Recreational shooting, sometimes referred to as sport shooting or target shooting, has long been a legal and allowed activity on most USFS (U.S. Forest Service) lands. In the past 15-20 years, however, there has been a dramatic increase in recreational shooting activity, especially in regions near large urban population centers.

This increase in shooting activity on public lands, coupled with an upsurge in popularity and use of semi-automatic and automatic weapons in recreational shooting, has raised public health and safety concerns among citizens who live on or own property adjacent to and near USFS land.

Such has been the case along the northern Front Range of Colorado, including the county of Boulder. Efforts to address this issue have been ongoing for over a decade.

The USFS typically refers to shooting on USFS lands as “dispersed” shooting. In reality, however, certain locations become popular with recreational shooters and evolve into what the USFS refers to as “undesignated shooting areas.”

Typically, these undesignated shooting areas are located where there is easy access by motorized vehicle and within relatively short driving distances from urban areas. Unfortunately, such shooting areas are also often near rural residential neighborhoods, isolated residences and private property in the urban/wildland interface.

The usual concerns with recreational shooting near populated areas are with the potential danger from stray rounds and ricochets, potential for wildfire ignition, noise and quality of life issues.

These are certainly valid concerns that need to be addressed, but one aspect of recreational shooting that has received little attention is the public health hazards from lead and other heavy and toxic metals. This is an especially serious concern in and near undesignated shooting areas where there is heavy and frequent shooting activity.

One such undesignated shooting area in Boulder County is located along the U.S. Forest Service Road 217 near the communities of Raymond and Riverside. Shooting occurs at multiple locations along this road, with the most heavily used shooting location only 120 yards from the Peak to Peak Highway and 1/3 of a mile from the Raymond townsite.

The shooting locations along this portion of the USFS road straddle an intermittent drainage that carries water during spring runoff and heavy precipitation events. That drainage discharges into Cave Creek less than 300 yards from the shooting location. Cave Creek is a primary tributary to the nearby Middle St. Vrain River, and many in the Raymond/Riverside community get their domestic water supply from wells along the river.

Testing conducted in late summer of 2000 at the shooting location revealed lead concentrations of 79,000 ppm in the soils on both sides of the drainage. Lead levels in samples collected a short distance from the shooting location were only 15 ppm. Lead concentration in soil at the shooting location is therefore over 5000 times greater than in nearby areas not exposed to shooting.

Although no level of lead is considered safe, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency screening level for lead in play areas is 400 ppm, and in non-play areas 1,200 ppm. Thus, lead in the soils at the shooting location is as much as 200 times higher than considered acceptable by EPA standards. The soils testing also indicated high levels of antimony and arsenic, as well as elevated levels of copper, zinc and iron.

Samples collected from sediment in the drainage below the shooting location indicated that lead is moving downstream from the shooting site. Of even greater concern, water testing done in the spring of 2021 indicated the presence of a small amount of lead and elevated levels of iron in the Middle St. Vrain River below the confluence of Cave Creek. Because lead and elevated levels of iron were not detected in water samples taken above the confluence with Cave Creek the contaminants are attributable as originating from the shooting locations on USFS land.

Lead and other contaminants from undesignated shooting areas can easily find their way into surface and groundwater, and as such pose a potentially serious environmental hazard and threat to human health. The USFS is aware of the contamination issue at the shooting location near Raymond, but to date has taken no action to address the problem. It is highly likely that lead and other heavy metals contaminants are also present at other “undesignated shooting areas” on USFS property within the County.

In November of 2022 the Boulder County Board of Commissioners held a public hearing regarding citizen concerns with recreational shooting near Raymond/Riverside and at two other locations within and near Sugarloaf and West Magnolia. Lead contamination was cited as a major concern from the shooting locations near Raymond/Riverside. As a result of that hearing the Commissioners, under the apparent authority of Colorado Revised Statute 30-15-302, issued a resolution closing areas around these communities to recreational shooting.

Unfortunately, the USFS claims that the County does not have authority over USFS land and has not cooperated with the County to implement shooting closures near Raymond/Riverside, or in the Sugarloaf and Magnolia areas. Paradoxically, in 2021 the USFS did support a resolution by Larimer County Commissioners to close over 1800 acres of USFS land to shooting in the Crystal Lakes residential area based on public safety concerns. The USFS has stated that it can only implement shooting closures based on public safety concerns, but not for environmental reasons. Apparently, the agency does not consider high levels of lead contamination to be a public safety issue even if near residential areas and water sources.

In June 2019 the Supervisor of the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forest issued a formal decision regarding recreational sport shooting management in Jefferson, Clear Creek, Park, Gilpin, Boulder, Larimer, and Grand Counties.

In the decision the USFS agreed to close areas identified as unsuitable for recreational shooting in those counties contingent upon new public ranges being open. The decision was a result of collaboration between the USFS and several front range counties as part of the Northern Front Range Recreational Sport Shooting Management Partnership in 2013.

With respect to Boulder County, this decision would result in large areas of National Forest land in Boulder County being closed to recreational shooting once a range with a capacity of 25 shooting lanes is open to the public within the County. Ranges that meet the USFS condition are in the process of being developed for Clear Creek, Jefferson, Park, and Gilpin Counties.

Despite efforts over the past ten years, however, Boulder County has not yet succeeded in locating or opening such a range. The problems and issues with recreational shooting in Boulder County will therefore likely only intensify when the USFS closes down areas to shooting in the neighboring counties that have opened ranges as part of the USFS decision.

Target shooting is a legitimate recreational activity enjoyed by many, and such folks need a public range that is safe and does not create environmental and public health and safety hazards. With the vast amount of USFS land in Boulder County, and with over 65,000 acres of County owned land, it is difficult to understand why a solution that meets the needs of both recreational sport shooting enthusiasts as well as the non-shooting public cannot be found. Several other counties within the State have partnered with the USFS and State agencies to develop and provide such ranges. It is time that Boulder County and the USFS work together to address the public health and safety concerns, as well as environmental issues, associated with recreational shooting on USFS land within the County.

Public concerns may be addressed to the USFS and the Boulder County Commissioners. Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests, Supervisors Office: 2150 Centre Ave, Building E, Fort Collins, CO 80526. Boulder County Board of Commissioners: commissioners@bouldercounty.gov.