Info for Shooting on Public Lands

[TNL]

I've made it my mission to help save and improve recreational sport shooting on public lands. It chaps my butt to see our sport being ruined by a few a-holes that don't respect the places we have to shoot. It sheds a negative light on all shooters and makes us all look like the trash they leave behind. That's not a profile I can, or will, accept. So, I'm doing something about it. I'm out to make us look good, save our places to shoot, show that we respect our natural resources and bring back stewardship to our great outdoors.

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I established a non-profit, (c)3, organization that focuses on promoting responsible shooting on public lands. I incorporated in Washington State in Jan 2017 and am working for Oregon and Washington.

Since starting this mission, in 2014, I've mostly been working in the forests around the Portland Metro area, because I live next door in Washougal, WA. We've made a lot of headway in Mt. Hood Nat Forest, Tillamook State Forest, Benton County OR at Mary's Peak area and in Washington in the Yacolt Burn State Forest. This year, in 2019, I stretched out to way down South in Medford Oregon for a cleanup at Anderson Butte with BLM, and into Sisters, OR at the Zimmerman Pit with USFS Deschutes Nat Forest.

I gotta start working more in Washington, so, I've been in communications with the DNR Olympia staff. I was somewhat surprised, and pleased, to hear most of them grew up with guns and have no problem with using them on public lands! Their biggest concerns are for public safety, preservation of natural resources, site cleanliness and complaints from nearby communities. All things we can help with. I was also pleased with how they are excited to welcome the shooting community to get more involved.

DNR is impressed with the results we are seeing at the improved dispersed shooting sites in the Tillamook State Forest (West of Portland & half way to the Coast on Hwy 26), managed by the Oregon Dept of Forestry. We helped consult with them on what shooters want and how to make it a desirable place to shoot. It has become the preferred place to shoot and users are taking pretty good care of it. DNR has asked if we can help do this in Washington. I'm in for that! If we can help them get the first one going, more will follow once they see users getting involved and helping the efforts.

The website is http://trashnoland.org/ (Trash No Land .org) Visit and take a look around. It has all info a shooter needs to know about shooting on public lands. Yeah, I know, it's an 'Old School' type of website but I'm not a webmaster so I did what I could for now and hope to bring it into the 21st century someday.

If you are on Facebook, our page is https://www.facebook.com/trashnoland/ . Lots of stuff going on there on a regular basis.

Give me a shout out and help when & where you can. I need people in all parts of the state to chip in to show stewardship in their favorite places to shoot. I like to report the good deeds on social media and keep a positive light shining on shooters.

Bill Cogley
Founder/CEO Trash No Land
bill@trashnoland.org

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@MadPick
@Massivedesign
@MADrtcw
@riflesnob23
@Ruger_fan

(not sure how to tag people)!

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[TNL]

To give you an idea of what we did in the Tillamook State Forest, here's a video that gives the history and progress we've made. You will see, at the end, that we are calling for financial help to get the last 2 lanes revamped, however, that's at a stand still while we wait approval of a Federal Pittman-Robertson grant we applied for. Once approved, we may not need additional funding beyond the $2560 we've raised so far. If we get more, or have extra, it will go toward the next lane improvement work.

This vid is on our You Tube channel: https://youtu.be/_7GkBDw8rwc

[TNL]

Plan ahead to shoot responsibly on public lands.

Choose wisely!

#StewardshipKeepsItOpen!

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[DM47]

[Gungeek]

This is awesome! My biggest challenge is finding locations that I can be confident of not getting cited. Do you recommend (or publish) any maps? Thanks!

[TNL]

Sorry GunGeek, we don't publish any maps. The best I can do is find links to past cleanups.

[TNL]

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.

Get the full story from our Blog: http://trashnoland.blogspot.com/

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[TNL]

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!

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[MadPick]

Bill, you and your volunteers to tremendous work! Thank you!

[MadPick]

Oh, and . . . I just donated, and I feel good about it.

If anyone else would like to join me: http://www.trashnoland.org/. Look for the yellow "Donate" button!

[TNL]

MadPic, you've gone mad! That's awesome, man! Thank you for the support! I'll send a confirmation this evening (touring shooting sites in the Tahuya State Forest right now).

[TNL]

The Tahuya State Forest, North of Olympia near Belfair, WA, was our destination on Saturday, Nov 2nd. Trash No Land board member Gary Jacka 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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[TNL]

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!)



https://youtu.be/G9bkqv1Wcfc

[TNL]

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[MADrtcw]

We need to get you linked up with the forest service as well. I'm planning on getting back into the mix next year with cleans and all, i just had way to much going on this year.