When the U.S. Forest Service updated its management plan for Los Padres National Forest in 2005, the agency announced a ban on “dispersed” target shooting. But the ban was never implemented.
A 2016 field investigation and report by ForestWatch revealed nearly one hundred informal shooting sites throughout the forest. The report—Forest in the Crosshairs: The Environmental and Health Impacts of Target Shooting in the Los Padres National Forest—revealed large amounts of trash at these sites, along with dozens of trees left dead or dying from repeated shooting. Televisions, computer monitors, refrigerators, microwaves, and other appliances were frequently used as targets, contaminating soils and waterways with toxic metals. Campground restrooms and trailhead signs were senselessly vandalized, costing tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars to repair.
The Forest in the Crosshairs report also noted that target shooting caused at least 53 wildfires in Los Padres National Forest, scorching a combined 74,478 acres of forestland.
Two years later, the Forest Service continued to ignore its own target shooting ban, so ForestWatch filed suit. As a result, the Forest Service agreed to ban unmanaged target shooting throughout Los Padres National Forest.
