When spring returns to Basalt, the sound of birds chirping in the warmer air can be heard. So can the sound of gunfire from the Colorado Division of Wildlife’s Lake Christine shooting range, on the hillside just north of downtown Basalt.
The shooting range has long been a point of debate in Basalt. Some Basalt residents believe it’s a nuisance — especially on weekends when it sees more use — while for others it’s a valuable recreational amenity they will defend aggressively to keep open. Either way, many find the sporadic gunfire hard to ignore.
The question of whether an active shooting range should be located well within hearing range of downtown Basalt came up during a Town Council candidate forum last week. A question submitted by a member of the public at the forum asked, “The Lake Christine shooting range has become a noisy nuisance. Would you support a Town Council resolution requesting (that) the Division of Wildlife move it to a remote location away from town?”
The question was directed to only two of the six council candidates in the April 1 election: Katie Schwoerer, a bank officer who works in Aspen and is running for town council for the first time; and Rick Stevens, a former council member and mayor of Basalt who is president of Aspen Earthmoving.
Schwoerer said she would need more information on the issue, including where the range could go, before stating an opinion. Schwoerer, who lives in Willits, said she sympathizes with old town residents who “probably are affected by the constant noise.”
Stevens bluntly said “no” with regard to whether he would support a resolution to move the range.
“Basically, that’s been there a long time,” he said. “I don’t know that moving it to a remote location will make any difference. It will just make somebody else upset who lives out there in remote locations up the Fryingpan Valley or wherever it is.”
Stevens also pointed out that a group of disabled veterans coming to Snowmass this week will be using the shooting range as part of their recreational activities. And he said the range is a good place to educate young people about the use of firearms.
“Unfortunately, in America gun control is a problem, and I would be all for a program that would educate young people as they become hunters and sportsmen to handle those weapons appropriately,” Stevens said. “And if we move it out of town or move it away, we’ll lose that opportunity. So there are other advantages to having it here, and I think they may weigh equally to the people who are disturbed by the noise.”
A little background
Those who use the shooting range include hunters working on their aim and sighting in their rifles, members of a local shooting club, commercial clients who book skeet-shooting outings from an outfitter in the St. Regis hotel, and people who simply enjoy shooting handguns or high-caliber semi-automatic rifles.
The DOW Web site describes the Basalt State Wildlife Area Shooting Range as a largely unsupervised public pistol range with 100-yard rifle and shotgun ranges, open year round during daylight hours. The Roaring Fork Valley Sportsman’s Association offers trap and skeet shooting on weekends and Wednesday evenings, and a Colorado Wildlife Habitat Stamp is required to use the range. Other public shooting ranges are in or near Glenwood Springs, Rifle, Grand Junction, Craig, Hot Sulphur Springs, Meeker, Hayden, Steamboat Springs, Edwards and Rangely.
Last fall, the Aspen Daily News asked DOW Area Wildlife Manager Perry Will a series of questions about the shooting range. In the interest of advancing community understanding about the range, which was established in the 1960s, following is some of that interview.
Aspen Daily News: How many ranges in Colorado have closed and why have they closed?
Perry Will: Many private ranges in the Denver metro area have been closed in recent years due to pressure from surrounding communities. This has created a situation where public ranges are overcrowded. For sportsmen in the Denver area this has resulted in having to travel to outlying ranges (like the DOW range at Hot Sulphur Springs), pay to belong to private shooting ranges, or take part in dispersed shooting on public lands. Increased dispersed shooting has led to safety issues and to some public lands’ being closed to shooting.
When a range closes, shooters are forced to find other options. Dispersing the shooters onto other public lands in the Roaring Fork Valley would create many safety concerns, especially for the Forest Service, which would receive most of those shooters.
ADN: How much DOW land does the area cover?
Will: The Basalt State Wildlife Area is 4,807 acres.
ADN: Why is the Basalt location a good location?
Will: The close proximity to the users makes it convenient and accessible to the public.
ADN: Why do you feel that other potential locations are not such good locations?
Will: The Basalt SWA (state wildlife area) is protected for wintering deer and elk populations. Moving the range into the center of this property would be counterintuitive to that purpose.
ADN: What is the relationship between the skeet-shooting club and the DOW?
Will: The DOW and the Roaring Fork Valley Sportsman’s Club have a 25-year lease agreement that was signed in 1988. The RFVSC has helped maintain the range by providing trash receptacles, snow plowing, range clean up, toilets and range safety.
ADN: How many outfitters are licensed to bring clients to the range?
Will: Currently, four commercial users are permitted to use the range; only two commercial users are active in bringing in clients to shoot. They pay $100 for a permit and 5 percent of gross revenues to the DOW.
ADN: How many users has the range seen over time?
Will: As the population of the valley has grown, the use of the range has increased. Because the DOW doesn’t charge specifically for range use, we have no way of tracking the actual usage. Anecdotally, we do know that range usage has increased significantly, but it doesn’t appear to have increased at a pace faster than the population growth of the area.
ADN: What are the hours of the range?
Will: No range hours exist at this time. Because the range has no range lighting, the range is only used from dawn to dusk.
ADN: What are the restrictions on use, i.e., the caliber of weapons that can be fired?
Will: Currently, there are no specific restrictions on the weapons that may be used at the range. To my knowledge, the DOW has not received specific requests for restrictions, so the item has not been discussed.
ADN: How many complaints has the DOW received in the past five years?
Will: The DOW does not keep a record of informal complaints. Based on conversations with local officers and office staff, I would estimate that in the past five years we have received complaints from approximately 10 people. Some of those individuals have contacted us more than one time. Since taking over as area wildlife manager over one year ago, I have received no formal complaints about the range.”
ADN: How often is the range patrolled?
Will: Even though it is not monitored 24 hours a day, periodic patrols are done by the DOW staff, Eagle County deputies and the Roaring Fork Valley Sportsman’s Club members.
ADN: Is the DOW open to changing the hours of operation in response to public complaints?
Will: The DOW is always open to discussing concerns with the public. While we are not willing to consider closing this range, we are open to meeting with area residents and area sportsmen to consider ways that range uses might be made more compatible with surrounding property uses.”
bgs@aspendailynews.com