BLM proposes major limits to target shooting within Sonoran Desert monument

Madeline Nguyen, Arizona Republic
·2 min read
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A propane tank used for target shooting mars the landscape of the Sonoran Desert National Monument.
A propane tank used for target shooting mars the landscape of the Sonoran Desert National Monument.

The Bureau of Land Management announced a proposal Friday to dramatically reduce the area open to recreational target shooting within the Sonoran Desert National Monument.

The BLM proposed an amendment to its resource management plan for the monument to reduce the share of land where recreational target shooting is allowed from about 90% to roughly 1%. Currently, target shooting is permitted on 435,700 acres of the monument, but the amendment would reduce that area to 5,295 of its 486,400 acres, which include parts of Maricopa and Pinal counties.

The proposal comes after years of disagreement between gun groups and conservationists over the BLM’s handling of target shooting at the monument.

The Sonoran Desert is the most biologically diverse desert in North America, and target shooting critics have argued the practice threatens the cultural and natural resources the monument was designated to protect. In the past, the BLM discovered that target shooting has significantly damaged objects within the monument, including saguaros and Native American petroglyphs.

Firearm casings discarded in the Sonoran Desert National Monument by recreational shooters.
Firearm casings discarded in the Sonoran Desert National Monument by recreational shooters.

The goal guiding the bureau’s new proposal was to limit target shooting at the monument as minimally as possible while ensuring that objects on its land would be protected, said Chris Wonderly, a BLM spokesperson.

“There’s archaeological resources there,” Wonderly said. “There could be plant life; there could be wildlife present. And so that’s part of this effort, to identify where those places are and if target shooting can work there.”

The new proposal follows an April 2022 court settlement with conservation groups that ordered the BLM to reconsider whether target shooting should be allowed at the monument and, if so, where it should occur.

“There are a lot of places where recreational target shooting is allowed on public lands around Arizona and outside of Phoenix, but this wasn’t one of the places where it’s really appropriate,” said Matthew Bishop, an attorney who represented the conservation groups in the settlement. “We always felt before we got involved in the case that this area was set aside for the special objects and resources within the monument.”

Target shooting is still allowed on other BLM-managed lands in and around the Phoenix metro area, and the bureau is planning to construct more sites in the future, Wonderly said.

The proposal's 60-day public comment period starts Monday when a 30-day protest period also begins.

Comments may be submitted to the BLM via email sent to BLM_AZ_SDNMtargetshooting@blm.gov or by mail to BLM Sonoran Desert National Monument, Attn.: RMPA EA, 2020 E. Bell Road, Phoenix, AZ 85022.

The deadline for receipt of comments is March 22.

Reach the reporter at madeline.nguyen@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Federal proposal may cut target shooting in Sonoran Desert monument