MADISON — Excessive use has caused the Department of Natural Resources to close the 25-yard hand gun shooting range at the Yellowstone Wildlife Area due to the poor condition of the facility’s backstop, the agency announced last week.

The 50- and 100 -yard shooting ranges remain open, as well as the archery range, according to the DNR.

The DNR’s Bureau of Law Enforcement recommended the closing of the range, located in Lafayette County, adjacent to Yellowstone Lake State Park, off of County F on Lake Road. 

The 25-foot range will remain closed, likely through the winter, until it can be safely used again. There are likely to be new use limitations if the range reopens, according to a statement the DNR released Thursday.

“The DNR is committed to providing a safe, enjoyable range experience for its users. In that endeavor, the department will continue to monitor, evaluate and make necessary range modifications and improvements to ensure the public’s safety while they recreate at DNR-managed ranges,” the statement said.

The remaining ranges are open daily except on Tuesday when it is reserved for law enforcement use. 

Lafayette County Sheriff Reg Gill said the range’s closing won’t affect his department’s firearm training or qualification of its 30 sworn officers.

“We don’t use it often, only once in the last several years. We qualify at a local quarry,” Gill said.

Calls to Brenda Von Ruden, the DNR’s manager of public ranges, were not returned before deadline.

The shooting range was one of the most popular activities listed by the public commenting on a regional master plan of the state’s recreational lands under development by the DNR. The respondents supported expansion of the shooting range along with other activities. 

The public comment period has closed for the master plan for the Southwest Savanna Ecological Landscape but a draft is being prepared for the presentation to the DNR Board.

All of Lafayette County and portions of Grant, Green, Iowa and Dane counties are included in the plan, which studies a variety of notable rivers and physical features within the study area plus the state parks at Yellowstone Lake, New Glarus Woods and Belmont Mound.