The Regional Director for Juan de Fuca says gun play is endangering workers in the bush around Jordan River.
Mike Hicks says he's received reports from people hearing all kinds of firearms, including automatic weapons, being fired off on crown land in the region -- often where forestry crews are at work:
"People are shooting serious guns out there. They're not taking their little 8 year old and trying out a little BB gun. These are serious guns shooting towards the bush, and you don't know who's there. And obviously it should be stopped."
He says Queesto Logging is active in the area and has had problems:
"The forest company has had problems with people shooting up their equipment and the foresters have been endangered in the forest. There's been times when they've had to radio for help to come out of the woods because people are shooting towards the woods and they're working in there."
Hicks says a forest fire last summer was directly attributed to people trying out their guns and using exploding targets.
" They've got new targets you can buy that blow up and sort of make a bigger bang. And they had a 3 hectare fire last summer that they attribute directly to people trying out their guns."
Hicks says it's only a matter of time before an innocent person is hurt and says gun owners need to get the message that firing weapons into the bush is an unsafe practise.
Hicks is calling for more enforcement -- but acknowledges there simply aren't enough RCMP or conservation officers.