Camp Hale explosives outnumber expectation

More un-exploded munitions than expected have been found at Camp Hale this summer by crews searching the East Fork area of the abandoned military training base.

Specialized search teams have found 31 pieces of un-exploded war material during sweeps of the area that begun in June seven miles south of Red Cliff. The discoveries included rifle grenades, bazooka rockets, anti-tank mine fuses and other explosives. The munitions have been destroyed by detonating them with plastic explosives and 10 separate blasts have rattled the area this summer.

“We’re finding a lot more than I anticipated,” said Jerry Hodgson, project manager for the Army Corps of Engineers, which is overseeing the cleanup.

While the cleanup has removed everything in sight, Hodgson said there still may be more material buried – and it could be hazardous.

After hunters and hikers discovered five rifle grenades last summer, the U.S. Forest Service closed 3,000 acres of the East Fork area of Camp Hale until it could be cleaned up.

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Search crews and munitions experts walked shoulder-to-shoulder this summer over the East Fork area that stretches roughly from ridgetop to ridgetop and is about 1 1/2 miles long. More than 50 people were employed by the Army Corps’ contractor, Shaw Environmental.

Clear for now

The East Fork area – named after the East Fork of the Eagle River – will be reopened next month, with lots of signs warning of the danger of encountering live munitions, said Cal Wettstein, district ranger of the Minturn-based Holy Cross ranger station of the White River National Forest.

“It was a really thorough sweep,” said Wettstein. “There is a possibility that some of the stuff under the surface will be brought to the surface by frost heaving.”

Hodgson also urged caution.

“There’s no way you can be completely sure there’s nothing left,” he said.

If you’re hiking or visiting Camp Hale and spot something that looks like it might be a munition or explosive do not touch it – note its location and notify law enforcement authorities, Hodgson said.

Up to 10 percent of the explosive devices used during World War II did not explode when used. Because many of them were projectiles, they penetrated the ground and have remained buried for 60 years. But the seasonal freeze-and-thaw cycles are pushing them to the surface.

The danger of detonating munitions decreases in winter when the ground freezes and snow cushions man’s activities. Hodgson said it’s likely a comprehensive surface sweep of Camp Hale may take another decade to complete.

More than meets the eye

Camp Hale, now a popular Forest Service recreation area, was from 1941 to 1949 home for up to 15,000 members of the Army’s elite 10th Mountain Division, which fought in Italy’s Appenine Mountains during World War II. It also was used for periodic training maneuvers for other armed forces, including in 1965 a group of Tibetan resistance fighters being trained by the CIA.

While training at Camp Hale, those soldiers fired thousands of rounds of explosive munitions at the 250,000-acre camp’s 20 firing ranges.

In 1965, the base was decommissioned and deeded to the Forest Service.

Over the last five years, successive finds of explosives, ranging from rifle grenades to artillery shells -, particularly in the East Fork area near popular Forest Service campgrounds – alerted the Army Corps that the area needed to be cleared of munitions.

To date, no one has been injured by exploding munitions at Camp Hale, but the situation is risky because some explosive devices become more unstable as they age. Two summers ago, a trio of anti-tank mines were found by a well-meaning person, who stacked them by the roadside for authorities. Those, fortunately, were not live.

Crews working to snuff a lightning-started blaze last summer south of this year’s cleanup area, discovered munitions nearby, forcing some delicate firefighting that required the help of weapons experts.

The summer’s cleanup of Camp Hale cost $1.8 million, Hodgson said.

The Camp Hale cleanup is funded through the Army Corps’ $220 million “Formerly Used Defense Site” fund used to clear munitions and hazardous substances from more than 2,500 abandoned military bases.

No cleanup is planned for next summer, Hodgson said, unless additional discoveries of munitions require it.

Cliff Thompson can be reached at 970-949-0555 x450 or cthompson@vaildaily.com