The Shooting Range That Was Almost Lost 
By: Joe Nava
CMP State Junior Director, Alaska


Back in the 1930s, a group of people from the Fairbanks, Alaska area got together and formed the Tanana Valley Sportsmen's Association (TVSA). They purchased 24 acres of land for $10 per acre from the Federal Government. The land was located on the bank of the Chena River, about 3 miles on a narrow dirt road from the center of Fairbanks. They built a large log building that easily seats 100 people. It has a huge fireplace and two barrel stoves for heat. This was all done with volunteer labor.

The members of the TVSA wanted an indoor shooting range because of the severe cold weather in wintertime, so they jacked up the whole building, set it on many 50-gallon drums and then dug a hole under it. In this hole they built a 50-foot, 10-point shooting range. The range has been upgraded and is still in active operation today.

Unfortunately, civilization came—the 3-mile dirt road eventually became a paved 4-lane divided highway. The State "took" about half of the property for the new road right of way. The TVSA received $50,000 for the lost property. This money was banked and interest from it helped pay utility costs to heat and light the building and range. 

Then tourists came to Fairbanks. New hotels started to spring up all along the Chena River on every available building site anywhere near town. The Club's taxes began to rise. Taxes were less than $2,000 per year in the early 90s. But the local government wanted a hotel built on that property because that would generate more tax revenue. So they began to raise TVSA's taxes, which would force TVSA to sell the property. Club members refused an offer of over a million dollars. They wanted to keep the shooting range.

Taxes went to $20,000 per year. Future taxes would double each year, according to the tax assessor.

The Club members devised a plan. They filed a petition with the local Borough (county) government for tax-exempt status. The Borough Assembly would decide this after a public hearing. Polite phone calls were made to Assembly members to sound them out and to try to persuade them.

On the evening of the hearing the Club was organized. There were about 150 people in the hall and about 3/4 of them signed up to testify. There were dads, moms, kids, police officers, schoolteachers, business people and many others. I was the second to give testimony. I spoke of all the firearms instructors I had trained at that shooting range and of how many local youngsters had been taught firearm safety and marksmanship skills there by me and all of the new instructors I had trained. Of course the numbers I reported were in the thousands.

The only red flag thrown at us by Assembly members who were negative at first was that they did not want to set a precedent by granting tax-exempt status to a non-religious group. "What if everyone else comes and asks for the same thing?" they said.

Our answer was, "Let anyone ask. Judge each request on its own merits. Here are the merits of our proposal."

We did not have a majority of the Assembly members on our side at the start. But on the basis of past, present and future "service to the community" by the TVSA, the Assembly vote to grant tax-exempt status to the Club was unanimous.

It was a good ending to a very intense, dedicated effort by the shooters of the community.

Score one big win for the shooters.