APCC Obtains Public Comments Submitted to the National Guard on the Machine Gun Range

The Massachusetts Army National Guard has proposed to locate and construct a machine gun range within the Upper Cape Water Supply Reserve on the northern 15,000 acres of Joint Base Cape Cod. The reserve was established in 2002 to protect drinking water and wildlife habitat, and to allow military training that is compatible with those uses.

The machine gun range project would require 199 acres of land disturbance, including 170.5 acres of forest area to be clear cut to accommodate the range footprint, operations and control area facilities, roads, firebreaks and other aspects of the project, according to the Guard’s Environmental Assessment. The project plan also includes the creation of a Surface Danger Zone area on approximately 5,197 acres, or over one-third of the 15,000-acre Upper Cape Water Supply Reserve, where projectiles fired on the range would land.

APCC obtained, through a public records request, copies of all public comments submitted to the Guard on the machine gun range. APCC provides these comments on this website for the purpose of ensuring a full disclosure of the general public’s response to the project.