Illegal dumping closes public land

By Tom Purdom
Staff Writer

Would-be target shooters encounter large rocks blocking the entrance to an area on BLM land used by many as a shooting range. The road was blocked to prevent illegal dumping of refuse. (Photo by Jerry Wilson/Independent)

MILAN — Members of the shooting public are going to be disappointed after a popular 465-acres of public lands used for target shooting near here was closed to vehicles.

Large boulders block vehicles from entering the road leading back into the Bureau of Land Management lands. For years the shooting public has used the area to target shoot, test a rifle's shooting capability and to test reloaded ammunition. Shotgun fanciers used the place to shoot clay birds and black powder firearms fans used the place time and time again to test new loads for their weapons. It was a place where single people and families could gather to enjoy their sport.

Others used the land too and it's those people who have the BLM concerned. People also used the area as a dumping ground for household trash, old stoves, refrigerators, worn-out sofas and tons of other stuff.

"We want to clean it up and convert it back to public use,"said Ed Singleton, Bureau of Land Management Albuquerque Field Officer district manager.

The problem is, cleaning it up and determining exactly what kind of public use will take at least three and one-half years, so the vehicular traffic on the rugged lava-rock and dirt road coursing back into the land will remained closed for at least that long.

The land is located east of Forest Road 180, which starts where the old Sawmill Road ends. The remains of the old sawmill can still be seen to the east of the pavement and the New Mexico Department of Transportation has a maintenance yard there.

At one time the village of Milan had the land and was supposed to develop it into a user-friendly park. The development did not go as planned and on June 14, 2001, the 465 acres reverted back to the BLM. Aside from people tearing up cement picnic tables built on the land, they used it back then as a dump too, littering most of the land with household trash.

After the land reverted back to the BLM, the federal agency went in and cleaned it up. A cleanup does not come cheaply. Danita Burns with the Bureau of Land Management said it is estimated that a cleanup today, which will have to be done, will cost about $20,000.

The land was never intended to be a shooting range, but that is what it became; nor was it intended to be a public dump, but it became that, too.

At some point the decision was made to close down the road leading into the land to vehicular traffic. "If a pickup truck loaded with trash can't get back in there, then the dumping will stop," Singleton said.

At the same time, closing down the road effectively shut down one of the few areas the public has for a makeshift shooting range.

Singleton said shutting down the road does not mean the BLM has shut down public use of the land. "People can walk back into the land," he said. "We don't want it to continue to be a dump."

Singleton said the BLM wants to come up with a public use plan for the land, which includes holding public hearings.

Singleton said he is not certain if the stuff people dumped there may be hazardous. "There is always a potential for haz-mat dumping," he said.

Using any federal land or state lands for a dump is illegal. On federal lands the fines range from $75 for simple littering to $500 for draining petroleum products from a vehicle, dumping household and commercial wastes and $500 for polluting the water supply.

"It is a shame," said Leon Hall, of Golden Acres. His home is north of the BLM land and he used the land quite often for testing rifles and shooting reloaded ammunition. "It was close and it was convenient," Hall said. "I know there's illegal dumping going on out there, but no one was being given tickets for it either."

What really gets Hall upset is the fact that there is a waste transfer station people must pass by in order to access the BLM land. "A lot of the people who dumped there live in Grants and they can get free dump tickets in Grants for the asking," Hall said. "Instead, they drive right by the transfer station and go to that land and dump there. It's not a lot of people doing it, but a few people are messing it up for everybody."

It is not just that area. On any given day, drive up Forest Road 180 and take any road leading to the left. "You'll find stoves, refrigerators, bicycles, it is a shame," Hall said.

If anyone is seen illegally dumping trash, try to get a license plate number and report the incident to the BLM at 761-8700.

— To contact reporter Tom Purdom call 285-6184, or email: writer@cia-g.com.