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WASILLA -- About 87,000 acres of Point MacKenzie used to be a target area for soldiers learning to shoot artillery shells at Elmendorf Air Force Base.
Now the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wants to find out if any unexploded shells are still lurking there. This summer the Corps of Engineers plans to spend $1.6 million to have its contractor, Zapata Inc., inspect five potential development spots in the Point MacKenzie area to see if any unexploded shells are still there. Corps officials held an open house at the Menard Sports Center in Wasilla last week to talk with residents about the range. The Corps of Engineers says the Susitna Gunnery Range was used between 1952 and 1958. Artillery troops fired long-range anti-aircraft shells there. The impact area stretches about 17 miles in a wedge-shaped area from Cairn Point on Elmendorf Air Force Base to just beyond the Little Susitna River. That was before Point MacKenzie was developed. Today the former range encompasses the Mat-Su Borough port, several farms, homesteads and recreational cabins, a prison, a second prison under construction, and the terminus points of two major Alaska projects being discussed: the Knik Arm Bridge between Anchorage and Point MacKenzie and a spur track to the port from the Alaska Railroad's main track north of Wasilla. The five spots to be inspected for unexploded shells include two gravel pits, one on Mat-Su Borough land in the Port MacKenzie area and the second further north; the Point MacKenzie Trail Head, a spot snowmachiners use to access nearby winter trails; the proposed terminus point for the bridge and the end of the possible railroad spur. Corps of Engineers project manager Carey Cossaboom said workers this summer will cut brush and drag geotechnical equipment in transect paths on about 25 acres in the five sites. The group plans to cover about 50 miles of cleared paths. If any anomalies register on the equipment, workers will go over the area more completely and dig up what they find. Any unexploded shells discovered will be detonated after being covered with sandbags to dampen the blow. Workers also will be collecting soil and surface water at the sites and analyzing them for metals that might indicate bomb fragments. After this summer's work, Cossaboom said, the Corps will conduct a feasibility study that outlines what was found and what needs to happen next. If a lot of munitions are found, Cossaboom said, the Corps might investigate more areas within the gunnery range. The proposed plan will be released for public comment, he said. SHELLS ALREADY FOUND Although a 1960 military certificate stated that all ammunition fired in the area should have self-detonated and "there was no evidence of malfunction," a few shells have been found in the range area. The Corps knows of three shells found. One was a 90 mm armor-piercing tracer found in the late 1990s when the Alaska Manufacturing plant was built near the port. A second shell was discovered farther north by a landowner clearing property in 2000. According to a 2008 Corps report, a bulldozer uncovered a 90 mm high-explosive projectile. An Explosive Ordnance Disposal team responded and got rid of it. A flagger working on the Point MacKenzie Road paving project in 2008 found a third shell, according to a Corps fact sheet about the project. The shell, retrieved by Alaska State Troopers, is believed to be a 37 mm projectile. A detonation team member interviewed by the Corps in 2005 remembered responding to the area twice in the 1970s and 1980s to recover two "dud" shells, but did not remember the exact locations. THE BEACHCOMBER Corps officials at the Menard Sports Center meeting last week learned of three more shells that had been found. Judy Travlos told Corps representatives she found two shells in the 1990s while beachcombing along the Point MacKenzie bluffs and another one two years ago. Travlos and her husband own property in the area and she likes to collect old fishing lures and other washed-up items, she said. Travlos said she carefully wrapped up one shell she found and took it home to Anchorage. A friend in the Alaska National Guard came over later in the year to check it out. Travlos said the friend thought the shell might be dangerous and called authorities. Two days later, she said, a bomb truck arrived and carried the shell away. Travlos found another shell on the beach a few years later, but it washed away or disappeared under the sand before she or her husband could notify anyone. BIG EXPLOSION Two years ago Travlos made her most recent discovery near a creek in the area. This time she left the shell lying where she found it and a neighboring landowner called the authorities. A Blackhawk helicopter carrying an Explosives Ordnance Device team stopped by two days later. Instead of carting the shell away, the team detonated it nearly a quarter-mile away, covering it with tires to cushion the impact. Travlos said pieces of tires flew more than 200 feet in the air. The team couldn't identify the type of shell, she said, but they told her the power when it detonated was equal to about five sticks of dynamite. Travlos said the experience made her a little more careful about what she picks up while beachcombing. "You don't think about the dangers sometimes," she said. IF YOU FIND A SHELL Corps officials, in a handout at the meeting last week, offered tips for people who find something that looks like an unexploded shell. They are: • Recognize -- Be aware what old munitions look like. • Retreat -- If you think you might have found a munition, mark the site and photograph the item if it's possible to do so safely, then carefully move away. Despite their age, fuses might be sensitive to temperature and pressure. • Report -- Call 911 and provide as much information as possible about what you saw and where, exactly, you saw it.