The normal mode seems to be to fly under the radar.  This seems to be a losing proposition.  Incrementally all the shooting spots get closed down.

I think that if we banded together into something resembling a club, we could work with the public administrators and private landowners to preserve and expand our opportunities.

I think the key is to be good "stewards".  That means to be self policing and make sure the areas are kept clean, the lanes are defined so as to be safe and damage to resources (trees mainly) is minimized.

Would we be willing to adopt two locations - the one near Olympia and the Granite falls spot as an experiment?  One is public land, one is private land.

I bet we could get the gate key at the Oly site if we were to organize quarterly clean-ups.  Shoot on Saturday and scrub on Sunday.  Does it makes sense to engage the DNR in such a manner?  I'm not 100% sure, but I think we could apply for IAC grants to make improvements to create a safer site and maybe to mitigate any real or imagined environmental issues.  We would proactively protect this shooting area and see if the added attention is good or if it is bad.  Take lessons learned and apply to our other areas.

I tell you, if we can get grants, we will gain tremendous political power.  Those people just love to spend money.  It's like junk to an addict.

In GF, we could approach the landowner and propose quarterly use of his property - signing liability releases - leaving it in better shape than we found it.

Please discuss.

It sounds doable.
I'm going to have a talk with someone I know.....he'll have some ideas.