Shooting range planned for Canal Flats
June 23, 2009 by Bram Rossman
Filed under Canal Flats, Columbia Valley, Local news, Recreation
The range will be built in stages, with the rifle range set up first. Pistol, black powder, archery and silhouette shooting will follow at later dates. (Photo of Doug Kipp by Bram Rossman)
Gun lovers in Canal Flats may soon have a new place to play.
The Canal Flats Wilderness Club, which has been in existence since 1982, has made an application to the province for use of a 14.16 hectare piece of crown land. The club hopes to turn the area, located about 15 minutes out off town just off the Kootenay River Forest Service Road, into a sanctioned shooting range.
The club’s president, Dave White, said the idea simply grew out of need.
“The range is being built due to local demand and interest in shooting,” he said, noting that the area will be intended to accommodate archery, rifle, pistol, black powder and silhouette shooting.
While the club originated in the 1950s, as the Canal Flats Rod and Gun Club, it disbanded briefly in the late 1970s and re-emerged in its current state.
White, who is the club’s founding president, explained that the club had a registered range for rifles and pistols but it was situated on leased land, which eventually sold.
“The new owner booted us off,” White recalled.
Plans for the new location include some permanent structures including covered shooting houses and eventually a clubhouse.
While the range won’t become sanctioned immediately, the designation is expected to boost the number of such locations to just two within the Columbia Valley. The only other range of its kind is located outside Radium Hot Springs and operated by the Lake Windermere District Rod and Gun Club.
“We had reps from the Lake Windermere club at the organization meeting to help with the planning and a promise to help when we get started,” said White. If approved, construction is expected to begin on the new range in approximately six months.
“It will be built in stages, beginning with the rifle range,” White explained.
While public comments are no longer being received by the Integrated Land Management Bureau, the full application can be viewed at: http://www.arfd.gov.bc.ca/ApplicationPosting/viewpost.jsp?PostID=10825
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