Shooting Range Improvement Grants Program

The Pennsylvania Shooting Range Improvement Grant Program (SRIP), managed by the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC), aims to provide financial support for the state's aging shooting range infrastructure. The program's core mission aligns with the PGC's pride in Pennsylvania's hunting and shooting heritage, seeking to ensure a bright future for the next generation of hunters and shooters by revitalizing existing facilities and creating opportunities for increased access. This initiative is a strategic move to foster community engagement and support for shooting sports. The target beneficiaries of the SRIP grant are existing shooting ranges, shooting clubs, recreational shooting organizations, archery clubs, and education groups that can demonstrate public use of their facilities. Retail ranges are explicitly excluded. The program's impact goals include increasing public access to private and club-type facilities, enhancing the availability and quality of shooting ranges for the public, improving public safety and environmental stewardship, and bolstering facilities for the Pennsylvania Hunter-Trapper Education Program. A key priority is also to provide funding to facilities that have not previously received grants, thereby broadening the reach of support. The program focuses on bringing life into aging infrastructure and creating opportunities for new members. This is achieved through a tiered funding structure (Tier One, Tier Two, and Tier Three) based on grant amount and project useful life, with each tier having specific deliverables. These deliverables include PGC signage of program funding, a certain number of youth field days or hunter/shooter education classes, and a specified number of public days per calendar year for matches, tournaments, sight-in days, or open house events. Eligible projects include rifle, handgun, shotgun, skeet, trap, and archery ranges, which should be designed to established industry standards or mirror PGC state game land ranges. Expected outcomes and measurable results are directly tied to the program's goals and deliverables. For example, increased public days directly measure enhanced public access, while the number of youth field days and hunter/shooter education classes demonstrate an enhancement of educational opportunities. The program anticipates increased use of state lands, decreased firearms-related vandalism, local citizen support and appreciation, increased generated funds for ranges, and enhanced user support of hunting and shooting sports. These outcomes collectively contribute to the PGC's strategic priority of preserving and promoting the state's outdoor heritage through accessible and well-maintained facilities.