Damage caused by off-road enthusiasts and target shooters has National Park Service officials proposing to build a nearly 7-mile-long fence along the northern end of Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument/NPS

Nearly two years after Congress created Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument near Las Vegas, portions of the unit are being damaged by off-road enthusiasts and individuals who haul TVs, furniture, and other junk into the monument for target practice. At least one death has been linked to target shooting. In an effort to prevent such incidents, the National Park Service is proposing to build a fence with hopes of protecting the park.

The National Park Service promotes the North Unit of Tule Springs as displaying to visitors "200,000 years of geologic history." But ever since the landscape was transferred from BLM oversight to the NPS by Congress through an amendment to a Defense appropriations bill passed in the closing days of 2014, visitors who want to explore the area also are exposed to piles of bullet-riddled junk, spent cartridges, and ORV tracks, according to the Park Service.

For years, the area was open to off-road vehicles and used heavily by target shooters. These activities are not allowed under the laws Congress has passed for the National Park Service. The shooters have left significant trash and will require an intensive cleanup effort. Acre upon acre is littered with spent cartridges, dumped and shot up appliances, and glass. The National Park Service has spent two years contacting shooters at the site and informing them of the change in management, which closes the area to shooting and off-roading. Additionally, we have provided directions to alternative locations where shooting on public lands remains legal and to the Clark County Shooting Range. These efforts have yielded some success, but to help us truly protect the resources, clean up the trash and make it safer for visitors, we propose fencing the area to eliminate or greatly reduce unauthorized off-roading and target shooting.

Along with impacting the monument's natural resources, the target shooters are a threat to themselves and visitors who come to explore the landscape. According to the Park Service, the area that attracts the ORVers and shooters "includes high wash walls and side washes that have provided backstops for shooters for decades. Unfortunately, in addition to the significant amount of lead from bullets, the shooters have left significant debris including ammunition casings and target trash. Old televisions, furniture, boxes, bottles, propane tanks, and various other types of trash blanket much of the area. This activity has not only left a serious cleanup but has also proven to be dangerous for shooters. In addition to a March 2014 death from a ricochet off of trash, there have been several accidental shooting injuries in the area."

In an attempt to bring and end to the practices, the Park Service is proposing to "add up to 35,000 feet" of fencing to five segments of the park.

"The fencing material would include post-and-cable with a base that would include a desert tortoise fence attachment in order to prevent tortoises from accessing U.S. Highway 95. The fence would be located within the park boundary at the edge of the highway right-of-way," the agency said in outlining the proposal.

Tule Springs Superintendent Jon Burpee said Friday that the area in question was long used as a target range of sorts by area residents when it was under U.S. Bureau of Land Management jurisdiction. Since the transfer to the Park Service, the superintendent has worked on educating those who use the area for shooting that that no longer is a permitted activity, "and point folks to other areas of federal land where target shooting is allowed.”

Trying to get a handle on the issue, though, has been tough for the superintendent, as he's the lone official employee for Tule Springs. He does, though, have the help of two interpretive employees who are funded by the BLM through the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act, and rangers from nearby Lake Mead National Recreation Area at times help out.  

Superintendent Burpee said the shooters he's discussed the situation with are understanding.

"Many of them don’t know about the special paleontological resources out there. When you share that with them they go, 'Oh, I get it',” he said.

Public comments on the fence proposal are being taken through December 16.