Why It Matters: Recreational shooting is a longstanding and highly popular activity on our federal public lands. For many sportsmen and women, including target shooters, public lands are the only venue that they can participate in our time-honored outdoor traditions. Furthermore, the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) intent to close the entire 1.3 million acres of the Bears National Monument in Southeast Utah appears to run counter to the “Open Unless Closed” language in the 2019 Dingell Act, which requires that when federal agencies need to close public land to hunting, fishing, or shooting, the closure is the smallest duration and footprint possible.
Highlights:
- Last week, the Bureau of Land Management announced the Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Bears Ears National Monument Management. As part of the updated plan, the BLM will prohibit recreational shooting within the entire 1.3-million-acre monument.
- The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) is very concerned with the direction the BLM is taking to prohibit recreational shooting, a highly popular activity, within the Bears Ears National Monument.
- Earlier this year, CSF and others submitted comments to the BLM to establish a balance between protecting culturally and historically important sites with recreational shooting, but these comments appear to have had little effect on the outcome of the Bears Ears Management Plan.
The Bureau of Land Management is set to close 1.3 million acres of previously accessible and open land for recreational shooting within the Bears Ears National Monument.
The 2019 John D. Dingell, Jr., Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act created a criteria that was long sought after by CSF that established guidance for the closure of federal public lands for hunting, fishing, and recreational shooting. Specifically, the Dingell Act requires that federal agencies “designate the smallest area for the least amount of time that is required for public safety, administration, or compliance with applicable laws.” Unfortunately, a monument wide prohibition on recreational shooting within the Final EIS does not follow the requirements set forth in the Dingell Act to close federal public lands. Additionally, CSF is concerned that the closure comes on the heels of a significant reduction of recreational shooting within the Sonoran Desert National Monument, which closed nearly 99% of the nearly of the 485,691 acre monument.
CSF welcomes an opportunity to work with the BLM to have a meaningful discussion about opportunities to protect culturally and historically important sites within the Bears Ears Monument while adhering to the Dingell Act language and avoiding an arbitrary ban on target shooting within the monument.
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