Colorado neighbors say years of pleas ignored as unofficial shooting range threatens lead pollution, wildfires, and accidents
Incessant target practice in a small Colorado community has neighbors there up in arms, claiming their government leaders have been brushing off serious risks for years. To add insult to injury, the community members say that despite the area being deemed "unsuitable" for shooting five years ago, risky shooting activities continue at the site less than half a mile away from more than 100 homes.
The unofficial shooting range is located on public U.S. Forest Service land along Forest Service Road 217 in the community of Raymond, in Boulder County, just southwest of Lyons and located in the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forest.
Neighbors say if something isn't done, the potential consequences could stretch far beyond the community's borders, like wildfires or an innocent passerby on the 150-feet-away Highway 7 getting hit with a ricochet bullet.
Bill Ellis has lived in the community with his wife since 2008, but their home has been in his wife's family for generations. Their home is only .4 miles away from the range.
"Nobody knows where those ricochets are going to go, it's a safety issue," Ellis said. "It's also an issue for potential sparking of forest fires, and a major fire up here just in the local area could take out 200 or 300 homes."
With a county burn ban currently in place, no shooting is allowed, but shiny new bullet casings found scattered across the ground tell a different story.
Overall, the Forest Service says wildfires caused by guns are rare. In a 2022 study the agency published, researchers found it was the least common cause of wildfires in the last three decades, but it does happen more often than one might think.
Between 1992 to 2018, the Forest Service says 2,226 wildfires were started in the U.S. by firearms, and 40% of them, or 889, were attributed to target shooting.
The Forest Service says 21 of those 889 caused by target shooting happened in Colorado.
Researchers with the Forest Service said those numbers were a conservative estimate, due to the lack of detailed records, and that there were likely many more wildfires caused by firearms than what was reported.
Ellis says it would only take one wildfire to cause massive destruction for his community and others in the area.
"We've gotten completely frustrated up here," Ellis said.
Another concern he and his neighbors share about the range is the lead pollution runoff.
They worry lead pollution could eventually contaminate their private water wells that homeowners in the area depend on for clean drinking water.
"Forest Service rules say pick up your casings, and that's obviously not being enforced here," Ellis said as he showed CBS News Colorado's Kati Weis the range area.
Thousands of shells and casings, some brand new, others rusty and old, are strewn across the landscape of the range area.
Ellis said in the fall of 2020, an independent nonprofit conducted soil testing at the range.
"Those soil samples indicated very high levels of lead, like 79,000 parts per million of lead, which is way higher than the EPA standards for residential areas," Ellis said.
Ellis's neighbor down the road, Teresa Jackson, who previously worked in the parks and recreation industry, worries about the impact over the next several years.
"I believe there should be a variety of recreational opportunities in every community, but where there is an exception to that rule is when it impacts the residents who live nearby," Jackson said. "With this issue, you have both sound pollution, but also, the lead pollution and what that could do to the residents here. You know, my kids are included in that."
Jackson's 11-year-old son Arlo says he enjoys the beauty and tranquility of his rural home, but the noise pollution can be scary sometimes for him and his friends.
"It's like disturbing the peace," he said. "I feel like when I'm playing in the backyard, or I have friends over, they also notice it, and they're like, 'Ooh is that shooting?' And I'm like 'Yeah, it's been going on for a while now.'"
He added, "I hope we can do something to at least slow it down."
They're not alone. This problem has created a coalition of neighbors, united to protect their community.
"We've lived here for 20 years, but I've spent a lot of time up here as a child with relatives cabins, and there was always shooting, but it was always local people and a few people. It seems to me that once the internet, Facebook, whatever, the word gets out and now we're getting a tremendous amount of people after shooting that haven't even been here before," said Bob Snell, another frustrated neighbor. "They don't even know that they're shooting a quarter and a half a mile away from a lot of houses."
Snell likened it to something like shooting "tourism."
"Yes, there should be places for people to go, but maybe it's private shooting ranges," Snell said. "It has to be something better than just going up in the forest a quarter of a mile from our homes and literally blasting."
It's been 5 years since the Forest Service deemed this area "unsuitable" for shooting, but yet the shooting continues.
Boulder County and the Forest Service agreed in 2019 to eventually stop the shooting there, but only after the county builds a new public shooting range somewhere else.
The Forest Service says five years later, Boulder County still hasn't chosen a new location.
"We thought that the issue was going to be resolved," said Jackson. "It's been something that the community has been working on for years and years, but the can keeps getting kicked down the road as these different agencies can't seem to come to the table together and work with us for a solution... just some acknowledgment from them that this is a problem."
Boulder County says it's not for lack of trying. In a written statement to CBS News Colorado, the agency said it meets regularly with the U.S. Forest Service, "and continues to express the views and concerns of Boulder County residents."
Asked why the county has yet to build a new range, a spokesperson for the Boulder County Commission said, "suitable sites have not been located despite an exhaustive search over many years. Boulder County continues to look for sites."
The spokesperson added the following statement:
"The US Forest Service (USFS) allows for both sport shooting and hunting on national forest land, including land located in Boulder County. In response to feedback from residents, the Boulder County Commissioners passed an ordinance creating a 'no-firearm discharge' area in the Raymond/Riverside community with an exception for licensed and lawful hunting. This followed a public comment process and a public hearing. In areas with a certain population density, such as in Raymond/Riverside, the commissioners have the authority, under state statute, to create these no-firearm discharge areas. Anything outside this area falls within the regulations of the USFS... the county is in the process of filing for a special use permit through the USFS to obtain permission to install signage on USFS land to indicate the no-firearm discharge areas."
The U.S. Forest Service says a new shooting range is under construction in Clear Creek County at a cost of about $3.5 million.
"The Forest Service is constructing one of the ranges, Devils Nose, located on our Clear Creek Ranger District," said Forest Service spokesperson Reghan Cloudman. "An environmental analysis was done a number of years back to allow this site to be constructed in an area that was popular for dispersed shooting and located off a major access route. Clear Creek County and Gilpin counties have a shared range under construction."
In a written statement, Cloudman provided a map of several areas in Boulder County that have been deemed "unsuitable" to shooting.
Asked why can't rangers ask shooters to go to areas that have not been deemed unsuitable, Cloudman said, "we utilize this map to educate shooters who are looking for a good place to shoot. We ensure they understand the Code of Federal Regulation and ask them to check this map to help them know where to disperse. Even though closures are not in place in most areas yet, this map is a helpful resource."
Neighbors in Raymond don't only want the shooting to stop. They also want the area to be cleaned up and lead soils mitigated.
Asked about whether mitigation will take place, Cloudman said the U.S. Forest Service met with community members and heard their concerns, adding, "once closures are in place, the Boulder Ranger District will look at areas previously impacted by heavy recreational shooting activity and consider if cleanup efforts or other steps are needed."
Read the Forest Service's full written statement below:
Recreational Sport Shooting is an appropriate use of National Forest System lands when done in a safe, legal manner. That includes following the Code of Federal Regulations, which I've listed below, and not shooting in an occupied area or where any person or property is exposed to injury. We also have a website summarizing what shooters need to know before heading to the Forest: Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests Pawnee National Grassland - Recreation (usda.gov). Leaving shooting litter behind is not allowed on National Forest System lands, as is leaving any trash behind no matter the activity. This area is not a designated shooting area, but a dispersed location shooters tend to use.
Specifically on the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests, we have been working with county and state partners for over a decade to address recreational sport shooting management. In 2019, we signed a decision to implement closures in areas that were deemed "unsuitable" to shooting. A map of those locations is available online at Recreational Sport Shooting Management Final Decision Web Map (arcgis.com). These closures are contingent on public ranges being built in the nearby geographic area so shooters would have a place to go. This allowed us to strike a balance between addressing safety concerns and allowing recreational sport shooting opportunities. The first two ranges are under construction and anticipated to open in 2025 in Clear Creek County. You can learn more about this collaborative project at Sport Shooting Partners. We continue to work with Boulder County as they explore locations for ranges.
As for fire restrictions, we fully support the county's restrictions that include recreational shooting and do our part to educate visitors of those restrictions.
Please let me know if I can help with anything else. Sincerely, Reghan Cloudman
According to the Code of Federal Regulations (title 36), recreational shooting can take place on the National Forests and Grasslands under these conditions:
- You are at least 150 yards from a residence, building, campsite, developed recreation area or occupied area.
- You are not shooting across or on a National Forest System Road or an adjacent body of water.
- You are not shooting into or within a cave.
- You are not shooting in any manner or place where any person, property or resource is exposed to injury or damage as a result of such discharge.
- You are not firing any tracer bullet or incendiary ammunition.
