3 Angeles Shooting Ranges to Close
A day of target shooting in the Angeles National Forest may soon take a little more patience.
Budget and staffing cuts have forced the U.S. Forest Service to schedule indefinite closures for three of the forest’s five shooting sites.
Beginning April 17, target practice will be off limits at the Kentucky Target Shooting Area, followed by the same restriction at the Pinyon and Horse shooting areas as of May 1.
The Forest Service has long considered closing the areas, deputy Forest Supervisor Paul Johnson said, because they are open areas where shooting may impact other activities nearby.
On the other hand, he said, the two that will remain open are controlled areas where target shooters must pay a fee to enter. They are A Place to Shoot near Santa Clarita in San Francisquito Canyon, and Burro Canyon Shooting Park northwest of Glendora.
Although the three shooting areas could be reopened later, Johnson said officials are considering limiting the activity permanently to just the two specially designed target shooting areas that remain open.
“You have more people out hiking, more people mountain biking, nature lovers,” he said. “We want to make sure these areas are safe and that the bullets, when they are discharged, do not ricochet.”
He said problems with stray bullets have been rare and minor.
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