The Tusquitee Chapter members have been organizing around a Forest Service proposal to locate a shooting range in National Forest lands within Clay County. As a direct result of chapter efforts, the Tusquitee District Ranger has withdrawn the proposal. Longtime Chapter member, Aurelia Stone, has led this effort.
The major issues of concern to Chapter members and local residents include: a questionable “Purpose and Need” for the shooting range (two such ranges already occur in Nantahala National Forest within easy to moderate driving distance of Clay County); inadequate analysis of traffic volume on the Range access road, which passes through a residential neighborhood; failure to make the traffic analysis, itself, available during the public comment period; an increase of traffic-caused dust, which already causes health issues to residents; no design/engineering plan was made available to the public during the comment period, and; an inadequately conducted sound test brings into question Forest Service conclusions regarding no significant impacts.
The Forest Service cited most of these concerns in its explanation for withdrawing the project. The District Ranger intends to go back and perform a more intensive analysis of the above issues before resubmitting any shooting range proposal.
The Tusquitee Chapter does not oppose the idea of a shooting range. Many county residents favor a shooting range and a local sportsmen’s club has been the major proponent lobbying the Forest Service for such a facility. But the Chapter questions the proposed location, known as Perry Creek. For about 10 years, the District searched for a suitable location for the range and finally narrowed the choice down to two sites for analysis — Chestnut Ridge and Perry Creek. Of two sites, only Perry Creek was considered suitable in the final environmental assessment. Now, the analysis for that site has been deemed inadequate. The new analysis will have to adequately show that no significant impacts will occur. If it does not, it is unclear if the Forest Service will continue to pursue a shooting range on its public lands in Clay County.
Aurelia comments, “We greatly appreciate the effort the Tusquitee District has made in listening to public concerns about this proposal, and we believe further analysis will show that the Perry Creek site is not a suitable location for this project.”