North Site CLOSED!!!!

[Glock Shooter]

I feel like someone just kicked me in the balls. I really enjoyed myself last time I was there and planned on going back tomorrow morning. Guess I'll have to wait the 10 years for the BRC.

[BoulderLaw]

Contact your congress critters:

Senate:
http://markudall.senate.gov/?p=casework_form
http://bennet.senate.gov/contact/

House (2nd CD):
http://polis.house.gov/Contact/ContactForm.htm

General:
http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

Here is what I wrote:

Congressman Polis,

Recently, the Forest Service closed a popular, safe, and well-maintained recreational shooting area outside of Lyons:

http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/arnf/conditi...nsparkdump.pdf

As a long-time user of this public land, this closure comes as a shock to me. Over the past five years I have enjoyed using this public land for recreational shooting. It has a good backstop, is in an extremely rural area, and is perhaps the only location within the Boulder area where recreational shooting is still allowed and feasible on public lands.

I have always been a good steward of this area, picking up the trash I generate and any trash left by others. In the past year, I have been picking up less and less trash because there simply is not much trash left there anymore. The public has done a remarkable job of keeping this shooting area clean and safe. And that commitment to stewardship has only improved in the time I have been visiting this public land.

The Forest Service has indicated that the closure is due to health and safety concerns; however, the shooting area has been used safely for decades. Nothing has changed in the past few years that would justify this dramatic about-face.

Also, as an attorney specializing in public land use issues, I have grave concerns about the legality of the Forest Service's closure of this shooting area. This action smacks of arbitrary and capricious decision-making, which is expressly forbidden by Federal law.

I respectfully urge you to contact the Forest Service and request that the shooting area be reopened pending a full investigation of the health and safety concerns that may or may not justify modifying the public use of this land.

Best,
Jim Manley, Esq.

[Hannu]

I was thinking about moving to Lyons... But if there is not any place to shoot nearby, probably gonna skip it.
Is there any place to shoot nearby Lyons ?

[Daniel_187]

can't we just shoot in roosevelt national forest, I heard that you can. Don't know if its true

[Adawg38]

Nicely put BoulderLaw. Thanks for backing us up!

[Sucka]

Man that sucks. Glad i saw this i was fixing to head up there soon.

And contacting Polis is a waste of time. He's probably one of the most liberal congressman in the house. He wouldn't even answer my email concerning guns during his campaign, he demanded to know where i lived in his district before he would answer. Fuck that guy.

[brass-meister]

Well put BoulderLaw. I see this type of closure activity all through this area. The old Left Hand site and more recently the 4wd access trail in Castle Gulch, just south of Jamestown. There wasn't any explanation to that access closure, but I bet a dollar to a donut it was the a$$ hat that lives across the street from trail entrance. I stopped there in the fall of 2008 to photograph an old gold milling site that is adjacent to the access, and 5 minutes hadn't passed and he was over questioning me if I was shooting in the area (someone was, maybe a 1/4 mile in or so by the report) and was bitching how he disliked "shooters" in the area. "this is my home and I shouldn't have to put up with this" he says. 2 weeks later there were metal stakes pounded in the ground right at the edge of the road so you couldn't even pull over off the asphalt. Then "mysteriously" large boulders show up conveniently in the MIDDLE of the trail and "no public access" signs show up nailed to trees. The final nail in the coffin shows up a few weeks ago as "official" Forest Service closure signs are installed. How does this happen? I understood if these trails have been in use for X numbers of years they just can't be randomly closed. How do people in who live in a NATIONAL FOREST get access closed to other citizens?

The shooting rule is you must be at a minimum, 150 yards from a road or structure, not shoot across a road and have a safe backstop to shoot in to. I'd like buy a range finder and visit the neighboring areas that have closed from complaints to exercise MY rights...
Is this passive-aggressive?... my x would probably think so.

[jh308]

. I'd like buy a range finder and visit the neighboring areas that have closed from complaints to exercise MY rights...

I think this is a great idea. If they force us w/in a 150 yards of them, maybe they'll leave us alone if we're next time we're a couple of miles away.

[Ed_S]

The shooting rule is you must be at a minimum, 150 yards from a road or structure, not shoot across a road and have a safe backstop to shoot in to. I'd like buy a range finder and visit the neighboring areas that have closed from complaints to exercise MY rights...
Is this passive-aggressive?... my x would probably think so.[/quote]

You also can't shoot across a river or within 150 yards of a trail.

[Ed_S]

can't we just shoot in roosevelt national forest, I heard that you can. Don't know if its true

Yes you can. There are some rules but they're pretty straightforward.