BRIGHTON, Colo. — Colorado Parks and Wildlife has closed on a deal to take ownership of the Colorado Clays Shooting Park in Adams County.
CPW closed on a real estate transaction for the purchase on Dec. 21 and will manage the shooting park as a state recreation area. CPW entered into a concessionaire agreement with its previous Vice President of Marketing Cory Kraft, who will continue to run the facility under CPW ownership, the agency said.
“We are excited to partner with the state to continue to offer a safe, convenient and affordable recreational shooting range for local Coloradans,” Kraft said.
Colorado Clays Shooting Park is located about 30 to 40 minutes northeast of downtown Denver. It is about 3 miles north of the Denver International Airport.
The park is open to the public and can accommodate competitive and recreational shooters of all ages and abilities. Rentals and golf carts are available. The clubhouse and courses are handicap accessible, CPW said. Camping is available on the grounds, though there are no hook-ups.
In 2021, Colorado Clays hosted more than 30,000 visitors and threw more than four million clay targets, CPW said.
CPW Northeast Region Manager Mark Leslie said this new purchase ties into CPW's mission to provide safe, responsible and accessible recreation sport shooting opportunities and education.
“We look forward to a seamless transition out there, as the public will continue to enjoy the offerings they previously had available to them at Colorado Clays," Leslie said. “We have high demand for safe places the public can go to shoot along the Front Range and the purchase of this established range helps with safety concerns. It will continue to provide a safe and professional shooting experience and we felt it was important to continue to offer the public those opportunities at this first-class facility.”
CPW's northeast region is a member of the Northern Front Range Recreational Sport Shooting Partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grassland, and Boulder, Clear Creek, Gilpin and Larimer counties. The partnership aims to develop a multi-jurisdictional strategy to provide safe, responsible and accessible recreational sport shooting opportunities, CPW said.
CPW purchased this park entirely with grants from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service through its Office of Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Programs (90%) along with Great Outdoors Colorado and the Colorado Lottery (10%).
Click here to learn more about the park and what it offers.