Approximately 100 acres of residential and forested land just east of Weibel Avenue in Saratoga Springs will get a visit from the New York Army National Guard this summer.
The National Guard will be checking an old rifle range for potential environmental concerns on that area of land that was used from 1878 to 1951. Property owners in the designated area are in the process of granting the National Guard permission to be on the property.
Based on a 1960 photograph and map, it’s just north of Old Saratoga Road and east of Weibel Avenue, currently made up of private owners and the City of Saratoga, so we’re sending out written letters requesting right of entry for the contract process, said Master Sgt. Corine Lombardo.
Lombardo said the old rifle range is one of 23 former New York Army National Guard training sites that will be inspected in the summer months. More than 400 sites in 48 states and two territories will receive inspections that were mandated by the Department of Defense Military Munitions Response Program.
`The program is being conducted worldwide to address human health, safety and environmental concerns at former non-operational defense sites,` according to information from the National Guard.
Contractors will look for things like spent cartridges at the Saratoga location but said they’re not sure exactly what they’ll find.
`What we anticipate at this point is because it was a small arms range, we’re really not sure what we will find, if anything, because munitions in Saratoga are unknown at this time,` said Lombardo. `In this case, it’s more environmental stewardship. We used the area at one time and it hasn’t been used in so long, so the National Guard wanted to get a determination of when it was used and what, if anything is found, will be cleaned up.`
Inspectors will survey the site visually and also check with handheld metal detectors and GPS units. They will also collect surface soil samples to a depth less than two to three inches, said Lombardo, using disposable plastic spoons about the size of an ice cream scoop.
The entire process consists of seven stages, according to information from the National Guard. First is a preliminary assessment to identify locations, research historical records, land usage and past incidents in the area. This step was completed in 2008.
Site inspections begin in summer 2011 to collect additional information, data and samples to determine if actions are warranted at a site. If action is required, that process is eligible for Defense State Memorandum of Agreement funding under the Defense Environmental Restoration Program.
`Currently we have a contractor reaching out for historical documents, old photos and records so we can identify the boundaries of this former range,` said Lombardo.
Lombardo said results are expected sometime in 2012. Anyone with photos or historical documents related to the rifle range can contact Lombardo at [email protected] or 786-4579.
There are three current National Guard training sites in Guilderland, Youngstown, Camp Smith and soldiers regularly train at Ft. Drum near Watertown.
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