GRANITE FALLS — Piercing the awe-inspiring view of the Cascades along Green Mountain Road, a gunshot rings out.
From far in the distance, several more pops. Then, for another few minutes a mostly quiet, blissful view on an otherwise peaceful day in Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.
The gunshots don’t come as a surprise. Shotgun shells, rifle and handgun casings and targets litter the side of the road. A Taco Bell drink cup sits next to one shell. Firework trash and a shot-up Volkswagen Bug with racing stripes sit in the gullies surrounding the paved section of road.
It’s a true garbage dump of reckless recreational shooting.
Camden Bruner, the Darrington district ranger, isn’t happy about the “trigger trash.”
“If you do it respectfully, you have access to this amazing recreational opportunity,” Bruner said. “If you don’t follow the rules and we’re getting litter, getting damaged forest products, getting injuries and unsafe situations, getting fire starts, then we need to start restricting access, which is something we don’t want to do.”
An old oil drum filled with rocks approaches disintegration due to the number times it has been shot at a shooting pit along Green Mountain Road on Wednesday, July 17, 2024, near Granite Falls, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
The absurd collection of trash is one of the major issues at this popular shooting spot. One person shot Legos, though one small minifigure with a frown remained unscathed. Targets are set up through a stretch of road that’s paved to accommodate loggers. Past that, it turns to gravel and finally to a terminus at Three Fingers-Goat Flats-Saddle Lake Trail 641, where it is know as Forest Service Road 4160.
Shooting is legal on U.S. Forest Service land, to a point. The Forest Service has some rules.
Shooting is prohibited:
• In or within 150 yards from a home, building, campsite or developed recreation area.
• Across or on a national forest or grassland, road or body of water.
• In any manner or place where any person or property is exposed to injury or damage.
• Into or within a cave.
There’s also rules on ammunition and what you can shoot at:
• Tracer bullets or incendiary ammunition are banned.
• It’s illegal to disturb, injure, destroy, or in any way damage any prehistoric, historic, or archaeological resource, structure, site, artifact, and property.
Additionally, abandoning any personal property or failing to dispose of all garbage, including targets, paper, cans, bottles and appliances is illegal.
A target hangs abandoned at a shooting area on Green Mountain Road on Wednesday, July 17, 2024, near Granite Falls, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Fireworks, meanwhile, are always illegal in the National Forest as they present a high risk for wildfire.
The Granite Falls fire district often responds to calls along Green Mountain Road, said Lt. Gable Hoover, also an EMT at the department. Those calls include stabbings and fights. Brush fires, too.
“It’s like the wild west out there,” Hoover said.
Part of the problem is people simply have no place to go shoot, Hoover said. Over the years, logging companies have locked and gated various roads. Green Mountain Road, however, has no locks and no gate.
The Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office has dealt with illegal shooting, garbage and trespassing on nearby property. Spokesperson Courtney O’Keefe said deputies recovered a stolen vehicle from the area over the weekend. Many people coming to shoot are not local, O’Keefe noted.
“This place continues to be a constant attraction for illegal activity, and we are working in partnership with the Forest Service, Campbell Global (property owner) and two nearby property owners to combat the issues,” O’Keefe wrote in an email.
Bullets in trees also pose problems, as they get lodged in the wood and make it difficult to cut the trees down. Bullets have felled some trees.
“We don’t want your your ammunition in the trees,” Bruner said. “We don’t want your lead in the trees.”
An abandoned Volkswagen Beetle sits at the bottom of an embankment off the side of Green Mountain Road on Wednesday, July 17, 2024, near Granite Falls, Washington. The Bug is a popular shooting target, indicated by the numerous bullet holes that cover it. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
When shooting, use a bank of dirt as a backdrop, Bruner urged. If thick enough, the dirt will usually stop bullets from flying further off into the forest.
Bruner said some people have shot down roads.
“Someone comes around the corner that your shooting down the road, that’s not a backdrop that’s going to catch your bullet and you’re responsible for what you shoot,” Bruner said. “If your bullet hits a person because you weren’t shooting safely, which we’ve had several instances of over the years people getting hit by accident, the shooter is responsible for that.”
The Forest Service is also asking people to stop shooting signs.
“It’s tax dollars down the drain,” Bruner said.
Oh, and clean up after shooting, too.
Bruner pleaded: “We just need folks to follow some basic rules and some basic laws.”
Jordan Hansen: 425-339-3046; jordan.hansen@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @jordyhansen.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
Gallery
