Healy residents plan shooting club as informal gravel pit range likely goes to DOT work

Healy shooters will likely lose the Parks Highway gravel pit they have used as an informal range, Community Development Director Stephanie Ford told the Denali Borough's Community Outdoor Recreation Committee on Tuesday.

Ford said the state material site at Milepost 252 will probably serve Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities projects around Healy as a gravel source or staging site in summer 2027 and possibly 2028. DOT told her the pit has a lot of good material and a good location, so a contractor is likely to pick it, she said.

In an Oct. 2 notice, the state Department of Natural Resources said it intends to issue DOT a contract for 100,000 cubic yards from the Panguingue Creek Pit, near Milepost 252.5 north of Healy. In June, the department said it was considering restricting "the use and discharge of weapons" there "due to safety concerns."

A resident leading the effort said about seven people want to form a nonprofit sportsman's club to run a replacement site. Two attendees pointed to the Cantwell range, with concrete benches and berms at 100, 200 and 300 yards, as a simple first-stage model.

One resident said a range should sit at least 2 miles from homes, preferably 3. Two others favored a visible site on a plowed or busy road, saying more eyes would deter misuse. Maps showed borough land, including parcels north of the transfer station, and Alaska Railroad land.

Ford said the railroad "didn't say no, but it would just be like an evaluation and they don't want it next to the railroad tracks."

The range is not in the borough's capital improvement plan, so no money is set aside, Ford said. The borough could offer land, a master lease or grant sponsorship, she said, but it "is not of the size and doesn't have the staff to manage a shooting range."

Ford cited the federal Pittman-Robertson grant program. It covers up to 75% of an eligible shooting-range project's cost, with a 25% nonfederal match, and only the Alaska Department of Fish and Game can receive and spend the funds, according to its Hunter Access Program page.