Court Invalidates BLM Decision to Allow Recreational Target Shooting In Sonoran Desert National Monument

A federal court recently invalidated a Bureau of Land Management decision to allow continued recreational target shooting within the Sonoran Desert National Monument.  The designation of the area as a National Monument cited to the need to protect the natural and cultural objects in the area.  The agency initially decided to ban longstanding recreational shooting in the area, which predated the designation of the area as a National Monument, based on impacts to these objects.  Advocates of recreational shooting in the ares vigorously objected to the agency’s initial decision.  In reversing the agency’s decision, the court noted that the agency  abruptly changed its initial decision to ban shooting after receiving a directive from its Washington office.  The court stated that it “cannot conclude that BLM acted reasonably in opening the Monument to shooting” because “there is simply too great an incongruity between the information contained in the Final EIS and the decision to allow shooting throughout the Monument.”