Officials have a plan to manage target shooting across Pike National Forest

The U.S. Forest Service is moving ahead in its mission to control recreational shooting across Pike National Forest, where land managers have seen troubling trends mix with a growing Front Range population.

Target shooting is a valid, historic activity across Forest Service lands, Jason Robertson, acting supervisor of Pike National Forest, acknowledged in starting a recent meeting with rangers and concerned individuals.

"But we want to figure out how to better manage it safely and accommodate the amount of use we're seeing now," he said.

That's the aim of a plan that's been in the works for more than two years. The Forest Service calls it the Integrated Management of Target Shooting Project, which foresees building carefully engineered shooting ranges on the Pikes Peak, South Park and South Platte ranger districts — seven all together.

That's while gunfire would be outlawed in vast swaths of the national forest, including close to Colorado Springs along Gold Camp and Rampart Range roads. Those are areas the Forest Service has tried to ban already due to trash, shot-up trees, sparks causing fires and errant bullets striking people and property.

Particular concern has regarded an area known as Turkey Tracks, near the Teller-Douglas county line off Colorado 67 north of Woodland Park. Turkey Tracks remains one of the seven ranges the Forest Service has proposed developing, despite continued objection from some locals living nearby.

Asked at the recent meeting if the site would be supervised, South Park District Ranger Josh Voorhis said that is not the expectation.

"By designing it to include all the safety features to account for noise and other issues we have, we're hoping that it doesn't have to be a supervised range," he said. "Initially, the goal of the Forest Service and our partners is to not be out there on a daily basis telling shooters how to shoot. That's not in our interest."

One of those partners is Andy Hough, representing the Southern Shooting Partnership. The group of local and state agencies and enthusiasts has collaborated with the Forest Service on the proposed plan.

Alongside an experienced shooting range engineer, "we're trying to make it idiot-proof if you will," Hough said, suggesting designs that would prevent stray bullets and limit noise. "Just the facility itself is going to mitigate probably 90% of the problems initially."

If not, he said, that's the point of the "adaptive management" strategy being proposed.

Translation, said South Platte District Ranger Brian Banks: "We have tools that allow us to try things differently if they aren't working."

That could mean adding supervision, officials said at the meeting. That could mean charging a fee at the ranges — potentially necessary, too, for trash removal and other maintenance, Voorhis said.

"Initially going in, (ranges) will be free of charge," he said. "But we'll have to see how much it's costing, what kind of funds we have, if we have partner support. We may not be able to keep them free if the cost becomes excessive."

Other than Turkey Tracks, a Forest Service map shows proposed gun ranges at the Buffalo Creek Gun Club and off Forest Service roads 536, 255A, 704, 865 and 370.I.

Project organizers have identified Turkey Tracks as suitable for its lines of sight in the Hayman burn scar, its rolling topography lending to natural backstops and its long-held popularity.

Some locals have sounded in favor of a range there, saying it would be safer than shooters elsewhere in the surrounding forest. Others have said the Forest Service's surrounding closures could create a "funnel effect" and more problems at Turkey Tracks.

"These ranges are going to be close to somebody or something," Banks said. "On my district, you can't go a mile without hitting a road or infrastructure where there's people recreation or living. There is no secret area that's completely isolated. That's one of the fundamental challenges we have with this process."

The Forest Service is requesting public comment through a project webpage from Nov. 28-Dec. 28. A draft decision is expected in May 2024, ahead of a final decision that September.