Bureau of Land Management

The Sonoran Desert National Monument.

The Bureau of Land Management submitted its plan to manage resources in the Sonoran Desert National Monument more than a decade ago, but the plan met opposition from conservation groups. The latest version is up for public comment.

Conservationists challenged the original plan over potential impacts of target shooting on the monument, located southwest of the Valley.

The BLM has made a number of revisions in response to the legal challenges; the latest was in 2019.

In the current proposal, the agency has submitted a couple of alternatives that would nearly eliminate or do away with target shooting altogether.

It had a meeting last week and will have another on July 6. The public comment period will close July 21.