Boulder County shooting ban east of peak to peak
Boulder County offie of the National Forest Service closed off shooting east of the peak to peak because of fire danger, I think about 2 months ago. I had a few extensive conversations with the staff there over the phone about a month and a half ago (way before the big fire now, but during the last big fire).
Their position was that they have witnessed bullets sparking fires on 3 or 4 occasions. I tried to explain to them that lead or copper jacketed lead bullets posed no danger of sparking a fire and that they should only ban incendiary rounds and tracers, not all shooting. I was not sure if wolf bi-metal projectiles (steel jacket with thin copper covering, lead core) posed a danger. The ranger on the phone had no idea about relative fire dangers of different projectiles.
She told me that she would have have the Boulder County National Forest Service head ranger (manager?) give me a call, and that it might be a couple of days due to his helping out with the fire in Larimer county. Never heard from him.
I personally think that Boulder is trying to eliminate all shooting east of the Peak to Peak highway due to local resident complaints and not wanting to tie up rangers with policing shooting areas, and that the "fire ban" is their excuse. No other county in CO had prohibited shooting due to fire danger last time I checked about a month ago.
Smoking and using gas cooking stoves are allowed, although they are the major man-made cause of fires to my knowledge. The Larimer county fire I believe was started by an alcohol stove.
Admittedly, fire danger is extreme right now, but why not a uniform approach to fire bans across the state?
