Sturdy new signs and barriers and stricter enforcement against trespassers are coming to the Department of National Defence’s rifle range in Nanaimo.
CFB Esquimalt, which is responsible for the 351-hectare practice range, is warning the public that it’s not safe to use the lands, which have become a popular recreational area.
This isn’t the first time the base has tried to curb public use of the rifle range. In 2012, the base handed out tickets to deter people from coming onto its property.
“We are going to be enforcing that a lot more vigorously now,” Capt. Jenn Jackson, base public affairs officer, said Tuesday.
The live-fire range itself is on the southeast section of the site, leaving the majority of the lands as a buffer zone.
The rugged, scenic property has been used by local residents for decades. Mountain bikers have built trails, bridges and ramps have been constructed without permission, and hikers, families, dog walkers and others have enjoyed the site west of the city.
Last month, the base resurrected its efforts to keep citizens off the land, saying the boundaries were created based on projections of where ammunition could land. There is no safe time to be on the range, it said in a public notice.
Trail users have been warned that they can be fined and incarcerated if they interrupt training. Sentries are posted during practice, Jackson said.
The base has been contacting websites that show the trails in order to have that information removed, and so far, the sites have co-operated, she said.
The military temporarily shut down training on the lands to give people time to remove structures. Unauthorized infrastructure was supposed to be removed by last weekend.
Now base officials are evaluating the land to see what remains to be removed by the military. New signs and barriers are being planned, Jackson said.
Because base property has been vandalized, sturdier infrastructure will be installed, she said.
The base announced in a new public notice that the range would be used on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. for small arms training and night-firing familiarization.
Notices are issued whenever firing takes place outside regular business hours, Jackson said.
Tyler Walker, a Nanaimo mountain biker, started a petition calling for public access to the lands. Newly elected Nanaimo-Ladysmith MP Paul Manly has taken the petition to the clerk of the House of Commons and said Tuesday he hopes to table it next week.
Manly has written to Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan asking for a meeting to discuss the matter.
Walker argues that the rifle range lands offer natural protection from firing. No one has been injured as a result of firing on the range as far as Jackson is aware.
