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BLM Plan Proposes to Close more than 50,000 acres to Shooting

1259 Views 6 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  hondodawg
Got a NRA email on this. I wonder if this also includes hunting?

The St. George Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released a plan for public comment that will shape the future management of 107,337 acres of land in southwest Utah in the national conservation areas (NCA) of Beaver Dam Wash and Red Cliffs.
The deadline for public comments has been extended to November 16th. Comments may be submitted by email to [email protected] or faxed to 435-688-3252. The draft plan is available on line at http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/fo/st__george/planning2/nca_resource_management.html.
Red Cliffs NCA is already closed to recreational shooting. In the plan, the BLM' preferred strategy is to close 80% of Beaver Dam Wash NCA to recreational shooting. Another strategy offered is to close the entire NCA to shooting. Two other alternatives would leave the NCA open for shooting as it is now.
Click here to view comments that the NRA submitted along with several other national hunting, wildlife conservation, and sport shooting organizations.
Please take a little time to review the plan and the comments submitted and send your own comments to the BLM. How recreational shooting will be administered in the future in Beaver Dam Wash NCA depends on its importance to shooters and hunters who recreationally shoot to keep public lands open to the public.
-DallanC
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Oh well no worries on my end...I have a shooting range in my back yard...it's called Israel Canyon, 4 minutes from my front door and I am pulling the trigger. However closing BLM land to hunting would not be a good thing at all.
I quickly glanced over the map. Most of the areas being shut down or have already been shut down is good quail hunting areas. I wish they would show a map of the hundreds of miles of dirt roads that was all over this Wilderness and NCA that I used to ride around while growing up their.
It's not that they are proposing to shut down recreational shooting. Whenever the BLM has to go through the process of revising or updating a resource management plan they must look at every alternative to an action. That means anywhere from doing nothing to shutting an action completely down. Just because it's an alternative does not mean it is going to happen. By law they have to consider the entire spectrum.

Sadly I wouldn't mind if recreational shooting was more regulated. I know people might disagree but it is becoming more and more of a scourge. Designate fewer areas to shoot and close the rest. The garbage and off road trails are disgusting. If it happens the government isn't to blame, sadly it is us :(
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Very well said hemionus. Plus 1 to your response.
I know of some blm lands down by Leeds, Utah that have signs up that say no shooting except for licensed hunters during designated hunting seasons.
I know of some blm lands down by Leeds, Utah that have signs up that say no shooting except for licensed hunters during designated hunting seasons.
So jack rabbits and coyotes all year long!

I never had issues with shooting or trash growing up. Most people cleaned up after themselves and we're respectful towards the land and other users.
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