Shut-down shooting range on Highway 1 finally moves closer to reopening
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- California Fish and Wildlife seeks new operator for closed Highway 1 gun range.
- Audit of previous vendor found contract violations that owed the state nearly $400,000.
- Request for proposals due October 6; site walkthrough scheduled for Sept. 9.
The shooting range off Highway 1 between San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay, which closed after its operator violated its contract with the state, is finally looking for a new vendor to run the facility.
The step forward comes eight months after the range abruptly shut down in December when issues arose over how it was being managed.
On Friday, California Fish and Wildlife posted a request for proposals, looking for a “contractor to operate and maintain the San Luis Obispo Wildlife Area (SLOWA) public shooting range, as a public shooting range and for firearms and hunter safety-oriented educational uses.”
Uses for the range should include archery and firearm target shooting, home firearm safety training and education, hunter safety and education training, and other public recreational shooting events, the request said.
It’s unclear how long the process to find a new operator will take, but proposals are due in early October.
SLO Sportsmen’s Association operated the range for years
The Highway 1 range has long been managed by the San Luis Obispo Sportsmen’s Association, a membership group made up of shooting enthusiasts, going back to the facilitiy’s opening in 1986.
The range was forced to close after a March 2024 audit found that for years, the association had essentially not followed any of its obligations in its contract with California Fish and Wildlife, which owns the land where the gun range is located.
These violations included undercharging for use, taking payments outside the Fish and Wildlife system and renovating the premises without authorization in ways that did not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The agency also found that the association owed nearly $400,000 to the state to make up for the variances caused by charging membership dues and payments outside the system, as well as the use of discounted youth rates.
The financial audit and a separate evaluation of the renovations came after Fish and Wildlife learned of possible contract violations in 2021, according to a letter sent to the Sportsmen’s Association on March 11.
For its part, the Sportsmen’s Association disagreed that it owed any money and said it had been frustrated by bureaucracy while trying to maintain a facility that for years has provided training and a safe environment for recreational shooting.
“We were not intentionally trying to violate the contract,” Julia Soto, general manager of the Sportsmen’s Association, told The Tribune in September 2024. “There were a couple poor decisions, there was not thinking it through, but no ill intent, none whatsoever. Just trying to build the best range we can and keep it operating.”
Soto told The Tribune in December, when the gun range closed, that the association planned to apply for the contract to run the shooting range once it was posted.
Interested contractors must attend a walkthrough of the property on Sept. 9 at 10 a.m., the request said.
Proposals are due no later than 4 p.m. on Oct. 6, and anyone interested can contact Holly Peterson at holly.peterson@wildlife.ca.gov.
This story was originally published August 28, 2025 at 10:00 AM.
