N.M. forest closes to target shooting

Susan Montoya Bryan | The Associated Press

6/5/2008 - 6/6/08

GLORIETA MESA — Freida was always there to greet them at the gate. So when the German shepherd was a no-show, Antonio and Eleanor Gonzales knew something wasn't right.

There was no sign of her along the dirt road to their home, and the front stoop was bare when they pulled up. A search ensued, and it wasn't long before they found her dead just beyond the tree line not far from the gate. She had been shot.

The Gonzaleses say it could have been them. Or worse, it could have been one of their children.

"We have bullet holes in our fences where we have our signs. You can see where they've shot at them with shotguns," says Eleanor Gonzales, 51. "It's so close to us that we can hear the bullets whizzing by."

Just over the hill from their home is a clearing at the edge of the Santa Fe National Forest. Broken beer bottles, shotgun shells, bullet casings and cardboard targets litter the ground — not unlike other spots on public land in the West where recreational target shooting has gotten out of hand.

This spot has been a favorite for years — that is, until the Forest Service decided recently to close more than 2,500 acres on Glorieta Mesa to target shooting because of concerns raised by residents. The shooting seems to have escalated in recent years.

"It's just a safety issue that needs to be looked after, and not trying to do anything about it isn't smart," Santa Fe Forest Supervisor Daniel Jiron says.

Officials elsewhere in New Mexico and in other states have been forced to take similar steps, closing thousands of acres to recreational shooting as more people move West and communities spread into the wilderness.

The entire Sandia Ranger District, which borders New Mexico's largest city, is off limits to shooting as is part of Lefthand Canyon outside Boulder, Colo. Parts of the Tonto National Forest in Arizona and the Cleveland National Forest in Southern California are closed to target shooting.

But gun enthusiasts are concerned that closing public land to recreational shooting will leave them with nowhere to go.

They point out that target shooting — as long as it doesn't pose a threat to lives or property — is a legitimate recreational activity in forests and on other public lands — just like hiking, horseback riding or fishing.

Andrew Arulanandam, a spokesman for the National Rifle Association in Washington, D.C., blames urban sprawl and politics for the demise of some gun ranges in the West. He pointed to the closures of the Index Sportsmen's Club on the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in Washington State and the range at the Knoxville Recreational Area in Northern California.

"There continues to be an effort, an organized effort, to diminish the gun culture in this country," Arulanandam said.

The United states has some
80 million gun owners, and many of them participate in recreational shooting, according to the NRA.

The problem, gun enthusiasts say, is they're being punished for the actions of a minority of irresponsible shooters.