Forest board aims for new archery facility

Plans for a $504,000 archery range at Blackwell Forest Preserve in Warrenville would nearly triple the capacity of the current, makeshift site.

The DuPage County Forest Preserve Board unveiled the plans Tuesday after receiving word last week they had been given a matching grant from the state to fund the improvements that also include a picnic area and fishing pier at a former swimming hole nearby.

Open to the public seven days a week from dawn to dusk, forest preserve officials said the archery program has become increasingly popular since it started nearly four years ago.

"Often there's up to an hour wait," said Justin Frederick, the district's director of land management. "Families will travel and pack a picnic, shoot for an hour and then have lunch."

Currently, the range has 10 shooting lanes in a part of the parking lot. The new plans call for 10 experienced lanes, a separate beginner and intermediate range with eight lanes, and an interactive target range that will allow archers to shoot at multiple targets from various angles.

Andrea Hoyt, the district's director of planning said the district is considering making targets look like annoying pests, such as the emerald ash borer and the Asian longhorned beetle.

The board agreed last year to fund the project if the state grant came through, said district spokesman Bill Weidner.

But some commissioners have been critical of the project, which requires the forest preserve to pony up $252,000. The money will come from a 2005 capital improvement bond fund.

"Money spent on this means money not spent on other things that are our primary focus," said Commissioner Roger Kotecki. "Our primary focus is natural protection, our secondary focus is then passive recreation and third is active recreation like this archery range."

Kotecki said he supports aspects of the project, which include cleanup and renovation of the old swimming beach that has been closed for 24 years because of its proximity to an old landfill closed in 1973. This component of the project accounts for about $100,000, he said.

Hoyt said work on the new range could be complete by next year, but it may take longer.