How was the shooting range site chosen?

In April 2009 the AZ Game and Fish Dept contracted an independent survey to determine what shooters and hunters of No. Arizona wanted in a range. To view this survey, click here

Shooter's survey

From this study the May Commission meeting developed 3 guidelines for a shooting range location

They are:

1. to be located within 30 minutes from downtown Flagstaff;

2. sized for a local range with potential to expand to regional range; and

3. the ability to be operational by 2013 (3-5 years).

Is the Foster Ranch range a local or a regional range?

Foster ranch is 160 acres with 80 acres additional Forest Service land to be included in the range. The definition of a local range is 60-80 acres. The Foster Ranch range is much larger than that.

The actual acreage used by the facilities is actually much closer to a Regional Range. When the Regional Range was proposed for the Bellemont site, the acreage covered by facilities was less than double that of the Foster Ranch location. The Environmental Assessment for that site, done by the US Forest Service predicted a possible 2,900 to 3,100 users PER DAY.

As you can see above, one of the guidelines for a new range is that it must have the potential to expand to the size of a regional range. Although the Game and Fish Dept says this is only a “local range” it appears to be much more than that. If it truly does need to expand to become a regional range, that would require a federal land exchange; and which should therefore disqualify it from consideration.

Is Foster Ranch within the 30 minute limit?

The Friends of Walnut Canyon were unable to reach the ranch in 30 minutes from the junction of I-40 and I-17 (supposedly the starting point for these measurements.) After the Game and Fish Dept paves part of the road through the houses at Winona and upgrades the rest of the Forest Service access road, then it will probably just meet this criteria

What other sites were considered?

There were many, many sites considered and discarded on both private and US Forest Service land. The following document, which appears to be a Power Point presentation to the AZ Game and Fish Commission in June of 2009 lists many of the sites and why they were disqualified.

June 2009 Document

Please note:

1. That there is absolutely no mention of Foster Ranch as being under consideration at this time.

2. That on page 85, Proposed Alternatives, one of the alternatives is to further evaluate the Raymond Wildlife Area

3. On page 86 they considered changing the above listed guidelines, but did not chose to do so

4. On page 39 the Raymond Ranch Wildlife Area (Buffalo Range) was the recommended site among those private lands considered at that time.

More on the Raymond Ranch (Buffalo Range) site

For a picture and pros and cons of this site see pages 37-39 of the June 2009 Document above.

Although this document lists the distance from Flagstaff at 50 minutes, the webpage for the Wildlife Area lists it as 45 minutes. For more information on the Raymond Ranch click here Raymond Ranch Wildlife Area

Benefits and Advantages of the Raymond Ranch site

Although this location is approximately 15 MINUTES further than the Foster Ranch location, it has many advantages.

1. It is large enough, over 8,000 acres, for a state of the art Regional Shooting Range.

2. There are no nearby neighbors to be aggravated by the noise.

3. Although the entrance road would have to be upgraded, so would the road to Foster Ranch. Probably none of the road to Raymond Ranch would require paving.

4. There would be no damage to a National Monument and the City of Flagstaff would be able to enjoy the full potential economic benefits of both the National Monument and the Shooting Range.

5. Bulldozers could begin work immediately in the spring of 2011 just as they could at Foster Ranch.