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News Release

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Seeks Public Comments on a Proposed Shooting Range on the El Dorado State Park in El Dorado, Kansas

For Immediate Release

April 14, 2014

Aerial view of El Dorado Reservoir, Kansas. Credit: James L. Stuby, M.S., P.G.

Public Invited to Comment on the Proposal

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) is seeking public comment on a draft environmental assessment (Draft EA) regarding the State of Kansas’ proposed “El Dorado Shooting Range.” Public comments will be accepted for a 30-day period, which ends May 14, 2014.

The Service has received a grant to approve the construction of a shooting range in El Dorado State Park located in Butler County.  The shooting range is to be constructed by the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks, and Tourism (KDWPT) on land leased from the Corps of Engineers (COE) and is located immediately west of the KDWPT office at the intersection of NE Bluestem Rd. and NE Shady Creek Access Rd.  The shooting range complex will consist of a 14 position 100 yard rifle range, a 12 position 25 yard handgun/rifle range, a 30 position 15 yard handgun range, a 5 position shotgun patterning range, a gatehouse, a combination administrative/storage building with restrooms, and a tree buffer to the south to avert noise.

The purpose of this range is to provide a safe setting for shooting rifles, handguns, and shotguns.  Expected results and benefits will be to provide shooting opportunities for the public in an area where such opportunities are limited.  The range complex will provide opportunities for marksmanship practice, live-fire exercises in Hunter Education classes, and a safe place for hunters to sight in rifles and pattern shotguns before hunting seasons. Opportunities also exist for 4-H and other civic groups to use the range.

The Draft EA prepared by the Service and KDWPT analyzes the environmental effects of the proposed shooting range construction and operation.  The Service concluded the proposed project will not have impacts on floodplains or wetlands, will not affect historical and cultural resources, will not have any effect on threatened, endangered or candidate species and will have minimal effect on the vegetation in the area.

Copies of the Draft EA, which include details of the proposed action and the alternatives considered, are available online by clicking on the title of the document at http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/federalassistance/nepa.  Those without internet access may request copies by calling the Services’ Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program at 303-236-8156.  Comments will be accepted until May 14, 2014 and should be sent to: Chief, Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, P.O. Box 25486, Denver, CO, 80225.

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