So Birchwood announced today that they're going to start charging $3 every time a member uses the rifle and pistol ranges.  I'd like to know exactly what I'm paying $200 a year for if I now have to shell out $3 every time I shoot.  This is making me very disinclined to renew my membership.

If they could lay out some numbers and hard math that show why they need more income, I'd be willing to consider paying more for a membership.  But don't insult members' intelligence by nickle and diming them.

Just had to vent!

For comparison:

USSA has 2 levels of membership.  Full voting rights cost (from memory??) $70 year and non-voting $35 as of last year (2019).

Member using regular ranges pay $5 per day and for the 1K range it's $10 per day. (double that for non-members).

Kids (persons under 18) with an adult shoot for free.

Seems a lot of people aren't happy about this.

Members should go to the meetings and voice themselves. Not many members show up to meetings or vote either. There are somewhere around 4K members and only a couple hundred if that vote in the elections and this is how we end up in situations like this.

Yeah I'm pissed too. If you wanted to be a frequent shooter it is a $100 fee plus the EPM membership. So it is essentially a $300 membership for EPM. $200 was already a decent chunk of change to come up with. They know that they're the only ones with a decent range in the Anchorage to valley area.

I voted last year.  It was hard to judge from the candidates' bios exactly where they wanted to go with the club.  They all said some variation of, "I want a stronger club." with not a lot of details about how they wanted to accomplish that.

As for meetings, I wish I could have made the annual but IIRC it was on a Sunday afternoon, right when I'm leading my church's weekly service.

I did notice that no Board of Directors' meeting minutes have been posted since May, which coincidentally is around when Slowpoke stopped being the secretary.

I spoke to them today a few things to remember that I found out the hard way

#1.) Don't call anyone names, it's rude and not helpful. I found that out and I forgot I'm a terrible person when I get all pissy and excited. Falling on your sword and admitting your error still sucks after all these years

#2.) Because of work schedule and shooting in palmer I haven't been there since June, apparently the bathrooms, the heaters and other upgrades were finished and that cost money. According to the board and the books the club 2 years ago was almost zero bucks in the bank and bankrupt. Using the bathroom in something other than an porto pot will be nice.

3.) Being active and civil will help. (Speaking to myself here) being active in the club takes commitment to show up at meetings and with 3500 some members I was told around 200 votes where received from the last election and an average of 1-2 members show up at the meetings. I plan on being more civil and more active to make sure that I as a rifle/pistol shooter can have my concerns answered and help with guiding the club.

My only wish is that I could get a single person EPM membership instead of a family rate but that isn't the end of the world. If enough people bring it up maybe we could propose it ? The $3.00 fee isn't terrible and at least it's not like ranges in the lower 48 that don't let you shoot your own ammo there. Perspective fellas. we need to keep our perspective on the topic

I am not a member of the Birchwood range and have not shot there since the late 1970's.  From the people that I have talked with, it appears that the Birchwood range might be moving away from being user friendly.  It also appears that some of the users groups have been moving out due to some of the changes that are going on.  With the limited number of local ranges, it seems that they would all be looking at how to support more shooters.

There has been a huge upswing in 3 gun and competition shooting which I understand. I was told the old SASS guys left birchwood.

Been an EPM for near 30 years and with the way they run the place after Chuck left is just crap. time to find a different ,better place to shoot .

It’s worse than what is being described.

My whole family shoots, me, wife, 4 kids.  We usually only use 1 bench as I’m working with them as we shoot.

I pay 200 right now.   For my family to have the same access going into the future it will be 600 bucks a year.  The board said that is not unreasonable.

Their 'Country club' style vision, a new clubhouse, a very expensive director position, and additional staff ain't gonna pay for itself.  

The 'almost bankrupt' line is disingenuous since they spent themselves into that position.  They're acting like the State of AK and pretending that they had (and have) no control over annual operating costs.

glad i dont live in fake southern alaska, up in the north we shoot where we want and where we please. no fees

I didn't wade into that with them. I know that things cost money and it's not a charity. I was told I could address things at the next board meeting

I didn't renew after they upped the yearly EPM from $170 to $200. The letter they sent out stated they had too many members?

So instead of getting new members, just milk the existing ones dry or have them leave and start over?

Not everyone wants new members or to share what is "theirs".

In another lifetime I belonged to the Billings (MT) Rod and Gun Club.  There was a proposal to limit the number of members.  My job was such that I could go out to the range during the week and I seldom had other shooters on the range with me.  I always felt shooting should be encouraged and shared.  I went to the membership meeting and voiced my concerns...pissed in the wind.  The majority view was "I've got mine and I don't want anyone else to have any."  When it came time to renew my membership I found I had other things to do with my $ even though I loved shooting there.

I have never seen in a letter where they said they had too many members. I'm not debating it just shocked that I never recall it. The big issue we have is limited number of ranges, Rabbit Creek (Yeah never), Maud is like little Beruit and you can't shoot NFA or steel there. Leaves us few choices so I'm going to get alot more active on the birchwood meeting lists etc

Is it a hard rule that you cant bring NFA to Maud?

I was told it was Snowshoe down in Soldotna that said they had too many members. Anytime i ever shot there, there was never anybody there.

Did anybody go to the last board meeting?  I wanted to but had dad responsibilities.  I'm curious if anybody showed up to object to the new fees and what the response was.

Maud (Kenny and Patti Barber Shooting range) is a drive from Anchorage, but i choose to do it rather than pay Birchwood (for 2 days since I'm not a member) or wrestle with the personalities at Potter's Marsh.

I have read their rules and they do say not fully automatic weapons.  But, I bring my suppressors every time I go.

Aside from a self-appointed range marshall telling me I can't shoot steel, I've never had any issues.

http://knikriver.alaska.gov/mlw/krpua/index.cfm#shooting

There are 20 Rules, read them for yourself (follow the link).

Also, the range manager actually answers the phone and even returns calls!  So you could call re. full auto.

Is the Kenny & Patti Barber Range open all year (do they plow the road)?

20,000 folks per year.  Works out to 6 people per hour.  Lot of shooters!

It is if you can't even afford the $200 to begin with. I guess I will go to Rabbit Creek cleanup day and shoot for free all year, only 5 minutes from my house it makes better fiscal sense.

Sooo, haven’t been shooting for awhile. Pursuing other interests.
My EPM membership is long expired. I think I paid around $190 to renew last time.

Was thinking about rejoining .
The birchwood website now lists annual epm at $375.

They don’t list on the website if you can just pay for a day pass on the website.

Day passes are gone for the general public. You can shoot for $10 (I think) a day as a guest of another member but that is it.

I wasn't happy last time I went there I needed someone who wasn't even there on time to approve me shooting my AR with a binary in it. Pretty disappointing as Birchwood used to be the best place to shoot

Well that’s a shame. I can’t justify the membership as infrequently as I’ve been shooting.

Birchwood seems to have gone thru a series of identity crises over the past many years.

Shame really.

This was exactly my experience, even to the self appointed range marshal. I read the rules thoroughly.