Friends of the Parks continues to oppose the location of the proposed outdoor firing range on MWRD land on 33 acres of land on 134^th Street and Jeffrey. 

A gun range is an inappropriate use of this open space site which is located within the Calumet Open Space Reserve as well as in the governor’s Millennium Reserve.   The Calumet Open Space Reserve Plan, completed in 2002, identified 4,000 acres for open space reclamation and future public recreational use.   Toward that goal, the city and the Park District have acquired 600 of those acres for public use and recreation.  The governor’s Millennium Reserve Plan targets 140,000 acres of green space to redevelop the southeast side as a tourist destination.  The Millennium Reserve is earmarked to be part of President Obama’s American’s Great Outdoors Initiative to reconnect Americans to our great outdoor treasures.  

The MWRD site is not suitable for a gun range.  The large parcel is contiguous to Whitford Pond and O’Brien Lock Marsh, both aquatic and wetland areas with vegetation and natural habitat that support a significant number of bird species including the state endangered Black-crowned Night-Heron.  In addition, Bald Eagles and Trumpeter Swans are regularly observed in the Calumet Reserve area.  The regular gun bursts and noise from the gun range will have negative impacts on birds and wildlife adjacent to the site, will disturb sensitive nesting areas and make the surrounding recreational lands unsuitable for people to use for quiet recreation activities.   

While we understand and support the Chicago Police Department’s training needs, we are aware that state-of-the-art range facilities exist in the region for law enforcement training.