John Scarffe, Peak to Peak.   The Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grassland released its draft decision on the Recreational Sport Shooting (RSS) Management Project on September 20, 2018. The project aims to provide safe, responsible and accessible recreational sport shooting opportunities while providing for public health and safety.

According to a Forest Service news release, the draft decision would restrict recreational sport shooting on 225,574 acres of the 1.4-million-acre Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests. Other areas of the forest and around Colorado remain available for recreational sport shooting when following all rules and regulations. The draft decision will not affect lawful hunting with a firearm in areas where it is currently allowed.

“The Partnership between the counties, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and the U.S. Forest Service devised a balanced strategy that provides better opportunities for recreational sport shooting while addressing the concerns of our mountain residents,” said Clear Creek County Commissioner Tim Mauck. “Along with strong public input, the draft decision represents a tremendous win-win for all stakeholders that enjoy our public lands in the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests.”

Gilpin County residents had an opportunity to provide feedback into the project. Representatives of the Northern Front Range Recreational Sport Shooting Management Partnership presented four proposals for closing recreational shooting in the Peak to Peak area forest lands on November 6, 2017, at the Gilpin County Community Center. Partnership Project Coordinator Garry Sanfacon introduced the partnership to about 60 people and allowed time for comments.

The draft decision is a modification of the local factors alternative previously released to the public for review, according to the news release. The feedback from the alternative map meetings hosted by the Partnership helped identify strengths and weaknesses of the various alternatives and led the Forest Supervisor to select this modified alternative.

The three components to the draft decision are language amending the ARP Forest Plan to address management of RSS; a forest-wide map showing areas where RSS is unsuitable and will be restricted; and an adaptive management strategy that allows the Forest Service to quickly respond should new or unforeseen safety issues occur in the future, according to the release.

Additional information, including the draft decision and an interactive map, is available on the website at https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=46910. The release of the draft decision starts the formal 45-day objection period, according to the release. Only those who provided comments during the formal comment period have standing to object.

A phased implementation plan will be coordinated with partners as public shooting areas are constructed, according to the release. Many of the restrictions are contingent on shooting ranges being developed to maintain recreational shooting opportunities in those areas with the most restrictions.

A final decision is expected toward the end of 2018 or early 2019. No implementation will take place until a final decision is signed, according to the release. The Forest Service wants to remind everyone that this draft decision is in addition to already established requirements for recreational sport shooting, and no restrictions in the draft decision will be implemented until a final decision is signed.

Sarah Beck, forest planner and forest environmental coordinator based in Fort Collins, wrote the Draft Decision Notice and Finding of No Significant Impact for Recreational Sport Shooting Management. The population of Colorado’s Front Range has grown from 3.9 million to 4.4 million from 2010 to 2016, and that growth is projected to continue.

The Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests (ARNF) are the fourth most visited National Forest in the nation, Beck wrote. In addition to visitors to the ARNF, a complicated ownership pattern with about 19,000 residences and other structures exist within the boundary.

“These pressures are expected to increase with the continued growth of population in this part of the State,” Beck wrote. Discharging firearms on National Forest System land, both during lawful hunting and target or recreational sport shooting, is governed by the Code of Federal Regulations and applicable local, state and federal law; however, given the population growth, recreation use and complicated land ownership patterns, the current regulations are not guaranteeing the safety of all of the people who live, work and recreate within the region.

“The purpose of this project is to determine where recreational sport shooting is unsuitable at a landscape scale on the ARNF,” Beck wrote.

Because the purpose of this project is to protect public safety, the decision identifies areas of wilderness with known safety concerns as unsuitable for recreational sport shooting, such as very highly used trails. “Areas were not identified as unsuitable for recreational sport shooting because of potential degradation of wilderness character.”

Areas should be identified as unsuitable for recreational sport shooting if they meet any of the following: close proximity of the area to residential development or high recreation use; topography or terrain does not provide for safe and effective backstops; or other threats to public health and safety, according to the draft decision.

This decision implements a modified version of the map analyzed as the Local Factors alternative in the EA. This alternative was developed in conjunction with the Front Range Partnership.

It uses three factors to determine which lands are unsuitable for recreational sport shooting, according to the draft. Those factors are residential housing density, high use recreation areas on both NFS and other public lands, and existing conflicts between sport shooting and other uses on NFS and other public lands.

“The Local Factors alternative was further refined using public input during the fall and winter of 2017,” Beck wrote. “This map identifies those lands that are unsuitable for recreational sport shooting.”

Areas identified as unsuitable for recreational sport shooting would be closed to shooting via a forest order once shooting opportunities at developed shooting ranges became available to the public. Areas currently closed to shooting by forest order will remain closed, regardless of when new developed shooting ranges become available, Beck wrote.

If no objections are filed within the 45-day time period, approval of the proposed project documented in a final decision notice may occur on, but not before, the fifth business day following the end of the objection filing period, according to the draft. If objections are filed, the responsible official may not sign a decision until the reviewing officer has responded in writing to all pending objections and all concerns and instructions identified in the objection response have been addressed.

For additional information concerning this decision or the Forest Service objection process, contact Sarah Beck, forest planner and forest environmental coordinator, 2150 Centre Ave Building E, Fort Collins, CO 80521, or email: sebeck@fs.fed.us.

(Originally published in the September 27, 2018, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)