Archive: Opinions

I have heard from sportsmen across the state, as well as members of the Lansing Rod and Gun Club (LRGC), that they want their children and grandchildren to have the shooting and fishing opportunities that they, themselves, have had. Looking to the future in that sense is good…but only if it includes conscientious stewardship for the land, water, animals, and humans whose habitat is impacted by these recreational activities.

For close to a decade, I was an educator with a statewide Cooperative Extension program for sportsmen who wanted to make a difference for the future of the resources that they love. The motto of the program was 'Passin' It On'. The hundreds of men, women, and youth I instructed were committed both to honing their skills in fishing and shooting, and also to learning about and improving the land and water that supported their recreational interests. Through our shared respect for ecology and natural resources, we held compatible visions of conservation.

On their website, the Lansing Rod and Gun Club refers to their membership as "concerned conservationists" who "as a club take conservation seriously". But what kind of conservationists knowingly load tons of toxic lead shot a year into the environment? What part of their aspiration of "We always like to make new friends" includes building a shooting range 500 feet from a neighbor's home? What part of a conservation stewardship foregoes switching from lead to non-lead shot, in spite lead's known risks to human and environmental health?

If your club folds due to declining membership or inability to pay your taxes, the burden of cleaning up your contaminated property would shift to the tax-paying public of Lansing and New York State.

This contaminated property is the Gun Club's legacy, and, most certainly, is not compatible with the health and well-being of the residents of Ludlowville.

LRGC has been around for 63 years. The vibrant hamlet of Ludlowville has been here for well over two centuries. Lead shot does not respect property boundaries, and migrates downstream, downslope, and into the food chain. The Gun Club's choices about how to pursue their trap shooting hobby impact us all.

By continuing to add lead to the soil—whether at the existing trap range, or in the new area you are proposing to contaminate with no viable mitigation plan or concern for the neighbors' property value—is nothing shy of selfish and short-sighted, towards the environment, towards neighbors, and for the future of your club.

Members of the Lansing Rod and Gun Club: please consider what you really want that legacy of 'passin' it on' to be.

Karen Edelstein
Citizens for a Healthy Salmon Creek Watershed
Lansing, NY
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