Motion to seek injunction over Camp Bonneville withdrawn

Legal efforts to block Clark County from continuing to allow law enforcement to use Camp Bonneville’s shooting range came to an end last week after Vancouver resident Patti Reynolds withdrew her motion for an injunction.

In her motion, which was filed in October in Clark County Superior Court, Reynolds said the county violated the conservation conveyance terms “by allowing the use of Camp Bonneville by law enforcement as a place for target practice, a place to detonate explosives, a place to store evidence or ammunition, or to conduct training exercises.”

Under the conservation conveyance, ownership of the former military base was transferred from the U.S. Army to the county in 2006, with the requirement that the property be used for natural resource conservation.

Along with blocking any future contracts with law enforcement agencies, Reynolds sought to have the Clark County Sheriff’s Office; FBI; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Metro Explosives Disposal Unit; and other agencies barred from using the site or storing ammunition on the property.

In August, the Clark County Council voted against renewing the FBI’s contract, which had given the federal agency access to the property. The FBI has since removed its equipment, although the sheriff’s office and other agencies still use the shooting range.

Established in 1909, Camp Bonneville was used as a training camp for various military branches. Over its 85-year lifespan, troops stationed at Fort Vancouver would use the site as a drill field and rifle range. A shooting range used by law enforcement agencies is still in operation on the property.

The military stopped using the nearly 4,000-acre site in 1995. Since assuming ownership of the property, the county — with grant funding from the Army — undertook a major effort to clear the property of unexploded ordnance, explosive compounds, munitions and lead, as well as clean up soil and groundwater contaminants.

In January 2025, about 12,000 rounds of handgun and rifle ammunition were stolen from locked FBI storage containers at Camp Bonneville. The thieves reportedly used bicycles to access the property. No suspects have been identified.

Vancouver resident Janet Landesberg, a retired Social Security Administration judge, had recently requested to be added to Reynolds’ motion. But they withdrew the motion March 19 after it became clear the judge would find they lacked standing in the matter.

But Landesberg and Reynolds aren’t giving up the fight. Landesberg said the state Department of Ecology and Attorney General Nick Brown should be enforcing the environmental restrictions detailed in the conservation conveyance.

“While citizens may not have standing, the Department of Ecology does per the consent decree. I urge you to enforce the state’s environmental laws referenced in the consent decree,” Landesberg said in a Monday letter to Ecology officials.

In her letter, Landesberg said it should be clear that law enforcement’s ongoing use of the property should not be allowed.

“Even before the Department of Ecology became involved in the cleanup of Camp Bonneville, the environmental restrictions contained in the quitclaim deed were clear that only the cleanup crew and its authorized agents could be on the land. There were no carve-outs for law enforcement,” Landesberg said.