Project Information

Northern Front Range Recreational Sport Shooting Management Partnership

Purpose

The purpose of the Northern Front Range Recreational Sport Shooting Management Partnership is to develop a landscape-level, multi-jurisdictional strategy to provide safe, responsible and accessible recreational sport shooting opportunities while addressing conflicts near residential areas and with other recreation users across the northern Colorado Front Range.

Partners

Click on the image for more information about each of the Sport Shooting Partners.

Clear Creek County logo
Gilpin County logo
Larimer County logo
Boulder County logo
Colorado Parks and Wildlife logo
US Forest service logo

Background Information:

Recreational sport shooting (RSS) is a longstanding and legitimate use of National Forest System lands. In recent years Colorado’s population has been increasing annually by more than 100,000 with 80% of this growth occurring along the Front Range. As population has increased, so have the number of people who live near and use the National Forests. The mixing of RSS activities on National Forest System lands in close proximity to residences and other high use public areas is causing safety concerns. Since 2013, the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grassland has been working with partners including Boulder, Clear Creek, Gilpin, and Larimer counties, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife (collectively the Northern Front Range Sport Shooting Management Partnership) to develop possible management strategies for this activity on the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests. This includes not only identifying areas of the Forests that may or may not be suitable for recreational sport shooting, but also identifying locations that would be conducive to building developed shooting ranges open to the public on public lands.

Strategy:

RSS adopted a Strategy that consists of three key pieces:

  1. Each county (Larimer, Boulder, Gilpin and Clear Creek) will identify potential designated shooting areas.
  2. The Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests will begin an analysis on how to provide safe, sustainable Recreational Sport Shooting opportunities while providing for the health and safety of recreationists and residents.
  3. The Partnership will provide information and education for safe and responsible shooting.
US Forest service logo

US Forest Service Amends Forest Plan

On June 13, 2019, Forest Supervisor Monte Williams signed the final decision on the Recreational Sport Shooting Management Project. The goal of the project is to provide safer opportunities for all forest visitors by identifying areas where recreational sport shooting is unsuitable.

Contacts:

  • Reghan Cloudman, Forest Public Affairs Specialist and Program Manager, Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grassland

Contact the Project Coordinator:

sportshootingpartners@bouldercounty.org

Definitions:

§  Dispersed Shooting: Random and dispersed shooting that occurs throughout public lands, except in firearms closure areas.

§  Designated shooting area: An area or a facility designated for firearms practice that is not typically overseen by supervisory personnel.

§  Shooting range or firing range: A specialized facility designed for firearms practice. Each facility is typically overseen by one or more supervisory personnel, called variously a range master or “RSO – Range Safety Officer.”