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Buckeye Wants To Turn Old Gun Range Into Recreational Space

The city of Buckeye is requesting to lease a parcel of land in the White Tank Mountains from the Bureau of Land Management for a new public recreation space.

The parcel is the site of a closed shooting range, meaning the land is unusable, and unable to be leased, until the bureau removes hazardous materials.

The shooting range hasn’t been in use since 2018, after a pregnant woman was killed by a stray bullet. 

The surrounding area has been closed since then, but is still littered with shell casings and other shooting-related debris.

Robert Wisener, Buckeye’s conservation and project manager, says Buckeye is working to find a use for the land while the bureau begins the cleanup.

“We’re gonna be working in tandem with BLM. They’re still working on their remediation plan as we’re working on our plan of development. We’re going to be meeting with other stakeholders as far as park improvements are concerned,” said Wisener.

Wisener says the bureau is looking for funding for the cleanup before it physically starts, meaning just the first phase of the project could take more than a year.

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Vaughan Jones was a reporter at KJZZ from 2020 to 2022.