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USACE designates 'Moving Exclusion Zone' adjacent to Plum Tree Island in Poquoson

December 4, 2008
By Jerry Rogers
Norfolk District Public Affairs

Effective Dec. 3, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), in consultation with the 5th U.S. Coast Guard District and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated a Moving Exclusion Zone adjacent to Plum Tree Island National Wildlife Refuge, located at Poquoson, Va., near the Chesapeake Bay.

The Moving Exclusion Zone is for use during detonation and removal of munitions of concern (MEC) and survey and characterization of munitions constituents (MC) by USACE Remedial Investigation (RI) teams between Jan. 1, 2009 and April 30, 2010. During a detonation event, a 1,500-yard temporary exclusion zone is established around the suspected MEC. Mariners are not allowed to operate within this exclusionary zone for any reason. This exclusion zone is in effect only for the length of time it takes to render the MEC harmless.

Additionally, the U.S. Coast Guard will establish a Broadcast Notice to Mariners to inform the maritime community of planned detonations. The on-scene coordinator or commander will monitor VHF channel 16 and 13. Security broadcasts will air every 15 minutes, one hour prior to closing an area and throughout the MEC detonation sequence. The on-scene coordinator or commander will expand or reduce the overall size of the exclusion zone as conditions warrant.

Enforcement of the exclusion zone is authorized by any federal agency, state, local or county law enforcement agency or private security firm in the employment of USACE or U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, so long as the entity undertaking enforcement action has the legal authority to do so under appropriate federal, state or local laws.

USACE and their contractor, Shaw Environmental, Inc., will conduct the Remedial Investigation fieldwork in two phases over two years during a January through April timeframe to avoid bird-nesting season on the Refuge.

The first phase of USACE fieldwork, planned for January through April 2009, will consist of a shoreline clearance and collection of geophysical information (sub-surface metal detecting). The shoreline clearance will remove MEC that pose a safety concern for the RI teams accessing the Refuge to determine the type and extent of MEC present along the shore. Geophysical investigation will then be conducted within the interior of the site to determine the extent of the refuge area that has been impacted by past bombing range training. This process will help identify the footprint of areas that may require cleanup work.

The second phase of fieldwork, January through April 2010, will consist of surveying selected areas to determine where MEC items are present in the subsurface and collecting environmental samples to determine if chemical contaminants or MC has entered the environment.

USACE designated the area around Plum Tree Island National Wildlife Refuge a Temporary Danger Zone in July 2004. The initial regulatory action prohibited all navigational access to the refuge, a formerly used Defense Department Site property (FUDS), and the shallow water surrounding it.

In March 2005, federal officials met with Poquoson watermen who were concerned with the danger zone, saying they needed access to the water. On April 1, USACE, after close consultation with its federal, state and local partners, revised the Plum Tree Island Temporary Danger Zone regulations to state that no activity shall be conducted within the designated area that disturbs the sub-aqueous soil. Prohibited activities include, but are not limited to anchoring, clamming with rakes, shovels or hoes, dredging, prop dredging, the intentional/unintentional beaching or grounding of vessels, or walking on the bottom. To address the watermen’s concerns, the revised regulations further stated that the setting/hauling of crab pots, gill nets and purse seining are exempt from these regulations.

The Danger Zone covers the southern part of the old bombing range where unexploded ordnance exists. Heavy erosion has exposed old style aerial bombs and Jet Assisted Takeoff (JATO) bottles in the shallow water surrounding the refuge. USACE installed more than 200 Danger/No Trespassing signs and nautical day marks to designate the restricted area.

These efforts were needed to restrict public access in the shallow water around Plum Tree Island to eliminate exposure of the public to MEC items remaining at the former military bombing range. Findings from the recently completed Site Investigation concluded that hazards likely exist both below and above the sub-aqueous bottom.

Plum Tree Island National Wildlife Refuge, formerly Plum Tree Island Range, was used for aerial bombardment and gunnery practice from 1917 to the late 1950s. It is located in the Chesapeake Bay and consists of approximately 3,482 acres of low dunes and marsh, interspersed with small circular ponds and waterways. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service acquired the original 3,276 acres in 1972, and has since acquired two tracts, totaling 226 acres, which were not part of the former bombing range.

There is no public access on any part of the former bombing range.

For more information on the upcoming USACE Site Investigation work, contact George Follett, Army Corps of Engineers, at (410)-962-6743, or Joe McCauley, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, at (804) 333-1470.