Comment Now!
The Medford District BLM has proposed the Anderson Butte Safety Project to address concerns surrounding unsafe and irresponsible target shooting in the Anderson Butte area. To view BLM’s Scoping Notice for the Anderson Butte Safety Project click here to download the document.For many years ANN, recreationists who utilize the area, and many Applegate Valley neighbors in the region surrounding Anderson Butte have expressed concerns for public safety associated with rampant and highly irresponsible target shooting at trailheads, road pullouts, old log landings and across vast, open slopes with public hiking trails and communities below. We believe the public deserves a safe, enjoyable, natural experience on their public lands. The BLM has an obligation to provide this experience and basic public safety, but has failed to do so in many parts of the Applegate Valley.
COMMENT NOW! Comment information can be found at the bottom of this post!
As the problems on Anderson Butte grew and spread, local residents started to feel the impact of rampant, nearby public land shooting. Currently, at any time throughout a vast swath of Sterling Creek Road, Griffin Lane and Little Applegate Road, gunfire can be heard ringing out across the valley. The once quiet communities now have the “noise-scape” of a war zone with automatic weapons and tannerite explosions occurring regularly.
In January of 2016 a neighbor in the Griffin Lane area had a stray bullet lodge into her front door. Other neighbors and many hikers on the Sterling Ditch, Jack-Ash and Wolf Gap Trails have also been threatened by stray bullets while enjoying either their public lands or their own private residential property.
With development of the long awaited Jack-Ash Trail the problems intensified. The Jack-Ash Trail was heavily supported by the public and required significant collaborative efforts between the Siskiyou Upland Trail Association, the public and the BLM. The project was approved by the BLM and funded through private donations, grants, extensive volunteer efforts and agency support. Despite approving the development of the Jack-Ash Trail and identifying numerous locations (namely trailheads) in the area as “closed to target shooting” in the 2016 RMP, the BLM has failed to enforce these closures and ensure public safety on the Jack-Ash Trail.
Many hikers, equestrians and mountain bikers have experienced the trauma of approaching a trailhead with excessive automatic gunfire occuring. They have felt unsafe and vulnerable to bullets raining down on designated recreational trails. The impact to trail users has been to either risk your life enjoying the Jack-Ash Trail or avoid the area altogether. After the considerable collaborative and volunteer efforts to build this beautiful non-motorized trail, public members are frustrated and upset that basic public safety has not been protected by our local land managers.
The situation is particularly problematic not only because of the level of recreational use and the number of residential properties surrounding the area, but also because of the open nature of the environment on Anderson Butte. Much of the area supports south- and west-facing slopes with broad sloping grasslands and large stands of chaparral. These areas do not provide a backstop and bullets can fly unobstructed across long distances towards homes, communities and public recreational trails. The situation is extremely dangerous and at some point someone could be killed or injured by stray bullets.
Multiple fires have also been started in the Anderson Butte area since 2002 from irresponsible target shooting, further threatening the communities below. These human caused ignitions are preventable and can be reduced by prohibiting target shooting in the Anderson Butte area.
BLM’s Proposal: The Anderson Butte Safety Project
The BLM has finally responded with the proposed Anderson Butte Safety Project. The project would create a temporary (two year only) target shooting closure in the Anderson Additions Extensive Recreational Management Area to protect public safety in the area around Anderson Butte and the Jack-Ash Trail. Although ANN is supportive of this action, we believe it is not enough. We also encourage local neighbors and recreationists who love Anderson Butte to provide comment on this project. Below are recommendations for your comment and an outline of ANN’s position on this issue. Information on submitting public comment is listed at the end of this post.
ANN’s Proposal: Permanent Closure
ANN is recommending a permanent closure on recreational target shooting in the broader Anderson Butte area. This should include the entire region between the Bear Creek Valley near Talent and Phoenix, Oregon, Wagner Gap/Wagner Creek Road, Little Applegate Road, Sterling Creek Road and Griffin Lane. This prohibition should be targeted at recreational shooting from roads, landings and trailheads. Such prohibitions would allow for backcountry hunting off existing roads, while ensuring the problem of irresponsible shooting is not simply transferred to another portion of the region.
The shooting closure should be accompanied by aggressive enforcement and monitoring efforts focused on maintaining public safety. The BLM should take this obligation seriously and take actions that will protect visitor safety and the safety of nearby residents. This should include regular patrolling by BLM law enforcement, aggressively citing violators, cleaning up and maintaining clean, garbage-free areas in previously used shooting areas. All landings in the area should also be clearly posted as closed to recreational target shooting.
ANN would like to clearly state that we take no position on the Second Amendment and understand the right of people to bear arms. We also take no position on public land hunting, although in general, we support ethical, backcountry hunting as a valid public use. What we do take a position on is irresponsible, dispersed shooting on public lands. We are extremely concerned by the impacts associated with irresponsible shooting to our communities, to public safety and to our environment.
We also believe that the BLM’s multiple use policy has been replaced in many locations by a “dominant use” policy, where the most intrusive, intimidating and dominant uses are the most prominent uses of public land and are allowed to displace other users due to safety concerns or degraded recreation and habitat values. Implementation of the BLM’s multi-use policy must, at times, mean curtailing incompatible uses to ensure public safety, and ensure enjoyable recreational opportunities are available for all public land users. The BLM must abandon this long standing free-for-all on public lands and begin managing the region as a sustainable recreational resource.
Comment Now: Public Comments will be accepted until Feb 1, 2019
Mail: BLM-Ashland Field Office
Attn: Kristi Mastrofini
3040 Biddle Road
Medford, Oregon 97504
Email:
BLM_OR_MD_Mail@blm.gov
RE: Anderson Butte Safety Project
I support ANN in limiting and closing the Anderson Butte blm area to target shooting. I prefer NOT to hear gunshots while hiking/ horseback riding in the mountains.