NRA May Manage Shooting Range

Negotiations that could allow the National Rifle Assn. to manage the Kentucky Canyon Shooting Area, the largest public shooting range in Angeles National Forest, are under way.

The proposal would save the U. S. Forest Service time and money, said Julie Molzahn, recreation officer with the Lake View Terrace-based Tujunga Ranger District.

By law, the Forest Service is barred from charging fees for cleaning up the range and must rely on volunteers to haul out everything from scrap metal to broken glass left behind by thousands of people who use the range for target practice every week, Molzahn said. The agency also spends about $5,000 annually to dump trash from the 80-acre range, which is off Angeles Forest Highway near Palmdale.

“It gets very frustrating,” Molzahn said. “Some people even bring television sets to shoot at.”

The National Rifle Assn. could charge nominal user fees to fund ongoing cleanup, Molzahn said. Under the proposal, the association would be required to use revenues to maintain the facilities and not make a profit, Molzahn said.

One of the five ranges in the 693,000-acre forest is operated by a for-profit concessionaire and a second will soon follow.

The association may also hold gun safety programs for those who gather at the range, said Steve Justus, a range technical adviser with the National Rifle Assn. “The NRA would benefit by assuring facilities are used safely and conscientiously,” he said.

Justus said the association has entered into similar agreements with the Forest Service elsewhere in the county. The Tujunga proposal is in keeping with a 1990 agreement between the federal agency and the NRA calling for the two groups to work to promote conservation and hunter safety.

Both Molzahn and Justus say it may be six months before final action is taken on the proposal.