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Chattanooga creates committee to eye moving the Moccasin Bend firing range
Something changed.
It doesn't really matter what that something was, but those who only a few weeks ago wanted to make $300,000 in upgrades to the Moccasin Bend firing range - in spite of the momentum of the adjacent Moccasin Bend National Archeological District - blinked.
And today a new committee is in place to develop a long-term plan to relocate the firing range shared by the Chattanooga Police Department, Hamilton County Sheriff's Office and federal law enforcement agencies.
We commend the wiser heads who have prevailed and know that the removal of the firing range will facilitate the planning and eventual enjoyment of the park by thousands of people.
No timetable was given for the move, but sooner would be better once a site is selected and a facility with the necessary amenities can be built. The Moccasin Bend site - and bomb detonation field - also will have to be cleaned of the lead fired into it over the years before it officially can be handed over to the park.
The 750 acres of land in which the 33-acre firing range is located were given to the National Park Service (NPS) by the city in 2003. An indoor range was sited on 12th Street and designed by architects several years ago, but a burgeoning price prohibited city and county officials from moving forward.
The impetus for the sudden change of heart may have come from the NPS, which on Oct. 20 and Oct. 22 will solicit public input on alternatives for development and management of Moccasin Bend over the next 20 years. That plan will include recommendations for ways the public will access the park through the likes of trails, roads, parking areas, interpretive opportunities, landscaping, blueways and, perhaps, a visitors center.
An option for one of those trails, Superintendent Brad Bennett explained in a recent meeting with Times Free Press editorial writers, is to run across the NPS easement between the firing range and the Tennessee River. Conceivably, law enforcement officials practicing their aim would be visible by park visitors.
Gunfire and an archeological park simply do not go together, NPS officials have said - and firing range backers have finally agreed.
Such a range is not cheap to outfit - Hamilton County Sheriff Hammond suggested it might be $5-$10 million - but the new committee will study both potential sites and funding sources. In the end, though, the cost of the relocation will pale against the importance of the preservation of land and 12,000 years of history for future generations.