Whatcom shooting range could be closed longer than previously thought
Part of Plantation Rifle Range could be closed longer than previously thought because of a complicated environmental cleanup, a Whatcom County Parks and Recreation Department official said this week.
Outdoor ranges will be closed through 2024 at least, said Christ Thomsen, parks operations manager.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do to get to the point where we can initiate our cleanup efforts,” Thomsen told the Whatcom County Council’s Finance and Administrative Services Committee in a meeting Tuesday, Feb. 8.
Thomsen told the council that lead cleanup at the outdoor ranges could start in summer.
Also at Tuesday’s meeting the County Council unanimously accepted a $700,000 grant from the state Department of Ecology.
Total cost of the project was estimated at $1.35 million.
An indoor range for pistols could be open in April, Thomsen told the council.
That’s where the county is improving its air-filtration system to remove lead dust and gunpowder residue, said Tom Chisholm, parks supervisor for the county’s south region.
“We are really close to being operational,” Chisholm told The Bellingham Herald.
There are four ranges at Plantation, he said: the indoor pistol range, a 100-yard outdoor pistol and small-bore rifle range, a 300-yard high-power rifle range, and a trap and skeet range.
Plantation Rifle Range opened in 1971 and is Whatcom’s County’s only public shooting location, owned and managed by the county.
The range, at 5102 Samish Way, was used for firearms training by both the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office and the Bellingham Police Department.
Police Lt. Claudia Murphy told The Herald that the department is looking for a new training site. Sheriff’s deputies are using the Custer Gun Club, said Chief Deputy Rodger Funk.
