Shooting banned in Tonto Forest

80,000 acres of the Tonto Forest's is now off limits to shooting. 

Tonto Forest Officials have banned shooting in areas east of Carefree, north of Scottsdale and west of Bartlett Lake in the Cave Creek Ranger District. They have also closed areas north of Mesa and Apache Junction, south of the Lower Salt River and adjacent to Arizona State Rd 88 in the Mesa Ranger District.

Forest Officials in the Cave Creek and Mesa ranger districts have been trying to deal with this issue for some time.   Homes owners near the forest have complained that they have taken fire from people shooting in the forest.  Forest Officials also said that shooters litter the forest with shells, ammunition boxes and targets.