Current:Home > reviewsFeds look to drastically cut recreational target shooting within Arizona’s Sonoran Desert monument -MacroWatch
Feds look to drastically cut recreational target shooting within Arizona’s Sonoran Desert monument
View
Date:2025-04-15 03:53:11
PHOENIX (AP) — The federal Bureau of Land Management is looking to drastically reduce an area open to recreational target shooting within Arizona’s Sonoran Desert National Monument.
The agency announced Friday that a proposed resource management plan amendment would allow target shooting on 5,295 acres (2,143 hectares) of the monument and be banned on the monument’s remaining 480,496 acres (194,450 hectares).
Currently, target shooting is permitted on 435,700 acres (176,321 hectares) of the monument that includes parts of Maricopa and Pinal counties.
A BLM spokesperson said target shooting still is allowed on other bureau-managed lands in and around the Phoenix metropolitan area.
The Sonoran Desert National Monument was established in 2001.
Critics have argued that target shooting threatens cultural and natural resources the monument was designated to protect and has damaged objects such as saguaro cactus and Native American petroglyphs.
A notice announcing the beginning of a 60-day public comment period on the proposed target shooting closure was scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on Monday.
The BLM, an agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior, manages more than 245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 Western states.
veryGood! (5)
Related
- 'No Good Deed': Who's the killer in the Netflix comedy? And will there be a Season 2?
- Bob Barker, longtime The Price Is Right host, dies at 99
- New Maui brush fire forces brief evacuation of Lahaina neighborhood
- White shooter kills 3 Black people in Florida hate crime as Washington celebrates King’s dream
- New data highlights 'achievement gap' for students in the US
- Why the Duck Dynasty Family Retreated From the Spotlight—and Are Returning on Their Own Terms
- Here's Your Invite to Olivia Culpo and Christian McCaffrey's Wedding Date Details
- Pete the peacock, adored by Las Vegas neighborhood, fatally shot by bow and arrow
- Highlights from Trump’s interview with Time magazine
- Texas judge blocks state's upcoming ban on gender-affirming medical care for minors
Ranking
- Rylee Arnold Shares a Long
- MLK Jr.'s daughter reflects on her father’s ‘I have a dream’ speech: 5 Things podcast
- What happens to Wagner Group now? What Prigozhin's presumed death could mean for the mercenary troops
- Liam Payne hospitalized for kidney infection, cancels upcoming concerts: 'Need to rest'
- Residents worried after ceiling cracks appear following reroofing works at Jalan Tenaga HDB blocks
- DeSantis leaves campaign trail and returns to Florida facing tropical storm and shooting aftermath
- The Highs, Lows and Drama in Britney Spears' Life Since Her Conservatorship Ended
- The 4 biggest moments from this week's BRICS summit — and why they matter
Recommendation
The company planning a successor to Concorde makes its first supersonic test
Whatever happened to the bird-saving brothers of Oscar-nommed doc 'All that Breathes'?
Chris Buescher wins NASCAR's regular-season finale, Bubba Wallace claims last playoff spot
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa wins re-election after troubled vote
Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
The towering legends of the Muffler Men
Military identifies Marine Corps pilot killed in jet crash near San Diego base
3 killed in racially-motivated shooting at Dollar General store in Jacksonville, sheriff says