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Protests are rising over a state plan to open a shooting range near Lake James, at the foot of Burke County’s rugged and renowned Linville Gorge Wilderness.

The site is on state game lands 70 miles northwest of Charlotte and would occupy only three of its 1,300 forested acres. State studies say gunshots heard from surrounding areas would be no louder than lawnmowers, boats or passing planes.

That didn’t reassure Burke County’s Tourism Development Authority, which grooms an outdoorsy image built around the mountain-rimmed lake. The authority says hikers “will be psychologically impacted by the gunfire noise – at any decibel level.”

A state study estimated the range could attract as many as 10,800 shooters a year.

The county is building a loop trail around Lake James that will come within 500 feet of the shooting range. Hikers regularly use the area to reach Shortoff Mountain and the gorge. The cross-state Mountains-to-Sea Trail also runs nearby.

“People could walk into that area completely unaware of the shooting range and think that people are just shooting randomly,” tourism director Ed Phillips said.

The North Carolina Wildlife Federation, whose members include many hunters, said it is working with the state Wildlife Resources Commission to find another site.

“Basically, everyone who has spoken against the shooting range has not spoken against the range itself but the location,” said Richard Mode, a federation representative who lives in Morganton.

Well-heeled housing developments have sprung up around Lake James in recent years, but the communities closest to the range site are blue-collar.

The range also would be about a mile north of sprawling Lake James State Park, which attracted nearly a half-million visitors last year.

The wildlife commission, despite studying the site since 2013, says it is not wedded to the Lake James tract.

Although the commission is scheduled to make a decision on the shooting range at its May 21 meeting, “it’s not a done deal,” spokesman Russell Wong said. “If another site came up as an option, we would explore that as well.”

The commission did environmental assessment and sound studies and held public hearings in order to collect public comment, not ignore it, Wong said.

The commission “is evaluating wide-ranging input and perspective” it has received, Executive Director Gordon Myers said by email. That input will be combined with site analysis in reaching a final decision, he said.

The range is one of three the commission plans to build across the state as public interest in shooting sports rises. The commission opened three ranges last year and now manages a total of four.

A ground-breaking ceremony Monday will start construction of a range in Shelby in a joint project with Cleveland County. It’s expected to open in early fall. A range in coastal Pender County, north of Wilmington, is expected to be completed in late summer.

The environmental study commissioned by the state concluded that a Lake James shooting range would offer far more benefits than negatives.

By focusing gunfire, for instance, the range would contain thousands of potentially toxic lead bullets. The commission last month banned target shooting at two game lands – reserves for hunting, fishing and other outdoor recreation – in Pender and Onslow counties. Indiscriminate gunfire, it said, had destroyed habitat and become a public safety concern.

The state’s shooting ranges have high earthen banks to catch bullets; the proposed site at Lake James would have one 30 to 40 feet high closest to the lake. Most range use is free or for small fees. State rules prohibit reckless use of firearms or drinking at the ranges.

The state bought the site, naming it the Linville River Tract of the Pisgah Game Land, from developer Crescent Resources in 2005.

Because the purchase used a grant from the state Natural Heritage Trust Fund, it was dedicated as a nature preserve. The range would be in a buffer area of the preserve.

Morganton-based Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina, which brokered the sale, said its intent was to buffer Linville Gorge from outside intrusions.

Executive Director Susie Hamrick Jones called the choice “illogical” when other state game lands for hunting and fishing are available in the region.

“There are few places on earth that attract people just because of their astounding beauty, where you can get away from the human-built environment into wilderness,” she said. “And this is probably the jewel among them.”

Henderson: 704-358-5051;

Twitter: @bhender

• EDITOR’S NOTE: Veterans’ Corner, a column to inform armed-forces veterans about services and benefits available to them, appears the first Sunday of each month.

From the 1950s through the 1980s, people living or working at the U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, were potentially exposed to drinking water contaminated with industrial solvents, benzene and other chemicals.

This chemical exposure may have led to health conditions.

These 15 health conditions qualify regarding the contaminates: esophageal cancer, breast cancer, kidney cancer, multiple myeloma, renal toxicity, female infertility, scleroderma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, lung cancer, bladder cancer, leukemia, myelodysplastic syndromes, hepatic steatosis, miscarriage or neurobehavioral effects.

You may be eligible for VA health benefits if you served on active duty or resided (family members) at Camp Lejeune for 30 days or more between Aug. 1, 1953, and Dec. 31, 1987.

If you are eligible:

• Veterans receive VA health care; care for qualifying health conditions is at no cost (including copayments)

• Family members receive reimbursement for out-of-pocket medical expenses incurred from treatment of qualifying health conditions.

Veterans need to gather documents showing they served on active duty at Camp Lejuene. They can use military orders or base housing records.

They then need to enroll in VA Health Care. Veterans already enrolled can contact their local VA health care facility at www.va.gov/directory/guide/ to sign up for the Camp Lejeune Program and receive VA care.

If not yet enrolled, veterans can apply online at http://www.va.gov/healthbenefits/apply/, call toll-free (877) 222-8387, or visit the nearest Veterans Affairs Office.

Family members need to gather documents to show their relationship to a veteran; they can use a marriage license or a birth certificate.

They also need to show that they lived at Camp Lejuene.

They need the military orders sending their veteran to Camp Lejeune or Camp Lejeune base housing records. Then gather receipts for qualifying expenses.

By law, VA may only compensate for eligible out-of-pocket expenses after family members have received payment from all other health plans.

Family members may request reimbursement for expenses incurred on or after March 26, 2013, which is the date when Congress began to fund this program.

To apply for reimbursement, visit www.clfamilymembers.fsc.va.gov or call toll-free (866) 372-1144.

This information is from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, March 2015.

For more information, call Brenda Stormer at the Veterans Affairs Office at (724) 465-3815.