Management Plan Will Affect Target Shooting on Public Lands in Southwest Colorado

The Bureau of Land Management’s Uncompahgre Field Office has drafted a plan to manage over 675,000 acres of public land for the next 15 to 20 years.  In the draft plan are four management strategies (alternatives) that will affect the future use of the land for hunting, target shooting, and a host of other recreation activities.  The plan does not affect hunting; however, each of the alternatives would close acreage to target shooting.

Alternative A, the no-action or status-quo management strategy, would continue to prohibit target shooting at developed recreational sites.  Slightly over 2,000 acres are affected.  Alternative B would close nearly 250,000 acres, or well over half of the planning area, to target shooting.  Alternative C is the same as Alternative A with respect to target shooting.  Alternative D, which is the BLM’s preferred management strategy, would close nearly 70,000 acres to target shooting.

The draft plan is available at http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/fo/ufo/uncompahgre_rmp.html (or www.uformp.com). 

For more information, contact Gina Jones, National Environmental Policy Act Coordinator, at gmjones@blm.gov or (970) 240-5300.

Public comments will be accepted until November 1st.  Comments may be submitted by email to uformp@blm.gov or by mail to the BLM, Uncompahgre Field Office, 2465 S. Townsend Ave., Montrose, CO  81401. 

The NRA and several of its shooting sports partners submitted a letter of comments on the draft plan.

If these public lands are important places where you recreate, please submit your comments to the BLM letting the agency know what lands you believe should remain open to target shooting that are being proposed for closure.  There are many competing recreational interests so the future of target shooting totally depends on its importance to you as a local shooter and/or hunter and how involved you become in this planning process.