WASHINGTON - The recent Galuchie Gulch fire in Colorado was reportedly caused by recreational shooting activities during a particularly dry season, according to the Forest Service. Meanwhile, House Republicans are pushing through Congress a bill that would remove local authority to suspend activities -- including recreational shooting -- that increase wildfire risk and hand it to the head of federal land management agencies in Washington. Republicans are advancing the bill at the same time when much of the West is already in drought conditions.
If fire risks increase at national forests, monuments or desert lands and local rangers are concerned that high-risk activities like firearm use should be restricted to prevent wildfires, “The Sportsmen’s Heritage Act" (HR 4089 ) would tell local officials they cannot act. Instead, the heads of the Bureau of Land Management or U.S. Forest Service would have to determine whether the activities are too risky, even when the area in question is thousands of miles away from the agencies’ headquarters in Washington, DC.
“What this bill would tell our forest rangers and other local officials is that when they are possibly under fire from a wildfire, they don’t have the authority to pull the trigger to stop high-risk activities," said Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), the top Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee, where the original bill has been debated for months. “This is a bill pushed for by the NRA, which in this case stands for No Ranger Authority. Recreational shooting has its place on federal lands, but not when it could destroy those very same lands we all want to enjoy. Local forest rangers and other officials who are on the scene and know what the local conditions are and what fire risks exist should be able to take action to restrict activities that could lead to forest fires."
The bill is primarily sponsored by Reps. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), Dan Benishek (R-Mich.) and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), but has strong support from Colorado Republican Rep. Scott Tipton, who co-sponsored the bill.
