PORT ANGELES — A proposed shooting range west of Joyce would benefit the Clallam County economy and provide gun enthusiasts with a safe place to take aim, the county’s parks director said last week.
But opponents said at the meeting Thursday the shooting range would harm the environment.
Clallam County Parks, Fair and Facilities Director Joel Winborn — along with state Department of Natural Resources officials — fielded dozens of questions from proponents and opponents of a proposed shooting range at Sadie Creek during a two-hour informational meeting about DRN’s transfer of 320 acres of state forestland back to the county.
The Pacific Northwest Shooting Park Association would develop, manage and operate a shooting range seven miles west of Joyce if the county’s request for reconveyance is approved by the Board of Natural Resources and the county obtains the various permits it would need.
“Part of the hope is that we can bring people in from other areas to this facility,” Winborn told a crowd of about 75 at the Port Angeles Senior Center.
“One of the things that we’ve needed for a very, very long time is a safe place for people, who choose to shoot in this community. We currently don’t have that.”
Rifle, pistol ranges
The proposal includes 100-yard, 200-yard and 300-yard rifle ranges with a lead containment system.
It would also have two pistol ranges, a black powder range, an archery range, a clubhouse and a parking lot on an 80-acre footprint.
A 1,000-yard shooting range was dropped from an earlier proposal.
Asked how the range would impact the economy, Winborn said: “I can’t see that it would do anything but affect it positively.
“If you’ve ever been out in the woods here, you can discover some very interesting things about what takes place, and it’s very difficult for those types of illegal uses to be monitored because staffing for those law enforcement people, like everywhere else, is minimal,” Winborn said.
“The range is something that we’ve needed for quite some time, for many reasons, and certainly the economic impacts from that are no exception.”
Environmental effects
But opponents said a shooting range would have adverse environmental impacts, like lead contamination.
Some speakers at the meeting said the county should pick another site.
The location of the shooting range is opposed by the Lower Elwha Klallam, Jamestown S’Klallam and Makah tribes, as well as the North Olympic Land Trust and the North Olympic Peninsula Lead Entity for Salmon.
Among the six sites the county originally considered was Salt Creek — home of a former military firing range.
That site is now an Environmental Protection Agency cleanup project because of lead contamination.
The North Olympic Land Trust said in a May 2009 letter to the three county commissioners that heavy metals such as lead and copper generated by the shooting range would likely have a negative impact on salmon habitat and threatened marbled murrelet nesting sites in the Sadie Creek watershed.
The North Olympic Peninsula Lead Entity for Salmon also opposed the land transfer in a Jan. 7 letter to DNR.
Winborn said the Salt Creek and Sadie Creek sites are “apples and oranges” because there was no lead containment effort at Salt Creek.
“Before anything is approved on this proposal, all of that stuff is going to have to be covered,” Winborn said.
“This is the first part of a very, very lengthy process. I think we all know and understand that given the environmental concerns at this particular site.
“But as I stated, of the six sites that were assessed, this site was clearly the best of the bunch.”
No formal action was taken Thursday. The meeting basically outlined a bureaucratic process to transfer DNR land back to the county.
About two dozen audience members asked questions of Winborn and DNR Assistant Division Manager of Transactions Julie Sandberg.
Several used the question period to voice opinions about the shooting range.
A public shooting range has been a goal of Clallam County shooting enthusiasts since 1968, when the county closed the shooting range at Salt Creek to expand other recreational uses in the area.
Reconveyance
Other sites were eyeballed in 1969, when a state statute was passed that allowed counties to request land “reconveyance” for public parks.
“It was kind of a boomerang effect, and that’s where the weird word reconvey comes back,” Sandberg explained.
“It was conveyed from the county to the state, and now the county has the authority to request it back.”
Clallam County commissioners in March 2008 signed a letter of intent to reconvey the 320-acre parcel for a shooting range.
A contract for preliminary environmental analysis and a feasibility assessment was approved in March 2009 after revisions — requested by shooting range opponents — were made.
When the county’s application is finalized, DNR will take the request to the five-member Board of Natural Resources with a recommendation.
The state Recreation and Conservation Office developed a State Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan, and the DNR must determine that the county’s request jibes with that plan.
More information on the reconveyance is at www.dnr.wa.gov.
Long process
“This is a long process,” Sandberg said.
“We’re at the beginning.”
If the conveyance is approved, the governor would sign a deed to transfer the land back to the county.
At that point, the county would apply for the various permits it needs to open a shooting range.
The county would have to meet State Environmental Policy Act, or SEPA, requirements and obtain a host of other permits.
The application for a conditional use permit would come before the Clallam County Hearing Examiner, who would consider public testimony and written comments in a decision.
The preliminary environmental assessment found the Sadie Creek site would be feasible “if designed, constructed and managed in a well-controlled manner with respect to environmental contaminants and other environmental issues,” Winborn said.
A potential gun range in Clallam County has been discussed for decades.
Some audience members asked what’s taken so long.
“I realize it has taken a long time, but there have been stops and starts on both sides,” Sandberg said.
Sandberg said the DNR has four reconveyance projects on its plate and is committed to seeing them through.
“I think there’s a lot of people that would like to see something happen,” she said.
“Fish or cut bait.”
________
Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
