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Target shooters assist forest agency to close unsafe shooting sites.

Responsible shooters know how to recognize a good place to shoot on public lands. They also know what a bad place looks like. If it doesn't have a high earthen berm backstop, it's not a good place to shoot. If it's a tree, downed log or a stump, it's not a good backstop. If it's heavily wooded with fire hazardous materials, it's not worth risking a fire. If it's on a roadway, trail, across water, near outbuildings or out into the wild blue yonder, it's not safe. These are the concerns a responsible shooter looks for when seeking out a safe place to shoot.

The increase in recreational shooting, over the past several years, has also increased the use of unsafe and fire hazardous areas. This is a concern for forest officials, general public and target shooters as well. Public and personal safety is first and foremost in mind for responsible shooters.

On Saturday, Oct 26, 2019, the Trash No Land organization and volunteers from Northwest Firearms forum teamed up with the Oregon Department of Forestry, in the Tillamook State Forest, to post and close six unsafe and fire hazardous dispersed shooting locations on the East side of the Tillamook Forest. These are specific places that do not meet the standard (rules) for safe and lawful target practice.

Previously, representatives from Trash No Land partnered with ODF officials to evaluate many commonly used dispersed shooting locations to identify potential concerns. Many places were marked Green and deemed safe and lawful, however, some were Red-Tagged as being unsafe and/or possess a risk of fire danger. It was the Red-Tagged locations that no shooting signs were posted on the 26th.

While choosing a safe place to shoot on public lands is common sense to most shooters, some are not thinking about the basic, (top priority), necessity of choosing a safe place. It must have an earthen berm backstop, not be shooting into trees, stumps or downed logs, not shooting down a roadway or trails, across a waterway, near outbuildings, nor across valleys where other roads and trails may be. Every shooter is responsible for each round they send down range and no rounds should leave the range.

Responsible shooters everywhere appreciate the cooperation of forest officials and we thank the Oregon Dept. of Forestry for their help in providing the materials and collaboration in the efforts to improve and promote responsible recreational shooting.

The photos record the days event. You will notice we were joined by some nice folks who were simply out for a day of family fun and decided to invest a small part of their time to help clean up. That's what sharing our forest is all about!

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Thank you for your help,
@Flymph
@stick655 !

Attention @Joe Link , it looks like stick655 needs some more green on this profile status! Thanks!
 
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I'll be posting that to social media on Sunday morning.

Again, thank you Clint and Evan for your help! You guys saved my back side! I'm in fine shape this evening, thanks to you!
 
Another way we can help make shooters look good... (I posted this to our FB page and to a local community closed FB group in Rural Washougal, to represent shooters as concerned users of the forest and that we also care for the quality of recreation for all).

We went back to the Yacolt Burn State Forest today, to finish the graffiti removal job we started last weekend! One of our Board members, Gary, @WrenchNguns , joined me today as we covered the remaining graffiti at 3 dispersed shooting sites on the L1200 and L1600 roads.

We also checked the trail heads along the way but noticed they were already cleaned up, and I know who cleaned them!!! Thank you Crystal Crowder of PISTONS WILD Motorsports Club!

If you see someone with a can of spray paint, stop them or turn them in (unless it's me... I'll be using grey paint and covering the markings )! Defacing public land is not cool... AT ALL!!!

Enjoy the forest!
Bill


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Let me know when you go the extra mile so I can share that with the 'Social' crowd!
 
The Tahuya State Forest, North of Olympia near Belfair, WA, was our destination on Saturday, Nov 2nd. Trash No Land board member Gary @WrenchNguns and myself, Bill Cogley, set out to get a first hand view of target shooting sites in the Tahuya.

Our guide was Shane Muhleman, a long time volunteer and representative supporting the shooting sports on the Tahuya. Shane has been very active in the efforts to save good places to shoot and knows the forest inside and out.

Our mission was to see the sites that are currently being used and apply thought to public and personal safety. We got a good feel for site proximity to other recreational activity and to the neighboring community. We now have a much clearer idea of the remaining shooting sites (which are not many!).

The sites we visited were good places to shoot and have all the features needed to accommodate safe, legal shooting on public land. Distances to any nearby residents is reasonable and the noise level, if heard at those distances, would be minimal.

We did notice a few things that could, and should, be improved. Small things that would make a big difference in safety, ease of cleanup, accessibility and a couple user enhancements. We will give serious thought to these potential improvements and hope to recommend them to WA Dept of Natural Resources.

Thank you, Shane, for your service to the Tahuya and to the recreation shooters! You have, and are, making a difference in promoting responsible shooting on public lands!

Shane is the administrator of a Facebook page:
Target Shooting on DNR Land in Mason/Kitsap Counties

#StewardshipKeepsItOpen!

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Here's what we do. And we do it well! Check out the video to see how we're putting "Boots On The Ground" to save places to shoot and restoring a good name to recreational shooters. At the same time, we're improving the environment and preserving our natural resources. Pretty sweet package, eh?!!!

We can always use some help with Donations, Volunteering, Tech stuff, Video team & equipment, Board of Directors, Grant writing & searching, Bookkeeping, Legal advise, Website development, Social media, a bigger truck... Oh, did I say a bigger truck? Yeah, dang it, I need a bigger truck! BUTT,,, I'll use my own money for that before I use donated money. I want all donated funds to go towards furthering the cause.

(Note: Even the music production was donated by Xolie Mora and the Strange Kind, a band out of Tacoma, WA. I wrote it and sang it but Xolie put the music to it and brought it to life. She's awesome!)

Boots On The Ground
 
I need some support! Letters of support for an NRA grant to improve 1 dispersed shooting site in the Santiam State Forest.

Can you write a letter of support for improving dispersed recreational shooting in the Santiam? Include mentions of things like supporting maintenance and care for the place, and your preference of shooting at an improved vs unimproved site. My email address is below.

This spot is in the area North of Crooked Finger, accessed from the small town of Scotts Mills via the S Maple Grove Rd, Sawtell Rd and down the S Family Camp Rd. The Oregon Dept of Forestry wants to do some improvements in that area and we've chosen the first place to do it. We're currently, and aggressively, working on the NRA grant for some financial assistance and we need to attach letters of support from the target shooting community. The improvements will be very similar to the North Fork Wolf Creek Rd Shooting Lanes we helped with in the Tillamook State Forest. Same Jersey Barrier firing lines, same eco block/impact gravel backstop berms in front of the hillside. Built for sustainability. This place will have a short pistol range and a longer 100 yard range.

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I would like to submit letters from those who shoot in the Santiam, as well as, letters from outside the area by people who have supported the Trash No Land efforts with cleanup events, lane improvement work and brochure distribution efforts. ODF will also provide a letter or two.

This will not be a 'Designated Only' place. Dispersed shooting will remain open throughout the forest, however, we are simply going to make this spot nicer and safer to use than typical places we normally shoot at. After this one is done, we have a few more that ODF would like to do. They are very determined to do this!

I have made a commitment to help get this done and I hope I can get some help from those of you who shoot in the Santiam. I trust that is effort is appreciated by those of you who shoot on public lands.

Email your letter to: [email protected] .

My grant deadline is this coming Dec. 3rd! So I need the letters well before that!

Thank you!

Bill
 
It was only 1 1/4 hours to drive here from Washougal WA in Saturday morning light traffic. I was surprised to see so few people out shooting, even at 11 AM when I was getting ready to leave. The volume of trash is minimal in this part of the forest, which tells me either not many people shoot there or those that do are keeping it cleaned up pretty well. Certainly nothing like the trash and destruction going on down in Crooked Finger. (With hearing all the crap that goes on down in Crooked Finger, sounds like it's best to find a better place to shoot!).

The drive is reasonable for most of us who are used to an hour to hour & a half to get to a good shooting site. I simply went straight down Hwy 213 from Oregon City and cut over to Scotts Mills and left on S Maple Grove Rd. Nice drive and was well worth it. Got there by 8 AM.
 
THANK YOU VOLUNTEERS of 2019!!!

You've helped us save our places to shoot!

You've helped us improve our environment!

You've helped us spread the word about being more responsible when shooting on public lands!

You've helped us shed a positive light on recreational target shooting on public lands.

You've helped us keep the cause alive and well!

You've helped us make the forest great again!

We are THANKFUL FOR YOU!

Donate when you can to help keep it going!

Thank you!!!

#StewardshipKeepsItOpen!
#TrashNoLand


Trash No Land Donate Page

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@Cogs and anyone else ...

One of the posts here says not to use milk jugs as targets. I'm wondering why?

I like to use them, they provide some dynamic response when filled with water and are very easy to pick up and bring home when done. You can then just toss them into the recycling bin and not take up valuable "regular trash" space in your can. The worst thing is the cap sometimes separates from the rest of the jug and is hard to find.

I also shoot at aluminum cans for the same reasons. They can be a bit more dicey picking up due to sharp edges but a glove solves that problem.

So am I missing something here … other than there are folks who leave their junk out on the range, but then that is an issue for whatever they bring to shoot, not just jugs and cans.

Looking to learn here!

Thanks everyone!
 
It's because of the rules for public lands shooting. Used to be we could shoot what ever we want as long as we remove it when done. The removal part didn't happen so a rule was made. Targets are supposed to be manufactured targets made specifically for the purpose of target shooting or home printed paper targets.

I prefer the old way, but, if we want to improve our look and sport, we gotta follow the rules.

Bill
 

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