By Gary Meyer, TME

“It’s a national forest, right?”

Those were the words from the man who walked out of Cold Springs Canyon (just north of fire station 57) after a Frazier Park resident called 911 on Sunday to report shots being fired in the area.

The man was answering a question about whether he was aware that shooting in the forest is illegal except for licensed hunters during hunting season.

He said he was not aware of any restrictions.

The use of firearms in the canyon has caused several wildfires over the past 15 years. While Sunday was not high-fire-danger weather, target shooting is still prohibited by the United State Forest Service.

Just three weeks ago, on January 10, Los Padres National Forest officials announced…(please see below to view full stories and photographs)

Photo captions:

Above: Smoking a cigarette, the man who walked out of the canyon after calls were made to 911 about shots being fired relaxes near the gateway to the forest trail. Signs about prohibited shooting had been removed.

Signs banning shooting in the forest were removed and hidden. They were found by a neighbor.

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This is part of the January 31, 2020 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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