Oconto County has secured a $175,000 grant to reorient the Machickanee Shooting Range in Morgan and incorporate other safety measures that will eventually lead to the reopening of the popular facility.
Federal wildlife restoration funding will be used to renovate the shooting range at 3490 Garrity Road in Morgan, with work planned for spring and summer of 2016. The project will include redirecting the shooting lanes to a direction that eliminates stray bullets, construct shooting stations, berms and backstops at the 25-foot and 25-, 50- and 100-yard ranges, create handicap accessible routes and install security cameras.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources will administer the grant money.
The Forestry, Parks and Recreation Committee sought the grant after closing the range in May 2014 because of ongoing safety concerns and noise complaints from neighbors.
“With the grant, (committee members) will be able to do all the safety things they were thinking of doing,” said Robert Skalitzky, director of the Oconto County Forestry, Parks and Recreation Department.
Skalitzky said the committee will hold a public meeting in Morgan to discuss possible changes in the operation of the shooting range.
“We’ll try to include the public as much as possible in the whole project,” he said.
Proposed changes include providing on-site supervision, increasing fees from $5 a visit and reducing the hours of operation. The shooting range had been open from sunrise to sunset 365 days of the year.
Reorienting the shooting range will help address the complaints of neighbors who say stray bullets have hit their outbuildings and landed in their yards.
“People have always had concerns about it,” Skalitzky said.
However, he said neighbors have fewer concerns since the committee moved toward improving safety at the facility.
“I think they’d still rather see the range somewhere else because it’s in their backyard … but have less concerns than they used to,” he said.
Tony Wroblewski, of Morgan, said he looks forward to seeing the range renovated and reopened.
“I think a lot of guys would have a place to go. A lot of fellas were going there before it closed,” said Wroblewski, of Morgan, who purchased a season pass at the range for five or six years before it closed.
He said the range is a good place for kids to get experience with firearms and for individuals with new concealed carry permits to grow more comfortable with their firearms.
Shooting is a hobby he enjoys.
“It’s something to do in the off season when you’re not hunting or fishing,” he said.
The total cost of the project is $175,000, with the county responsible for $43,750. Skalitzky said the county’s share can be taken from the shooting range fund or in-kind contributions in which the county forestry or highway departments provide labor and equipment for the project.
One aspect already has been completed. A logging contractor working in the area cut pine trees in the spring to accommodate the new shooting lanes.
For a second year in a row, the range is scheduled to reopen briefly during November prior to the gun deer season. The range was open for limited hours over a three-week span in 2014, to allow hunters to sight in their rifles.
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