Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge—Former
Fort Devens Army Base
Like Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge, Oxbow
National Wildlife refuge is located on the former Fort
Devens Army Base in Massachusetts. But while Assabet has
been 10 years in the making, Oxbow is the result of three
decades of land transfers from the Army, including restored
Superfund land.
The Fort Devens Army Base transferred 711 acres to the
Fish and Wildlife Service in 1974 and 1988, which became
the original refuge. When the base closed in 1996, the Army
began cleaning soil and groundwater contaminated from
almost 80 years of military operations. In May 1999, the
Oxbow refuge received an additional 836 acres from the
Fort Devens Superfund site, as just one of the many redevel-
opment projects stemming from the former Army base. The
refuge reached its current size with a final purchase of 120
acres of private land in Harvard, Massachusetts in 2001.
Flanking nearly eight miles of the Nashua River corridor,
the Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge protects approximate-
ly 1,667 acres of wetlands and southern New England
flood-plain forest in north-central Massachusetts. Large
populations of both beaver and the threatened Blanding's
turtle call this refuge home. In fact, the refuge and neigh-
boring U.S. Army Training Area support the highest
density of nesting Blanding's turtle in the eastern United
States.
Great Bay National Wildlife Refuge—Former
Pease Air Force Base
In August 1992, approximately 1,100 acres of land of
the former Pease Air Force Base were transferred to the Fish
and Wildlife Service for creation of the Great Bay National
Wildlife Refuge. Located along New Hampshire's southern
seacoast in the town of Newington, the refuge is a key stop
for migratory water fowl traveling along the Atlantic
Flyway.
Nestled against the Great Bay, an estuary that feeds into
the Atlantic Ocean, the site provides prime migration and
winter habitat for a variety of protected species, including
the bald eagle, peregrine falcon, common loon, pied-billed
grebe, osprey, black ducks, and upland sandpiper. And for
workers on lunch break and walkers taking advantage of the
trails, Great Bay provides a scenic nearby retreat.
Pease Air Force Base was closed in March 1991, and the
Air Force has worked since that time to restore the property.
In summer 2000, they completed all construction activities
for the site, leaving only long-term monitoring of clean-up
remedies. Besides the wildlife refuge, other property on the
Pease Base site is currently being used or developed for com-
mercial and light industrial facilities. The base's airfield is
also now a fully operational commercial airport.
Entrance to Great Bay National Wildlife Refuge at the former Pease
Air Force Base.
Aroostook National Wildlife Refuge—
Former Loring Air Force Base
Established in 1998, four years after Loring Air Force
Base closed, the Aroostook National Wildlife Refuge sits in
the middle of rural Maine. The Air Force transferred 4,700
acres to the Fish and Wildlife Service from the 9,000-acre
base, which is now under ongoing cleanup activities and
long-term environmental monitoring to ensure cleanup per-
formance.
The refuge is located in Aroostook County, Maine, the
largest county east of the Mississippi, but with a population
density of only 11.1 persons per square mile. Although
sparsely populated, the region's landscape is dominated by
agricultural crops like potatoes and broccoli, so the refuge
protects valuable wildlife habitat.
In addition to forest and grasslands, the refuge adminis-
ters more than 2,400 acres of wetland conservation
easements throughout Aroostook County, providing homes
for declining populations of the American woodcock and
the American Black Duck, as well as species of migratory
birds and resident wildlife. Cross-country skiing, snowshoe-
ing, hiking, and bird watching are all possible on the six
miles of trails constructed through the refuge. 130
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Partners
EPA Update on Federal Facility Cleanup and Reuse
Watertqwn Site Removed From
the National Priorities List
Effective November 21, 2006, the National Priorities
List will be one Superfund site shorter. The Army
Materials Technology Laboratory (AMTL) site in
Watertown, Massachusetts is slated for deletion just before
Thanksgiving, marking the completion of all Superfund
cleanup actions and goals.
Known as the Watertown Arsenal, the site was originally
part of a 131-acre military facility built in 1816 for the pro-
duction and research of weapons. In addition to
conventional weapons work, a research nuclear reactor was
used for molecular and atomic structure research in the
1960s. In 1968, 55 acres of the military land were sold to
the town of Watertown, located on the Charles River six
miles northwest of Boston. Watertown redeveloped the
area into the Arsenal Mall shopping area, Arsenal Park, and
apartment buildings. In 1988, Congress recommended the
closure of the Watertown Arsenal, which occurred in 1995.
The 48-acre site was placed on the National Priorities
List in 1994, due to surface water contamination from the
weapons production. However, as a result of environmental
cleanup and redevelopment of the site over the past decade,
the former AMTL now provides
a spectrum of benefits to the
surrounding community,
including the creation of more
than 2,000 new jobs.
A large portion of the site is
owned by Harvard University
and accommodates a variety of
office and commercial uses,
including a regional arts center.
Other uses within the site con-
sist of a recreational park, a
yacht club, and the historic
Waterfront Arsenal Commander's mansion.
Federal Facilities
Restoration and Reuse Office
Reused building at Watertown Arsenal.
•Continued on Page 2>
Federal Cleanups That Put Citizens First
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WfltBrtown
Commander's Mansion, which the town owns and rents to
the public for functions.
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental
Protection (MassDEP) announced September 8, 2006, that
it concurs with the Environmental Protection Agency's
(EPA) determination that all appropriate response actions
under Superfund law have been completed, and are protec-
tive of human health and the environment. The public had
an opportunity to review and comment on the cleanup doc-
uments. Because no comments were received during the
public comment period, the deletion will move forward as
planned. EPA, the Army, MassDEP, and community stake-
holders plan to hold an event this fall celebrating the final
step toward the site's successful restoration and reuse. ISO
Public space at Watertown Arsenal.
Smart Growth in Region 1
When South Weymouth Naval Shipyard closed in 1997,
there was some concern about what redevelopment plans
might entail. The 1,450-acre Superfund site is located in the
towns of Abington, Rockland, and Weymouth, 15 miles
south of downtown Boston, Massachusetts. South Shore Tri-
Town Development Corporation - the local redevelopment
authority (LRA) - initially drew up plans that featured a
large destination mall, which some feared would negatively
impact air and water quality. In response to these concerns,
the State asked that the LRA develop an alternative plan that
would incorporate Smart Growth principles to provide
opportunities for community revitalization and minimize
negative environmental impacts.
Over the next several years, a variety of stakeholders
actively participated in drafting the new land reuse plan. The
Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Region 1 played
an integral role, and provided funding to allow the LRA to
hire a leading Smart Growth design firm. "This firm essen-
tially advised us as to whether the LRA was going as far as
they could," says EPA's Rosemary Monahan. According to
Monahan, hiring the firm also ensured that the project
would incorporate as many Smart Growth principles as pos-
sible. The LRA also hired a master developer with the
resources and experience to help in the planning and design
phases of the project.
Smart growth planning efforts for the redevelopment of
South Weymouth Naval Shipyard centered on balancing resi-
dential and commercial development. To ensure public
participation, the LRA held public listening sessions, peer
reviews, and other public meetings where residents and local
leaders could voice their opinions and contribute to the deci-
sion-making. These meetings were also attended by
municipal officials; representatives of the Metropolitan Area
Planning Council; the Massachusetts Department of
Environmental Protection; and EPA. The resulting dialogue
between the community, regulators, and developers created a
collaborative planning process and ensured that a variety of
viewpoints would be considered.
During the planning process, key stakeholders were
interested in developing a transit-oriented plan for the rede-
velopment site. EPA used a scoring tool called a Smart
Growth Index to analyze proposals based on a variety of
factors, such as the pedestrian-friendliness of various design
options. The resulting redevelopment plan draws on a vari-
ety of commuter-friendly designs: it is located near a rail
line leading to downtown Boston, contains less impervious
surface per capita than the previous plan, and is more com-
pact, making walking more attractive to residents. The
development is also mixed-use—it will protect about 70
percent of the property's natural lands and the remaining
land will contain a mixture of homes, commercial space,
and light industrial development.
EPA reviewed the final plan, which met the requirements
of the National Environmental Policy Act and the
Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act. The residents of
Weymouth, Rockland, and Abington then voted on the
proposal, and by summer 2005 the plan was approved.
Although construction is expected to start within the next
few months, the redevelopment will be "phased in" over a
10-year period. The project is anticipated to create some
5,000 construction jobs and, once complete, another 7,500
permanent jobs in the area.
The most significant aspect of the project from a plan-
ning perspective was incorporating Smart Growth
principles early on in the second plan. Based on what was
learned at South Weymouth, Region 1 is providing assis-
tance to the LRA for Brunswick Naval Air Station, Maine,
which was designated for closure by the 2005 Base
Realignment and Closure Commission. QQ
Former Defense Site Attracts $660M
Pharmaceutical Plant
Global pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb
has committed to build a $660 million manufacturing
plant on the former Fort Devens U.S. Army Base in
Massachusetts, creating as many as 550 jobs for the local
community.
The plant is scheduled to open in 2009 and is easily the
biggest private investment in the decommissioned base,
Municipal Service Center at the Fort Devens site.
which is already home to some 80 companies, reported the
Boston Globe. Devens is already home to a business park,
conservation land, a residential community, and shops and
services. A host of state agencies worked for eight months
developing a plan to attract the pharmaceutical plant to the
site; Massachusetts' plan won over plans from Rhode
Island, New York, and North Carolina. The average salary
at the plant will be approximately $60,000.
To meet the operating needs of Bristol-Myers Squibb,
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) negotiated an
early transfer of property from the Army, which allowed
Bristol-Myers Squibb to purchase the 13-acre parcel prior
to the completion of contaminated groundwater cleanup at
Renovated housing at the Fort Devens site.
the site. Early transfers are rare—only about a dozen have
happened in EPA's history—and this is the first early trans-
fer to take place in EPA's Region 1. MassDevelopment will
take over the site cleanup, overseen by the Massachusetts
Department of Environmental Protection, and the cleanup
is expected to be completed by the end of 2007.
Located approximately 35 miles northwest of Boston,
the former Fort Devens Army Base has undergone extensive
environmental investigation and cleanup since its addition
to the National Priorities List in 1989. Bristol-Myers
Squibb will buy the land from MassDevelopment, a quasi-
public agency that originally purchased nearly 4,000 of the
9,000 acres in Fort Devens from the Department of
Defense in 1996.
According to MassDevelopment, Bristol-Myers Squibb
plans to close on the property in early December and break
ground shortly thereafter. QQ
Wildlife Settles into Former
Superfund Sites
Hawks and other birds have replaced military aircraft in
the skies over the former Pease and Loring Air Force Bases.
Together with the former Fort Devens-Sudbury Army
Training Annex—all completed Superfund sites—these
rehabilitated land parcels have been added to the more than
540 refuges in the National Wildlife System throughout the
United States. Overseen by the U.S. Department of
Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service, these refuges are
reclaiming open spaces for wildlife preservation and recre-
ation.
Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge—
Former Fort Devens-Sudbury Army Training
Annex
Bunkers that used to house ammunition on the former
Fort Devens-Sudbury Army Training Annex are now being
evaluated for a different purpose—wintertime bat habitat.
In March 2005, the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge
officially opened for wildlife dependent recreation, return-
ing the base to nature 10 years after it was selected for
closure. The refuge is located about 25 miles west of
Boston, Massachusetts, on 2,230 acres of restored land
transferred from the U.S. Army. The land was deleted from
the National Priority List in 2002.
The 3.5 square miles of pine and hardwood forest and
wetlands now offer habitat for wildlife, and 10 miles of hik-
ing trails for residents of the neighboring towns of Hudson,
Maynard, Stow, and Sudbury. The refuge is also open for
limited hunting and fishing.
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Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge at the former Fort Devens.
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