Whatcom County has temporarily closed the high-power range at the Plantation Rifle Range, one of two publicly owned gun ranges in Washington state, due to ongoing environmental and community health concerns.
The high-power range, which formally closed Nov. 1, will remain shuttered until environmental remediation projects are finished, which county officials expect to be sometime in 2023.
The plan, according to county officials, is to clean up and remove between 3 and 6 tons of lead that accumulated over about 50 years of active shooting at the range.
“The soil will be removed and disposed of,” said Jed Holmes, the county’s community outreach facilitator. “There’s no question that it needs to be cleaned up. The bigger question is, what do we do next? Is there a safe and cost-effective way to reopen?”
The Washington State Department of Ecology has conducted environmental tests on the property over the last few years and discovered elevated levels of lead in the soil and water runoff.
“Lead is really toxic,” said DOE’s Christa Colouzis. “The issues at this site were pretty serious.”
Part of the problem, Colouzis said, is the water around the range drains into creeks that feed Lake Samish, potentially harming wildlife and regional residents. Many of the homes around Lake Samish draw drinking water from the lake.
“People drink water out of Lake Samish,” she said. “Leaded water is not good for people, and especially bad for children.”
According to Whatcom County, “no tests conducted to date have shown lead levels in water approaching a concentration that would present a human health hazard.”
Both the indoor and outdoor small-bore ranges at Plantation are closed at this time as well, though the county anticipates reopening the indoor range by the end of the year, according to Plantation’s website.
Next week, county officials will host an information session about ongoing remediation efforts at Plantation. The meeting will take place at the Samish Park Day Lodge at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 16.
