Since breaking ground on the new sport shooting park last October, Himmelman Construction crews have made progress on the shooting park clubhouse. They are finishing the exterior siding and are ready to shingle the roof.

The special projects coordinator for Clear Creek County, Lisa Leben, wrote that the exterior is 90% complete and finishing the interior will be next for the construction crews.

The completed clubhouse will have a classroom, restrooms, a small retail area with snacks, and an office. The classroom will be large enough for four instructors and 18 students. It will have audiovisual equipment for in-person and online classes.

The Clear Creek County Board of Commissioners approved another $250,000 in funds for the project and another $175,000 in grants to continue construction through 2024. The current construction schedule projects a grand opening in the spring of 2025.

Leben wrote that the total revenue received for the project is $2,430,000, while the total estimated cost is $2,827,064. Leben wrote that the County has applied for grants for part of the remaining funds and the Clear Creek commissioners are prepared to approve additional funding in 2025.

The environmental cleanup and lead remediation of the old shooting range has been completed by Metals Treatment Technologies (MT2). The remediation came in under budget because the price of the recycled lead is higher than expected.

Construction tasks for 2024 include drilling a water well, digging and connecting the sewer line for the clubhouse to the Clear Creek Valley Water and Sanitation District, and finishing the clubhouse interior.

Building the concrete shooting pads, sheds, rifle tables, and range lanes will be the final phase of construction for the shooting park. Leben said that an elaborate shooting shed with sound baffles proposed in the initial specifications has been replaced with a more affordable one to bring down costs. Furniture for the clubhouse will be purchased in 2025 but paving the parking lot has been deferred for now.

Clear Creek County will open their southern shooting range, called Devil’s Nose Target Range, in 2024. They are in the process of selecting a vendor who will run the day-today operations of the facility. Clear Creek management will then have experience in operating shooting ranges when the Clear Creek Shooting Sports Park opens in 2025. Leben said that they hope the two shooting ranges can be run by the same vendor.

On March 6, 2024, the US Forest Service put out a press release on plans for implementing recreational shooting closures identified in the 2019 Recreational Sport Shooting Project Decision (fs.usda.gov/newsarchives/arp/newsarchive). The 2019 Decision identified unsuitable areas for recreational shooting on National Forest lands.

Forest Supervisor Monte Willams, who signed the 2019 Decision on behalf of the Forest Service, said in the press release: “So much collaboration has taken place to get us to this point to improve public safety while creating new, developed recreational shooting opportunities.”

Besides Clear Creek and Gilpin, the 2019 Decision included unsuitable areas for recreational shooting in Boulder and Larimer Counties. When the Clear Creek Shooting Sports Park is open and being used, the Forest Service will close 46,195 acres in northern Clear Creek and Gilpin counties to recreational sport shooting.

Clear Creek County government maintains a webpage on their shooting range projects at co.clearcreek. co.us/1156/Clear-Creek-Shooting-Sports-Park-Project. For questions about the project, contact Lisa Leben at lleben@clearcreekcounty.us or 303-679-2434 for more information.

Gilpin County is also tracking the project at gilpincounty.colorado.gov/elected-officials/board-ofcounty commissioners/recreationalsport shooting-collaborative. Rob Gutierrez, Director of the Gilpin County Community Development Department, is also knowledgeable about the new shooting park. He can be reached with questions or concerns at rgutierrez@gilpincounty.org/ or 303-582-5831 Ex.1300 .