave trash behind, but I don't think they are the ones leaving clothes and water jugs!