USFS closing area near Crossroads to shooting

(Update: Comments from Forest Service representative)

Beginning this week, the Sisters Ranger District of the Deschutes National Forest will close an area adjacent to the Crossroads subdivision west of Sisters to shooting “due to significant public safety issues,” the agency announced Tuesday.

The McKenzie storage area, located west of Crossroads near Sisters off of Forest Service Road 400, will be closed to shooting because it is within range of a stray bullet hitting a person in the nearby subdivision and recreational trail.

“Worst-case scenario would be somebody getting hit by a stay bullet and getting injured or dying. And so we really had to take these steps, make this closure,” Jean Nelson-Dean, public affairs officer for the Forest Service, said Tuesday.

She said the area people shoot is only a little more than 160 feet away from the trail.

The announcement said, “Over the last several years, complaints about irresponsible target shooting in the area and reports of close calls from stray bullets have come into the Sisters Ranger District.”

“Both Forest Service and Deschutes County Sheriff law enforcement officers have reviewed the site and have concluded that the site is unsuitable for safe target shooting for a variety of reasons, but primarily because it lacks an adequate backstop for bullets and the potential for stray bullets is high,” the release added.

“The closure of the site comes after efforts to educate shooters and ask for voluntary change have not addressed the significant public safety hazards created by continued unsafe shooting practices at the site,” the Forest Service said.

The agency noted that there are material pits within a few miles of the McKenzie storage area with adequate backdrops for shooting that do not create a public safety hazard.

“The main thing is that they have a backstop for the bullet, so that they know where the bullet’s going to land and end, and that is not a natural feature like a tree. So trees are not an adequate backstop,” Nelson-Dean said.

After the McKenzie storage area is closed to shooting, the district ranger plans to begin a public process to assess target shooting needs on national forest lands and implement any potential changes.

The majority of the Deschutes National Forest is open to the public for target shooting, as long as people follow safe shooting practices. Safe shooting practices on the National Forest information can be found at this link: https://www.fs.usda.gov/main/deschutes/learning/safety-ethics