COEUR d’ALENE — The future of the Coeur d’Alene Skeet and Trap Club has been uncertain, due to an ongoing debate about the club’s annual rent.

But the club may have found an unlikely rescuer: Idaho Fish and Game.

Kootenai County commissioners revealed Tuesday that the state agency is interested in purchasing the land where the club sits, 36 acres near the Coeur d’Alene Airport in Hayden.

“We know there is interest in the community for a long-term solution for the shooting range and the Legislature and Fish and Game have been in collaborative discussions on how to make that work,” Regional Communication Manager TJ Ross said Wednesday.

Commissioner Leslie Duncan also indicated a cooperative effort between Fish and Game and the Idaho Legislature, though the specifics are unclear.

“There’s going to be a bill floated around,” she said Tuesday. “Fish and Game is interested in preserving the skeet club.”

The club’s lease has been a matter of contention since 2021, when airport director Steven Kjergaard told county commissioners that the club should move toward paying market rate to rent the land.

Under its current lease with the airport, the club pays $1,036 a year to rent the land. Rental rates for a new lease proposed by the airport last January would begin at $120,000 per year and increase by $40,000 each year for a decade, topping out at $480,000.

Ed Wagner, Coeur d’Alene Skeet and Trap Club president, said those rates would certainly kill the club, which has existed since 1946. The club moved to its location on Miles Avenue in 1965.

With the lease up for renewal in April, Wagner said it’s an uncertain time for the club.

“We’re just proceeding as if we’re going to be here,” he said. “That’s all we can do at this point. I feel pretty positive that we’re going to work something out.”

Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to arrange for a new appraisal for the land where the club sits, a process that will cost around $2,000 and could take about a month. The land was last appraised in November 2021.

“I think we need an updated one because property values continue to drop,” said Commissioner Leslie Duncan.

The appraisal will take into consideration that the soil is contaminated from lead and toxic materials in clay targets commonly used in the past.

“That’s the thing that always bothers me,” Commissioner Bill Brooks said. “We’ve had appraisals but they really don’t take into account the lead or the remediation costs.”

Under the current lease, the club is responsible for environmental cleanup. Wagner said remediating the ground would cost between $2 million and $3 million, an impossible sum for the small club.

The Coeur d’Alene Skeet and Trap Club has around 300 members, a mix of locals and shooters who travel from across the region to visit the club.

Around 40 youths on three local high school teams also practice at the club and have no alternative site.

“What do they do if we go away?” Wagner said.