Interior Department may expand recreational shooting on federal lands

TUCSON — Target shooting, hunting and fishing could be expanded on public lands under a federal proposal drawing attention in Arizona.

United States Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke directed land managers to come up with a plan to expand recreational shooting in areas like Ironwood Forest National Monument in Tucson. Sitting at 129,000 acres, the monument is open to the public for hunting, fishing, camping, horseback riding and sightseeing. It is currently not open for target shooting.

The monument receives visitors daily in the form of bird watchers, students on field trips and environmentalists exploring the native vegetation.

Supporters said it could mean more hunting and fishing opportunities on federal land. Opponents think it risks people’s safety and could trash some of nature’s most pristine areas.

The potential is huge for Arizona. The federal government owns more than 38 percent of land in the state, or more than 28 million acres, according to Ballotpedia.

The Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service are among the agencies charged with coming up with a plan.

Five Arizona residents who hunt or target shoot discussed the proposed expansion and shared their stories.

Mark Hart, spokesman for Tucson’s Arizona Game and Fish Department, said the agency supports the expansion.

“We support the greatest amount of public access to public lands,” Hart said. “But the devil’s in the details. It will be up to those agencies to determine whether or not that’s an appropriate use in those areas,” Hart said.

Hart said shooting ranges are the safest place to practice shooting, but there are public places where people can shoot firearms. Recreational shooting is allowed in Coronado National Forest as long as shooters follow regulations such as not shooting across or toward roads and not shooting native vegetation.

A six-mile area in the national forest is closed to shooting because recreational shooters who used the area left behind trash, Hart said. He said there have been television sets left out that were used as targets as well as empty rounds and other debris.

Hart said the department supports “packing out what you pack in”, and leaving the land in good condition. Hart’s biggest concern with the allowance of more recreational shooting is people leaving behind their trash and leftover bullet casings.

Game and Fish has annual checkpoints to try to keep the land as clean as possible and will continue to do so if recreational shooting is expanded.

“Don’t penalize responsible shooters for irresponsible ones,” Hart said.

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