Colorado: Boulder County Hosting Three Open Houses to Discuss Designated Shooting Areas

Boulder County is hosting three open houses to discuss possible designated shooting areas in the County.   This is part of a recreational shooting strategy that is under consideration by the Northern Front Range Recreational Sports Shooting Management Partnership (Partnership). The Partnership was formed by the US Forest Service to work across the boundaries of the Arapahoe-Roosevelt National Forests and four counties to provide safe, responsible, and accessible recreational sport shooting opportunities.

The three open houses are as follows:

Monday, July 20 from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.

Nederland Community Center

750 Highway 72 North

Nederland

Tuesday, July 21 from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.

Boulder County Clerk & Recorder’s Office

1750 33^rd St.

Boulder

Thursday, August 6 from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.

Peaceful Valley Resort

475 Peaceful Valley Road

Lyons

The meetings will be open house-style with multiple stations set up for attendees to obtain information and provide comments. There will be no scheduled presentations and people are welcome to come and go as they please.  

A table with information about the preliminary criteria that was used to select the areas will be set up for attendees to view.  There will also be a station to display maps of possible designated shooting areas currently under consideration.  For this first round of possibilities, the areas include:  

• Ruby Gulch
• West Magnolia
• Allenspark Dump (analysis and public involvement has been completed and is pending a decision)
• Bunce School Road 
• Beaver Reservoir Road 

Boulder County is in the process of drafting Land Use Code provisions about where and whether future shooting ranges will be allowed in unincorporated areas of the County.  The County will have a station to explain the process for amending its Land Use Code to include such requirements as the appropriate size of a site, setbacks from neighboring properties, and health and safety requirements.  Staff members will be on hand to discuss the possible areas and comment cards will be available for residents to complete.

More information about the Partnership and criteria for identifying possible designated shooting areas can be found online at www.SportShootingPartners.org. 

If you are a hunter and/or shooter concerned about the future of sport shooting on the 625 square miles of forest land that the Partnership is reviewing, along with the future of such opportunities in Boulder, Clear Creek, Gilpin and Larimer Counties, it is important that your interests are represented at the open houses. 

Please take the time to attend one of these open houses to familiarize yourself with what designated shooting areas are under consideration and provide the Partnership with your comments about the importance of maintaining access and opportunities on public lands for sport shooting.   

The NRA also encourages you to provide feedback to Boulder County to ensure that its Land Use Code does not become a No-Use Code for sport shooting in the County.