Bruce Ohman, second from left, shakes hands with Don Koski, middle, beside Peter Ollila after cutting the ribbon which officially opened the Skoglund-Erickson shooting range in Richmond Township Tuesday. Ohman, Koski and Ollila are decendants of Michigan Conservation Officer Emil Skoglund and Game Warden Arvid Erickson, who were murdered by a deer poacher in September 1926. (Journal photo by Dreyma Beronja)

PALMER — A long-awaited public shooting range is now open.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources held a dedication ceremony in honor of Michigan Conservation Officer Emil Skoglund and Game Warden Arvid Erickson, who were murdered in September 1926 by a deer poacher three miles away from where the range is now located.

DNR shooting range specialist Lori Burford said it took 30 years to get a shooting range developed in the area. The $2 million shooting range was funded through a federal grant administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and supplemented by the Michigan DNR Trust Fund, according to the DNR’s website.

DNR U.P. Field Deputy Stacy Welling-Haughey said there were many who “truly thought that they would never see this day.”

During the opening remarks at the dedication, Welling-Haughey said it was an honor to acknowledge the families. She said that getting that knock on your door that your loved one isn’t coming home “leaves an impression.”

“We want to make sure that never happens in vain and that legacy lives on,” Welling-Haughey said.

The Skoglund-Erickson Shooting Range is the 12th shooting range in the U.P. DNR Natural Resources Deputy Shannon Lott said this is a “big deal” for the DNR.

She said the shooting range allows people to use firearms safely.

“These folks who may shoot but not hunt are still very, very important to the mission we have in the DNR and fund conservation,” Lott said.

At the dedication, DNR Law Enforcement Division Chief David Shaw said in the 35-year history of the law enforcement division, 16 officers have lost their lives in the course of their duties.

“You’ve heard the saying freedom isn’t free, well conservation isn’t either,” Shaw said. “Conservation does mean the wise use of a natural resource but it’s the term ‘wise’ that recognizes years and years ago that there had to be regulations, there had to be controls to sustain our natural resources, and these officers were pioneers back in the day fighting the same fight our men and women fight today.”

Shaw said that conservation officers at the beginning of the conservation movement had different challenges than today’s officers.

“They (officers) didn’t have bulletproof vests, they didn’t have 800 Megahertz radios that would bring them medical assistance and other assistance,” he said. “It was a different job back then, it’s the same job today with much more safe backup.”

Don Koski, Arvid Erickson’s grandson, said the shooting range is “awesome” and “something Marquette County has needed for a long time.”

When he was younger, Koski said he saw Roy Nunn, the poacher who killed Arvid and Emil, in prison.

“He was small, a small guy. I saw him but never had a chance to talk with him,” Koski said. “It’s nice to see a facility like this and a turnout like this. It’s something Marquette County has needed for a long time and they (DNR and partners) did an awesome job with it.”

The Skoglund-Erickson Shooting Range is open daily from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., or sunset, whichever is earlier. The range is in Richmond Township, west of Marquette, off Marquette County Road 480, along the Goose Lake boating access site road.