Hi everyone,

I saw a Facebook notification that the DNR is hosting a community meeting regarding shooting areas in the State forest, They specifically mentioned Capitol Forest and Tahuyeh. The meeting is at North Kitsap Schools in Belfair at 6:30 pm. It seems they want to discuss how to have shooting areas and keep the hikers and off road folks happy and safe.

Noting a lot of the discussion on the Capitol Forrest Pit and how this organization has hosted a lot of clean-ups I figured there may be some concerned folks who may want to hear the direction of the conversation. I live in Kitsap county but near the Mason county border near Belfair ant the Tahuyeh State Forest. I've only lived in my neighborhood for about a year. I hear gunfire from time to time but have been unsuccessful in locating it. (I want to join in) The Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Club has been plagued with problems from County politics for the last year, but they may be coming through it, but the injunctions that are still in effect are pretty restrictive and poorly written, and really limit the use of the range.

I have been stationed on the East coast for the better part of 15 years before getting stationed back out here. I saw some well executed public shooting areas on WMA land in GA and FL. I also saw some of the pitfalls of shooters tearing up and trashing areas, and I've seen folks who wanted shooting areas shut down, perform some pretty bad vandalism as well. I look forward to any suggestions and lessons you all have learned that we can bring to the table when talking with the DNR.

My initial thoughts are:
-Having a very well established and dedicated area for shooting helps.
-Shooters would rather follow the path of least resistance and be able to use an area that is set up for shooting.
-Dedicated firing lanes a large cleared area with a safe impact area beyond is what is needed for safety.
-If there are amenities , such as covered shooting areas with concrete shooting benches are a large initial investment, but they establish and area as being dedicated to shooting. this lets offroaders and hikers know what area is for shooting as well.
-If an area has those types of amenities shooters are less likely to wander off and trash other areas.

The challenges:
-Having these as areas without onsite safety officials, people will push limits and bring out their trash to shoot and leave.
-Chairs often become impromptu target stands.
-vandals and anti-gun folks will tear things up to try to get things shut down.
-Shooters will walk forward of lines
-Safety rules become the responsibility of other shooters to enforce.
-There can be some expense in maintaining access roads, parking and the amenities, but at a benefit of containing the shooting and minimizing impact a-n other areas of the forest.

In GA the Forest service would hide cameras at one of the ranges that got trashed pretty regularly. They would get license plates and fine people who abused the range.
In GA I saw regular shooters go out and clean regularly.

These are some initial thoughts. Please add your own. Thanks.

Welcome.

The problems at KR&RC are somewhat self-inflicted, but mostly due to bad blood between the previous county prosecutor and the leadership at the club. This problem is way more than a year old. There are a lot of members on this forum who know more than I do.

It would be nice if DNR constructed a dedicated firing range within Tahuya. There are so many residents in this area who are firearms owners, I am sure volunteers could be found. That forest is a gem for recreation, and the motorbike crowd certainly takes advantage of the opportunities---it would be nice to have similar opportunities for firearms users.

Please go to the meeting, and speak out, just like you did above. Tell them about your experiences in GA and FL. Post what you learn on this forum. I know a lot of kids (high schoolers, college kids home for the summer) who need to expend energy, and helping out this effort might be a good use of their free time.

Not many people here, come on out. The meeting will go until 830pm.

The meeting had a decent turn out I guess. About 80 people I would guess. Seemed like shooters were well represented. There were also ORV trail users, and a hand full of residents who live near the forest.

It seems that DNR does want to listen to ways to make shooters feel supported in their use of the forest. The concerns seem to be how to really clearly designate the shooting areas and the no-shoot areas. This seemed to be a source of frustration from shooters, and trail users, as it seems there are many "gray" areas that even local law enforcement seem confused about as being authorized shooting areas. The people who seem most against use are the residents who are near by and bothered by the noise. (These seem like California immigrants/ who still haven't figured out why they left California or how to keep from turning Washington into the next version of the Peoples Republic they left.) they also seemed to lack some understanding that designating a few shooting areas in the woods may keep the source of their irritation from moving from place to place in the woods.

Back to the bigger picture though, I got the impression that DNR does want to provide some shooting facilities. they have already researched grants, funding, volunteer hour fund matching, etc.

This process is in its beginning phases and this came across as more of a brainstorming session to find out what communities want, what shooters want, and what other recreationalists (ORV, Brush pickers, mountain bikers, hikers etc. want. After an initial presentation of what DNR's role is we were broken into smaller groups and went to listening stations where DNR staff ran the groups through 9 questions.

1. What Experiences have you had- negative or positive-with target shooting on DNR land?
2. How do you think target shooting should be managed on DNR land in the Tahuya State Forest?
3. How does Target shooting in TSF complement or compete with other nearby recreation opportunities or businesses?
4. Is Green Mountain State Forest appropriate for target shooting?
5. What other information do we need?
6. How would you like to receive information about the next steps in this process?
7. Do you have a specific location where you enjoy shooting?
8. What type of target shooting are you hoping to do?
9. What sort of amenities should a shooting area have?

They are planning to have meetings in the future regarding Yacolt Burn, Harry Osborne, and Capitol state Forests in the future and I would expect several of the same questions will be asked. Upcoming meetings for these areas are:

- Yacolt Burn: Tuesday May 31st at the Water Resources Education Center, 4600 SE Columbia Way, Vancouver, Wa.
- Harry Osborne: Wednesday June 1st at the Burlington-Edison High School Cafeteria, 301 N. Burlington Blvd., Burlington Wa.
- Capitol: Thursday, June 2 at the Evergreen State College Longhouse Education and Cultural Center, 2800 Dogtooth Ln NW, Olympia, Wa.

Times were not given on these meetings, but the one last night started at 6:30 pm.

The biggest common themes among the discussion groups seemed to be:
- Shooters have felt pushed out of the forests by confusing "no-shoot areas" and other recr3eationalists who have taken over trails and areas preventing safe shooting areas.
- Clear shooting areas would help shooters and non-shooters to know exact areas that shooting is allowed and prevent conflict with other groups.
- Clear communication, identification and directions to shooting areas would be helpful.
- There was mix of how formal or informal shooting areas should be. Should volunteers manage or provide "camp host" duties to ensure safety and not trashing areas.
- Most folks thought there should be a mix of areas for shooting, possibly one with a known distances for hunters to sight in and to conduct hunter safety education, and other less formal areas where pistol or shotgun could be appropriate and may not require as large of a footprint and with less "amenities" that could be trashed by vandals and the occasional booger eating moron.
- Most shooters indicated that they would be willing to help with a monthly clean-up or a "pack it in/pack it out" mentality as well as being our brothers keeper, and packing out more than was packed in to help police the areas of trash.
- Locals were mostly concerned about noise and stray rounds. Finding a more permanent location with good berms and some overhead trees can mitigate some of the noise concerns.


Some folks were kind of asking for the moon:
-There was a map and a page of red stickers with a note saying "place a sticker on a location where you would like to see a range located. One of the older women in the group who looked like a retired California University female Physical Education Professor (if you know what mean) placed a red sticker off the map.

-A couple shooters wanted a 1000yd range.

-Others wanted things to be left mostly "wild" but clearly defined as a shooting area.

At any rate, things remained civil. DNR seems interested in improving the situation for shooters.

I encourage folks who live near the other state forests that were mentioned, to go to the meetings and share your constructive ideas.

Thanks for the update. I plan on being at the meeting on June 2nd, so it's nice to know the direction they are headed so we can come prepared.

The biggest problem are the people that don't come to the meetings. The ones that bring the trash, and leave it there. The people on this forum are the ones that care...The choir.