NRA Awards $25,000 Public Range Fund Grant to the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation

The National Rifle Association is pleased to announce its support for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation’s (ODWC) Optima WMA Public Range by awarding a $25,000 grant through the NRA Public Range Fund. The ODWC will use the funds to upgrade the facilities at the Optima WMA shooting range’s 50- and 100-yard ranges. This includes reconditioning the berms and backstops and making additional updates to the facility by expanding ADA accessibility throughout the range.

"Huge thanks to the NRA,” said Wade Free, Director of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. “We've been applying and receiving funds from the NRA Public Range Fund for about 7 years, and we look forward to continuing to partnership with them for many years to come while we build several new shooting ranges and renovate our existing ranges.”

Established in 2009, the NRA Public Range Fund is a grant matching program that encourages city and county governments, along with state or federal agencies, to work with NRA to build and improve public ranges across the United States.

"Public ranges allow hundreds of thousands of hunters, competitive shooters, and target shooters to work on their marksmanship under safe and responsible conditions," said Liz Bush, managing director of NRA Community Engagement. "More than 100 public ranges have been awarded funds to date and we look forward to assisting the next 100."

Since the fund’s inception, more than $2.1 million has been awarded from the NRA Public Range Fund over the last 15 years. In addition to physical improvements, NRA's Public Range Fund allows qualifying agencies or local governments to improve community relations and address any range-related environmental issues. With grants awarded on a 50/50 matching basis, 50 percent of project costs are provided by the applicant and the remaining 50 percent are provided by the fund. In-kind services such as labor, materials, and equipment may be considered to provide the applicant’s 50 percent contribution. Projects including Pittman-Robertson Funds cover 90 percent of the applicant's share with the remaining 10 percent coming from the NRA Public Range Fund.

For more information on this program and other available range grants, please visit our website at https://rangeservices.nra.org/funding-grants/.