Gun club removes, recycles 46,000 pounds of lead shot

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. - If the east side of Lake Maloney seems to lean a little bit less to the east, there is a good reason. The Lincoln County Wildlife Gun Club is taking the lead out. Literally.

After 26 years, the amount of lead that has fallen to the ground at the gun club's shooting range is tremendous. In fact, to this date approximately five semitrailer truck loads of lead have been removed from the site. That is, 17 barrels on each truck with each barrel weighing 2,700 pounds, which comes to about 46,000 pounds of lead shot.

"We have been at this location since 1969," said Rick Hoffman, vice president of the gun club. "The last time we had it cleaned up was in 1983, so the lead had been accumulating for the last 26 years."

Dan Walken and Greg Meier of Advanced Range Management Services bring in a machine that screens the lead from the soil.

A front-end loader scoops about 1 to 2 inches of the topsoil that is dumped into the machine. There are several arms that extend out from the machine with conveyor belts and screens that separate the lead, the grass and weeds from the soil.

The lead is collected for transport, and the soil returned to the site.

"This cleans up the environment," Hoffman said. "Lead is a mild contaminant that does not transport to water. We just keep recycling it, which keeps the area clean. We use the proceeds from the lead to help finance our operation. It helps replace machines and keeps the gun club operating."

The lead is sent to a company that redistributes the lead to various manufacturers, including car manufacturers, those that use the lead to make batteries and numerous other industries that use the lead.

The gun club serves about 120 members at the shooting range.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20090913/NEWS01/709139898/1009