07/02/2009

Associated Press

A section of the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest between North Bend and Snoqualmie Pass is being closed to target shooters.

Ranger Jim Franzel told The Seattle Times that he made the decision because gunfire has come close to hikers, campers, contract workers and rangers. The area will still be open to hunters in season.

Rangers began posting signs Wednesday in the 7,000-acre are off Interstate 90. Violators may be fined up to $5,000. Target shooting is possible in other parts of the 1 million acre national forest.

Most of the five million people who visit the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest each year travel easy-to-access trails off I-90.

___

Information from: The Seattle Times, http://www.seattletimes.com