At the same time that millions of provincial and federal tax dollars are being spent to build new facilities for the 2010 Olympics (including a biathlon course), another level of government has voted to shut down one of the few facilities available in the Lower Mainland for target shooting.

This time, it's the Pacific Shooters Association in North Vancouver, and it's relevant to 2010 because it's used by Canada's biathletes. (In case you're not plugged into the sport of biathlon, it's cross-country skiing and rifle target shooting. It may seem silly at first glace, but it's a sport that originated with the Vikings, using bows and arrows instead of rifles.)

This decision was made by the Greater Vancouver Water District, a division of the Greater Vancouver Regional District. The Pacific Shooters Association uses property leased from the GVRD, and the GVWD decided not the renew the lease. The reasons given were environment and noise, but the three North Shore mayors on the commission voted against the closure.

After this closure takes place in 2008, the only remaining target shooting facility in the Vancouver area will be the one at Burke Mountain, north of Port Coquitlam.

Story from the North Shore News: GVWD shoots down PSA target range. There was a story on this in the July 5 Province, but it's subscriber-only.