National Guard training range at Cape Code gets key federal approval The Associated Press 4 hours ago Soldiers from the 1058th Transportation Company, Massachusetts National Guard, conduct a night base defense live-fire exercise under the illumination of a green flare during the Combined Arms Exercise: Patriot Crucible at Joint Base Cape Cod on Aug. 1, 2019. (Staff Sgt. Steven C. Eaton/Massachusetts National Guard) BOURNE, Mass. A proposed machine gun training range at a National Guard base in Massachusetts has received approval from a federal agency. The National Guard Bureau has determined that the range at Camp Edwards on Joint Base Cape Cod would not significantly affect the region’s environment.
What started as a small group of residents concerned about the health of their neighborhood pond has grown over the last year into a nonprofit organization working to educate residents about the need to protect ponds on the Cape.
Educational outreach has been at the forefront of the Deep Pond Preservation Projectâs efforts since its founding last September. Its primary mission is to preserve the health and beauty of Deep Pond, located in the Hatchville neighborhood of East Falmouth.
As a coastal pond home to rare native plants, it is especially vulnerable to growing threats such as invasive species, septic overflow and herbicides.
By BETH TREFFEISEN | Cape Cod Times | Published: May 4, 2021 JOINT BASE CAPE COD, Mass. (Tribune News Service) The drive out to the Sierra Range, one of the few active gun ranges on Camp Edwards, is long, dusty and bumpy. Upon arrival, there s an open field filled with grass-covered berms. Brightly colored plastic targets sit upright, riddled with bullet holes. The range, one of four currently active on Joint Base Camp Cod, is used to train members of the National Guard in using M4 and M16 rifles. Members use the range following virtual and short-range pistol training. A soldier has to hit 23 of the 40 targets from distances of 50 and 300 meters to meet their annual training requirement, and they have just over three minutes to complete the task.
Federal officials approve plan for National Guard to build a new machine gun range on Cape Cod
By David Abel Globe Staff,Updated May 4, 2021, 6:13 p.m.
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Joint Base Cape Cod, MA 4/7/21 A view of the proposed site for a new machine gun range at Camp Edwards. (Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff)
Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff
The National Guard is set to announce Wednesday that it has received the go-ahead from federal officials to clear 170 acres of dense forest at Joint Base Cape Cod to build a sprawling machine gun range.
The National Guard Bureau, a federal agency overseeing state militias, determined that the proposed range would have âno significant impactâ on the areaâs ecology, according to an e-mail Guard officials sent Tuesday to local lawmakers and others on Cape Cod.
JOINT BASE CAPE COD The drive out to the Sierra Range, one of the few active gun ranges on Camp Edwards, is long, dusty and bumpy. Upon arrival, there’s an open field filled with grass-covered berms. Brightly colored plastic targets sit upright, riddled with bullet holes.
The range, one of four currently active on Joint Base Camp Cod, is used to train members of the National Guard in using M4 and M16 rifles. Members use the range following virtual and short-range pistol training.
A soldier has to hit 23 of the 40 targets from distances of 50 and 300 meters to meet their annual training requirement, and they have just over three minutes to complete the task.