Recreation Permit

[scotts86]

I have been trying to plan a game and it has recently come into fruition, but I have some questions regarding legality. According to the forums, most areas designated public outside of city or town limits (national forest, grasslands, etc.) is available to the airsoft community.

The area in question is the Deschutes National Forest in Central Oregon. On their website, they specify that for group or public events, one usually needs a recreation permit. The problem is that they do not specify how large a gathering needs to be in order to qualify. Do I need a permit in order to organize a small game (4-8 people) on FS land? Do I need to contact the regional office and let them know when and where we will be? We will of course comply with AP's stated safety and only use BIO BBs, as I'm pretty sure littering on public lands carries a hefty fine.

[Transition]

according to the woman at the BLM office I spoke with, yes, yes, yes and its a pain in the a$$ to do right.

[Sleepy]

Scott. My experience, out here, its a pain in the a$$. A few folks are working on a few things out here, but I can't say much. But there are too many different agencies out here, and they don't all talk to each other about events, so BLM might clear you, but FS and DCSO will shit on your head. Interchange those agencies as you see fit.

ST15 used to do our training and skirms out on BLM land just southeast of town, which seemed to work out okay for us, but we might have just gotten lucky.

Whereabouts in Bend are you? I'm at the base of College Hill on Newport.

[DJ]

There is a multiplicity of land owners in Oregon. BLM, USFS, OSFS , and a buttload of private forest owners ( longview timber, boise, wherheuser etc...) in Central Oregon you have more BLM than just about all others. Determine who owns the property you want to play on and contact the proper person. We got all kinds of advice regarding playing on a piece of property. Most of it was BS. We just contacted the property owner in a business like manner, made our presentation and obtained permission. It is not that big a deal, just start the process and follow the steps. Just make sure that you follow the process.

Oh and steer clear of the resort areas like Sunriver, Black butte etc... They will have an orgasm as they are mostly retired liberals who reside there.

[scotts86]

Sweet, thanks for the info guys. I spoke with a DNFS public relations who told me that as long as you are 1: on NFS land and firearms are permitted and 2: you leave nothing behind, you should be in the clear. They only require permits for games where transactions are occurring (sponsored events, for profit events) or for large groups over 25. Since I don't fit into that category and we will be playing on FS land, we should be in the clear. We are planning on skirming either south of Besse Butte near Newberry, or very much southwest of Sunriver off Century Drive.

Oh, and I'm off Wilson right here in town.

Thanks again guys.