Background on
the
For over 20 years the AZ Game and Fish Dept has been trying to
establish a
In 2009 the decision was made to consider private properties, but
this change in policy was not widely known. Those who did not attend Game and
Fish Commission meetings in
See map on Northern Az
Shooting Range website, June 2010
Click here for a link to the only article which appeared in the AZ
Daily Sun prior to May of 2010. It appeared in Dec of 2009, and as you can see
was very vague about locations being considered, especially which site was
“Foster Ranch” and where that was located.
On May 13, 2010 an article ran in the AZ Daily Sun announcing that
the AZ Game and Fish Commission was considering the Foster Ranch site and that
the public could comment at the AZ Game and Fish Commission meeting on May 17nd. At that meeting the Commission approved
purchase of the property and the purchase proceedings began immediately.
This extraordinarily quick action on the part of the Game and Fish
Dept. left the most of the public and even the affected local and federal government
bodies and agencies unaware of the new proposed range’s impacts on the area
around Foster Ranch, and especially on Walnut Canyon National Monument.
Sound studies were not done until August 25, 2010 after the
purchase of the property. Most of the public and agencies were withholding
comments until after the study was completed.
At that time it was clear that the impact was going to be
unacceptable to the soundscape of Walnut Canyon National Monument.
View the sound study Please note that although sometimes the
study indicates that the noise level is “inaudible” National Park Service
employees standing right next to the machines heard the shots clearly.
On September 23, 2010 the AZ Game and Fish Dept held its first
Open House about the shooting range. Unfortunately the maps presented did not
show accurately where the range was in location to the National Monument.
Although the monument was shown accurately on all of the previous the web page
maps, at the meeting the 1996 expansion area was not shown; leading those
attending to believe that it was much further away from the National Monument
than it was in fact. These maps were not altered at the meeting despite
complaints by numerous parties, nor were they corrected on the website until
Nov 2. Here is a map showing the true location:
Foster ranch is the area in the center of the map in red. The
purple circles indicate a one mile radius from the CENTER of the ranch. This
shows that from the CENTER of the ranch it is exactly one mile to the monument
boundary. From the CENTER of the ranch it is three miles to the National
Monument Visitor’s Center.
The shooting test was not done from the center of the ranch, but
rather from the point shown as “location 1” on the map. Location 3 was actually
inside the monument boundary, and less than 1 mile from the point the shooting
test was held.
The Walnut Canyon Study Area boundary is the dotted line (road)
just north of the ranch.