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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 12, 2020)
20 Wednesday, February 12, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon SHOOTING: Forest offers many potential sites for activity picked up their brass and car- tridges, etc. <&It9s a different crowd up there now. Some are not sportsmen at all. They lit- ter the area and the firing goes on non-stop with every type of rapid-fire rifle along with the exploding targets. Shooting starts at daylight and goes well after dark. Rapid fire that is easily heard in the residential communi- ties of Indian Ford, Cascade Meadow Ranch, and Tollgate and other surrounding areas. This annoyance needs to be curtailed.= area, under the auspices of a shooting sports orga- nization called Trash No Land www.TrashNoLand. org. That organization pro- motes safe, responsible Continued from page 1 shooting in the National described it. Forests. Some of them are active Safe, responsible shoot- rock pits that the Forest ing includes observing basic Service contracts out to safety protocols, including ODOT for mining for road treating all firearm as loaded cinders, and, as such, are and being aware of and subject to period temporary accounting for any other rec- closure. reational activity in the area, The most popular spot is and practicing good steward- at Zimmerman Butte about ship by picking up empty 4.5 miles west of Sisters. It is cartridge casings and packing a deep cinder pit with out whatever targets a significant backstop, and target stands are and is easily accessible brought into a shooting from Highway 20 by area. any type of vehicle. Tannerite explod- That also means it gets ing targets are not heavy use. That use allowed anywhere on is within earshot of the National Forest. Cache Cinder Pit: 15 miles (four- many local residences, Shooters should not wheel drive, high clearance vehicle fire at trees, which and some of those liv- recommended). ing nearby have com- damages them to the Four-mile Cinder Pit: 7 miles (200 point of killing them, plained of the shooting noise. (Disclosure: Jim yards of range; high-clearance four- and can pose a fire haz- wheel drive vehicle required). Cornelius shoots sev- ard if using steel-jack- Garrison Cinder Pit: 7.3 miles eted bullets. eral times a week at (medium-sized pit; high clearance vehi- Zimmerman Butte). As all types of rec- cle recommended). In a letter to the edi- reation increase on the Melvin Cinder Pit: 8 miles (easy National Forest and as tor last year, Stephen King, who lives at access; small pit suitable for handgun/ more people move into C a s c a d e M e a d o w shotgun). the urban-wildland Pole Creek Cinder Pit: 9.8 miles interface, citizens and Estates, said that, <cor- ralling shooting into (small pit; relatively easy access, four- the Forest Service that one location for hours wheel drive recommended). serves them will con- Schilling Cinder Pit: 19.7 miles (easy tinue to have to find a day causes noise pol- lution, physical harm access; high-clearance vehicle; suitable ways to balance some- for people with PTSD for rifle/pistol/shotgun). times competing values and potential fire dan- and activities. Reid emphasizes that the ger, within a mile of Sisters. I would urge the Forest Forest Service does not man- Service to do a better job of age or regulate the shooting sites. managing these areas.= Other sites on the District L o c a l r e s i d e n t P e t e Kershaw wrote to The see less use than Zimmerman Nugget, <Target practice Butte 4 in part because they at the Zimmerman Cinder are less accessible. That can Pit has been going on for actually make them more decades. We have lived attractive to shooters looking within earshot of it since to evade a crowd. Last August, about 20 1992. Until about 10 years ago, the noise was just a shooting enthusiasts along single shot to a target&The with Forest Service person- $18.99 normal hours were mostly nel and local law enforce- weekends between 8 a.m. ment officers, gathered on and early evening. I took part Saturday morning to conduct in this sport at the Pit and a stewardship cleanup at the greatly enjoyed it. 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PHOTO BY JIM CORNELIUS John Cornelius runs an AR-15 rifle at Zimmerman Butte, where tall backstops and a lack of obstacles creates a safe shooting environment.