The continuing search for a site to accommodate a major public shooting range near Denver includes a thrust toward a prime location inside the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge.
Whether a consortium of state and local agencies can hurdle a series of tricky legal and financial barriers to acquire this property remains to be seen.
A site termed the most desirable in the nation by a leading expert appears simply to be there for the taking. Within easy driving distance from Front Range population centers and with a permanent buffer from commercial development, it meets the most vital criteria.
But the targeted 450-acre plot in the southeast quadrant of a national wildlife refuge also poses certain problems. The most immediate concerns what the state can offer the federal government in exchange.
“We have no leverage for a land swap,” Mark Cousins, hunter education coordinator for the Colorado Division of Wildlife, told the Colorado Wildlife Commission at a recent meeting.
Although a formal appraisal is pending, it must be assumed that refuge land in the shadow of the city holds considerable value, along with complications. The quirk in all of this is a land exchange appeared to be arranged short years ago — two parcels of State Trust lands adjacent to the Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge in Moffat County for the desired arsenal plot.
A plea by politically connected individuals who had been using the Moffat land prompted the administration of Gov. Bill Owens to cancel the deal, throwing the site search into disarray. With that golden window gone, proponents are left to breathe life into an arsenal proposal while also pursuing private property farther to the east.
The quest, and demand, for a substantial public shooting area near Denver has been accelerated in the wake of the closure of numerous smaller ranges. The reason almost always is the same — encroachment from an expanding circle of residential and commercial development.
“It’s the same cycle of population growth causing more demand for a shooting facility that creates the development that closes the ranges,” Cousins defined the paradox.
Clark Vargas, the renowned designer hired to outline what a range at the arsenal might look like, projected a facility that might attract regional and national competitions for a variety of shooting sports, including archery. It presumably would include a layout for required practice by law enforcement officers, a huge demand that increasingly is difficult to meet.
In additional to their utility for recreation and marksmanship, shooting ranges are valued as nurseries for promoting participation in small game hunting.
Utilizing the full 450 acres for a national-class complex patterned after facilities in Arizona and Nevada would cost an estimated $80 million, including land acquisition. A scaled- down model for local shooters would cost much less.
The discussion prompted commissioner Jeff Crawford to demand an accelerated course of action for securing the arsenal property.
“If the arsenal is the perfect place, then how can we achieve a positive outcome? If it’s possible, then let’s go after it. If not, let’s move on.
“If this is a political process, let’s engage the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from the top on down,” Crawford continued. “We should involve our Colorado congressional delegation in this.”
The commissioner further pressed for a more specific time line.
“I remind everyone we’re in Year 5 of this search. How quickly can this happen?”
Under popular projections, financing would be shared among various state and federal sources and management would be performed by Colorado State Parks.
Cousins emphasized that pursuit of this shooting complex does not preclude development of local shooting sites along the Front Range as described in last year’s memorandum of understanding among more than 30 state, federal, sportsmen and environmental groups.
