HomeMy WebLinkAbout20091708.tiffUnited States Forest
USDA Department of Service
Agriculture
Dave Long
Weld County Commissioner
915 10th Street, 3rd Floor
Greeley, CO 80631
Dear Commissioner Long:
Pawnee
National Grassland
660 "O" Street
Greeley, CO 80631
Voice: (970) 346-5000 TDD: (970) 346-5015
Web: www.fs.fed.us/r2/arnf
Fax: (970) 346-5014
File Code: 2330
Date: July 9, 2009
CERTIFIED MAIL - RETURN
RECEIPT REQUESTED
NUMBER:
I am writing in regard to an emergency closure that has been implemented on 280 acres of the
Pawnee National Grassland (PNG). Since I initially contacted you to notify you of this issue, I
have been unable to reach you to provide updated information and am sorry your schedule has
not allowed for our direct communication. Therefore, I want to take this opportunity to provide
you with the latest, most accurate information.
Over the past two years we've discussed the U.S. Forest Service's concerns over irresponsible
shooting, which includes safety concerns over documented near miss incidents between grazing
permittees, the range rider's cabin, and researchers; property damage occurring to grazing
improvements such as windmills and stock tanks; damage to powerline transformers; and
dumping of appliances, computer monitors, etc. after they'd been used as shooting targets. To
address these issues during this time, we increased our law enforcement patrols, added signing,
had a site visit with the media and issued press releases, updated and distributed our PNG target
shooting brochure, and continued to work closely with our partners. Despite all of these efforts,
these irresponsible behaviors are still negatively impacting our neighbors living adjacent to the
PNG, people working on the PNG, and improvements installed on the PNG to facilitate grazing
operations. Sports shooting popularity continues to increase on the Grassland as urban
population growth brings increased numbers of shooters from surrounding counties
The near miss incidents that occurred within the same weekend concerned me greatly, in that
either of these could have resulted in serious injury or death. These incidents were documented
and investigated by the Weld County Sheriff's office and the U.S. Forest Service. I cannot
ignore these incidents and therefore decided it was time to take additional action. As you stated
to me and I agree, this closure will not resolve the larger problem of irresponsible shooting on
the Grassland. However, I believe it will mitigate some of the immediate risks to Mr. and Mrs.
Stannard and the current occupant of the range rider's cabin. The closure order will also help
draw attention to this issue, and hopefully cause the irresponsible shooters to think about the
possible consequences of their careless actions.
I did not take consideration of this temporary shooting closure order lightly. The U.S. Forest
Service considered multiple options to determine the most effective location and size of the
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closure. We decided to close a small buffer along two roads (see attached map) for a total of 280
acres. This represents .001% of the PNG, leaving the remainder of the Grassland still open to
recreational shooting. We solicited input from many sources, such as the individuals affected by
the near misses, the grazing association, Weld County Sheriff, the National Riffle Association
(local and state), the Front Range Shooting Sports Partnership, and yourself.
We acknowledge and value recreational sports shooting as an important opportunity for the
public on the PNG, and it is unfortunate there are those who disregard safe shooting practices.
We will continue to work with our partners to evaluate a more long-term strategy for addressing
this problem.
We are planning a field trip to the closure area for interested individuals in the near future and
would like to invite you and the other commissioners to join the group. I will call your office to
verify the date and time.
Please contact me if you have any questions, as I look forward to our continued communication
regarding important issues on the Pawnee National Grassland.
Sincerely,
/s/Lori A. Bell
LORI A. BELL
District Ranger
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