[CPEO-MEF] Army inquires about expanding into park

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Army inquires about expanding into park
CHUGACH: State opposition prompts Fort Richardson officials to back away 
from plan.
By Zaz Hollander And Peter Porco
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: July 6, 2002)

Before the idea ever really got rolling, the U.S. Army is backing away 
from the possibility of expanding Fort Richardson into a mountainous 
section of Chugach State Park that straddles Ship Creek.

In recent weeks, military officials approached the state with the idea 
of expanding the Army post onto some 10,000 acres in the Chugach 
Mountains east of the city. The suggestion surprised state officials, 
who say they consider the area the heart of the park's wilderness.

The land in question falls entirely within Chugach State Park but 
technically is federal land. Title would have been conveyed to the state 
long ago except for unexploded ordnance and other hazardous materials 
that remain from Army tank training in the 1960s, according to the 
military and federal and state officials familiar with it.

The extent of the contamination is unclear because it has never been 
studied in detail.

The park, which covers some 495,000 acres, was created in 1970. A 
special-use permit that allowed the Army to train in the parcel expired 
in 1971, and it fell under nonmilitary federal management. But the 
Bureau of Land Management, the agency that oversees conveyance of 
federal land to the state, can't convey the land to the state until the 
contamination is cleaned up.

Last month, the Army requested an informal inquiry into taking over the 
parcel.

The state's informal response was no, state parks officials said.

Chugach Park superintendent Al Meiners said he learned of the Army's 
inquiry about two weeks ago and was dismayed. But in a meeting with base 
commanders on June 24, Meiners said, he was told that the Army's 
interest in the parcel stemmed only from its obligation to clean it up 
and not an interest in training there. 

This article can be viewed in its entirety at:
http://www.adn.com/front/story/1371514p-1490184c.html

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