[CPEO-MEF] FORMER SITES: Ft. Babcock, AK

[Lenny Siegel <LSiegel@cpeo.org>]

As the Army begins the cleanup of Shoals Point, one Sitkan feels the losses outweigh the gains

by Robert Woolsey
KCAW Raven Radio (Sitka, AK)
November 4, 2024

Before this September, when you visited Shoals Point, you’d never know the deep forest and grassy fringe was a former military installation until you came across a concrete bunker, or a rusted fuel tank. Fort Babcock once occupied this site. It was one of three large gun batteries built to defend Sitka Sound from a Japanese naval invasion during the Second World War. The area is windswept from the south, with big, surfable rollers crashing on the beach, and has a sheltered anchorage on the north.

Although it’s off the beaten path, many Sitkans love Shoals Point. Jed DeLong is one of them.

“I mean, (Kruzof) it’s like one of the most unique islands in Southeast,” he said. “It’s one of my favorite places in the world. The Shoals Point area is just awesome. We go out there all the time, and to have it just get mowed down with like no notice is kind of mind blowing to me.”

DeLong visits Shoals Point maybe a dozen times a year. Recently he and his dad went hunting there, and he was shocked at what they found. Contractors for the Army Corps of Engineers in September had cleared the half-mile long former military road, and three adjacent areas.

…

For the entire story, see
https://www.kcaw.org/2024/11/04/as-the-army-begins-the-cleanup-of-shoals-point-one-sitkan-feels-the-losses-outweigh-the-gains/

—

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
A project of the Pacific Studies Center
LSiegel@cpeo.org
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org
Author: DISTURBING THE WAR: The Inside Story of the Movement to Get Stanford University out of Southeast Asia - 1965–1975 (See http://a3mreunion.org)

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