Oconto County will apply for a grant to reorient and revamp the Machickanee Forest Shooting Range to address safety and noise concerns expressed by neighbors.
The Oconto County Forest, Parks and Recreation Committee decided Wednesday to secure funds to redevelop the range, built in 2003 on Garrity Road, after deciding against relocating the range to an alternative site.
“I would say we stay where we are,” committee member Richard Nelson said. “When I look at these maps, there’s no houses straight north. Why can’t we just turn the whole system straight north?”
The shooting range has been closed since May 2 after neighbors reported hearing rapid fire and found stray bullets in their yards. Those living near the range have said they are fearful to go outdoors or host outdoor events when the range is open. Several people asked the county to relocate the shooting range because of the safety and noise concerns.
The committee’s review of potential sites led to the decision to keep the location and make adjustments, such as reducing the hours of operation, providing supervision and redesigning the range to cut back on noise and stray bullets.
The committee considered relocating the range to county forest land in the northern towns of Breed, Bagley and Brazeau or county-owned land in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest in the town of Riverview.
These areas are less densely populated than the Machickanee site but had no well-developed access roads and no natural hills into which a shooting range could be developed. The swampiness of the sites and proximity to ATV or snowmobile trails were also drawbacks.
“Some of these are off the beaten road in the county forest. That’s another thing to consider: Do you want to build something that no one’s going to use?” said Robert Skalitzky, director of the Oconto County Forestry, Parks and Recreation Department.
Maintaining a shooting range in a remote northern Oconto County location would be more costly because the department’s employees rarely work in the area, Skalitzky said. A remote location could also lead to vandalism and the theft of user fees, he said.
Committee chairman Greg Sekela agreed it would be cheaper to keep the range where it’s at. Renovating the existing site will be quicker than beginning fresh at a different location, he added.
Committee member Allan Stranz also spoke in favor of the Machickanee site, because it already has the infrastructure and is accessible to the public.
Funding may also be easier to secure if the range remained in southern Oconto County, because demand for the range would be higher, Skalitzky said.
The committee also evaluated county land in Stiles near the Machickanee Flowage, but the option was rejected because of its nearness to homes.
The committee plans to apply for grant funding to cover up to 75 percent of the cost of renovating the range. The committee will learn in January if its application is approved. Work at the site could begin in March. There was no talk of reopening the range in the meantime.
There was talk, however, of making changes.
The shooting range has mostly 100-yard stations, with two 25-yard stations, but the committee discussed placing targets at 25 feet, 25 yards, 50 yards and 100 yards. In addition, shooting stations might be covered by roofs to enclose the shooters in order to reduce the number of stray bullets and muffle the noise.
The hours of operation might also be limited. The range had been open from dawn to dusk 365 days of the year before the sudden closure.
“There’s a lot of things we can look at before we reopen,” Skalitzky said.
Charles Terry left the meeting saying he was happy with the committee’s decision. Terry, of Milwaukee, owns a cottage in Pensaukee and has an annual pass to the shooting range. If the shooting range were developed in northern Oconto County, he said he’d go elsewhere.
“It would be a much further drive,” he said.
Several people who live close to the range also attended the meeting but declined to comment.
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