Cleanup Resumes at Former Camp Wellfleet

Ordinance Canisters to be Removed from Site

rom: National Park Service / US Army Corps of Engineers

CONCORD, MA - The National Park Service (NPS), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) are continuing efforts to determine the extent of military ordnance identified in the past at the Former Camp Wellfleet military site located at the Cape Cod National Seashore in Wellfleet, Mass.

The Corps contractor, Zapata Engineering, under the direction of the U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville, Ala., will resume performing an Ordnance and Explosive (OE) investigation and removal action in portions of the Former Camp Wellfleet on Monday, February 28, 2005 (weather permitting) and continue through the end of March.

Zapata Engineering will perform investigation and removal at four areas on the site.

These areas include a 4.5 acre portion of the site south of the Marconi Beach Bathhouse. This area warrants further investigation because ordnance related scrap was found and removed in this general area during the last investigation. Further investigation will confirm if additional scrap is buried, if so it will be removed. This area is a potential piping plover nesting area; therefore the investigation will be performed before the plovers return to area for nesting.

The other three areas are inland of the dunes. They consist of an area where military canisters were located. The canisters were previously tested, and were found not to be hazardous. They will be removed and disposed of at an approved disposal facility offsite. Another area that will be investigated has potential ordnance burial pits.

The last area of concern is an area where 150 M28A1 flash tubes for 105mm cartridge cases were removed last year.

This investigation will be conducted to locate any additional flash tubes if they exist, and to dispose of them at an approved disposal facility offsite.

The Former Camp Wellfleet site consists of developed and undeveloped land, the majority of which is owned and maintained by the National Park Service. The investigation for the Wellfleet site will be conducted during the winter to minimize impacts to natural resources such as the piping plover and to minimize the impact of closures to area residents and visitors.

Zapata Engineering will meet daily with the National Park Service staff to coordinate safety measures and any necessary area closures. All reasonable efforts will be made to minimize inconvenience to the public and to allow public access to the primary visitor sites.

Access to Marconi Site and Marconi Beach may be restricted at times during the project. It is the goal of the National Park Service, to have the beaches and site open on weekends and only close either the beach or the site on a day-by-day
basis, when necessary.

The recommended removal actions for the various areas inside the Former Camp Wellfleet are derived from the Final Former Camp Wellfleet Engineering Evaluation/Cost Analysis (EE/CA) completed in May 2000 and the subsequent Action
Memorandum, which was signed in April 2001.

Contact Tim Dugan 978-318-8264
timothy.j.dugan@usace.army.mil

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
New England District
696 Virginia Road, Concord, Massachusetts 01742-2751

Date: Feb. 25, 2005
Release No. MA 2005-20

Related Link: www.nps.gov/caco/news/2005CampWellfleetupdate.pdf