http://www.omahaworldherald.com/index.p ... d=10569695
One of the best uses for stimulus money I've heard yet!
Published Saturday February 21, 2009
$13.6 million shooting range faces two hurdles: funding and location
BY BOB GLISSMANN
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
Both hunters and law enforcement officers need places to practice shooting outdoors, but both groups have limited options in the densely populated Omaha area.
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A 640-acre shooting range and firearms education center, being proposed for somewhere within 45 minutes of Omaha, would solve that problem.
Before it can be built, though, supporters must target two major issues: How to fund it and where to put it.
Some or all of the funds for the $13.6 million project could come from the $787 billion stimulus package the president signed into law this week. A group of 17 law enforcement agencies, including those serving Omaha and Douglas County, has asked Gov. Dave Heineman for the cash.
It would be money well spent, says Douglas County Sheriff Tim Dunning, chairman of the group of 17 that's formally called the Eastern Nebraska Law Enforcement Consortium.
"The better trained you are, the less likely you're going to have accidents and mistakes," Dunning said. That would apply to both law officers and hunters.
In a letter to the governor this week, Dunning writes that several small outdoor ranges are in the counties served by the 17 agencies. "However, due to encroaching population and development, at least two of these ranges will be forced to close in the very near future," the sheriff wrote.
Backers want the range/training center to include:
• A field for trap shooting and skeet shooting;
• A field for sporting clays, a shotgun course that simulates real hunting conditions;
• A rifle range;
• A handgun range;
• An indoor range;
• Four law enforcement-only ranges;
• A shoot house, which would allow law enforcement tactical teams to practice entering and clearing buildings that conceal threats;
• An obstacle course and driving track for police cruiser training;
• A classroom building;
• A recreational vehicle campground; and
• A pro shop.
Buffers surrounding the ranges — likely, constructed wetlands areas —would provide wildlife habitat.
In 2006, the law enforcement agencies asked the Great Plains Council of the Nebraska Resource Conservation & Development Association to help them come up with a plan for a center. The council worked with several groups to raise $44,500 for a feasibility study.
The size of the center — one square mile — would allow three or four different agencies to train while the general public uses the other areas, said Norm Hanson, a Douglas County employee who serves as president of the Great Plains Council RC&D.
"This could be a model for firearms training and outdoor sports for the entire region," he said.
In mid-2008, Omaha police officers and firefighters began using the city's new Public Safety Training Center at 11616 Rainwood Road. In addition to a four-story firefighter training tower, the center includes a 20-lane indoor firing range.
Under the plans for the proposed outdoor range, Hanson said, officers would be able to practice taking cover, as well as advancing on and retreating from a threat.
"You just don't get that on an indoor, static lane," he said.
Sandy Breault, a spokeswoman for the FBI, said "the most important, obvious reasons" for supporting an outdoor range are the opportunities it would provide agents to train in different weather and lighting conditions. "And it's better for training in real-life scenarios," she said.
Dunning also said that it's hard to schedule time for his officers' training at another agency's facility. Omaha police use the Public Safety Training Center "quite a bit," he said.
The sheriff said 1,700 area law enforcement officers would have access to the outdoor range/training center.
Hanson said the center would need a full-time staff to oversee scheduling, maintenance and caretaking and would draw from the large number of certified volunteer instructors in the area.
The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission supports the plan, said Jeff Rawlinson, assistant division administration for information and education. Public access would provide "live fire opportunities" for people taking hunter education classes. He said the area is teeming with hunters and shooting-sports enthusiasts, whose annual economic impact on Nebraska exceeds $250 million.
As for the funding, receiving and appropriating the stimulus money will take time, said Jen Rae Hein, spokeswoman for Heineman. The governor hopes to get more details about Nebraska's share this weekend at the National Governors Association meeting in Washington, she said.
Hanson said that even if the money were allocated by June 1, it would take another year to turn the first shovel of dirt. The group would need to hire a site consultant and negotiate with the owner of the land that's selected.
"The consortium does not want to build a top-notch facility like this," he said, "and have it jeopardized 10 years down the road by development."
For that reason, Dunning said, it wouldn't be built in Douglas County.