by Dave Workman
Senior Editor
Twenty-five months after a Gun Week investigation revealed that an obscure US Forest Service (USFS) regulation was being used to shut down traditional recreational shooting areas in several national forests, the USFS has issued a memorandum to halt the practice and clarify the meaning of the regulation.
The issue surfaced in the Boulder, CO, ranger district, where the district ranger there had closed a popular shooting area along a forest road, contending that under federal regulation 36 CFR 261.10, shooting could not be allowed within 150 yards of any road because a road is considered an “occupied area.” This argument, Gun Week learned, was based on an alleged unpublished ruling by an unidentified federal magistrate in Washington state.
Gun Week tracked down the source of that report, a now-deceased USFS enforcement officer, who said that no such ruling ever happened. The “rural myth,” as it was described two years ago by Department of Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey, actually was merely an observation by a judge in a case in which the late Shane Wyrsch was the arresting officer. He had cited a man for shooting along a forest road several years ago, and the magistrate—according to Wyrsch’s recollection—had simply observed that if there were traffic on a road it “might” be considered an occupied area. But it was not a ruling, Wyrsch assured Gun Week. About two months after Wyrsch’s interview, he was killed in a head-on collision with a drunk driver.
Despite Gun Week’s revelations and the statement by Rey in a September interview in these pages, enforcement of the regulation under the 150-yard “occupied area” interpretation continued. The controversy became so heated in Colorado that it resulted in a public meeting with several state lawmakers and USFS officials earlier this year.
The problem was resolved with an Aug. 29 memorandum to all regional foresters, station directors, area supervisors and USFS law enforcement supervisors from Joel Holtrop, deputy chief of the National Forest System. In that memorandum, Holtrop was blunt: “Roads are not inherently considered occupied areas under 261.10(d) (1).”
A few paragraphs later, he reiterated, “Roads should not be considered inherently occupied areas under 261.10(d) (1).”
The memorandum further advised, “If there are concerns about public safety in areas along roads, units should work with the public and specific user groups through education and open communication to address problem situations, emphasize responsible use, and ultimately provide for public safety.”
Rey took a personal interest in the situation, and ultimately that led to the release of the memorandum, according to sources at the Department of Agriculture.
“I am pleased that this issue has come to closure,” Rey said in a statement to Gun Week. “Sportsmen are an important partner to the US Forest Service and to this Administration. The recent Executive Order issued by the President, ‘Facilitation of Hunting Heritage and Wildlife Conservation,’ is testimony of our commitment to access for hunting on public lands.”
This may have been spurred by the handling of the Boulder Ranger District shooting area shutdown, which apparently was done without much notice. A neighbor to the area, television producer Michael Bane, told Gun Week at the time that he went to the impromptu gun range, located just off a national forest road near his home, and found it posted as closed under the 36 CFR 210.10 justification.
Susan Reece, who has been working the recreational shooting issue for the National Rifle Association for several years, also credited Melissa Simpson, a deputy undersecretary for Agriculture under Rey, for getting the issue resolved. Simpson has spoken and traded e-mail with Gun Week on several occasions during the past two years about the recreational shooting problem.
“She has played really a pivotal role on keeping recreational shooting and the shooting sports issues as a top priority,” Reece said. “There’s hardly been anyone who has been more committed to the hunting and shooting community’s concerns.”
Reece confirmed that Rey had devoted considerable attention to the issue after the Gun Week investigation and interview in 2005.
Under terms of the Holtrop memorandum, additional emphasis is being placed on an “interagency hunting, fishing, and shooting sports memorandum of understanding (MOU)” that was issued one year ago. Holtrop noted, “The purpose of the MOU is to revitalize our relationship with the Shooting Sports Roundtable, bring additional resources to bear on problem solving, and identify opportunities for shooting sports enthusiasts.”
This constituted a very public about face on the subject of recreational shooting on national forest lands. Reece suggested that until this issue was brought to the public’s attention, the USFS had never managed for recreational shooting as it has for other outdoor activities, such as hiking, camping or climbing.