Military

Photos: Military contamination cleanup in Alaska

America's Far North cherishes its image of wild purity in a landscape so vast it can sometimes seem barely touched by people. But the roughly 600 military installations across Alaska - some dating from World War II, others built during the Cold War - tell a different story, in polluted sites that were never fully cleaned up, and the related health problems that have lingered and festered.

Bases and listening posts scattered from the far northern tundra to remotest atolls of the Aleutian Islands used or stockpiled cleaning solvents and pesticides, chemical warfare agents and unexploded ordnance. Some was left behind in remote or unpopulated areas when geopolitical tensions eased and bases were abandoned, others were merely fenced off with signs and warnings.

READ MORE: Alaska Natives help study and clean up legacy of military's pollution

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