Marpi Point Field\u2014a \u201cformerly used defense site\u201d and part of the Marpi area that was once estimated to have about 6.6 million lbs of ordnance in 1964\u2014will continue to be studied this February for remedial actions for any ordnance and contamination leftover from World War II.<\/p>\n
Right now, this \u201cremedial investigation\/feasibility study\u201d has a hopeful completion date of July this year. Field activities on the site are slated for mid- to late February. But this is also dependent on details from a biological survey for endangered birds in the area, and an issue over some private lands that take up a few acres on the site.<\/p>\n
The study will serve as the basis for the recommendation of remedial action for explosives and contamination on the 410-acre site.<\/p>\n
Parsons project manager Don M. Silkebakken, contracted by the U.S. Army Corps for the study, spoke at a public hearing Wednesday night. He said that in February they would \u201cgo back and identify anomalies for intrusive investigation,\u201d \u201cdig them out of the course of the entire site\u201d and \u201cmake an assessment of the kind of removal action to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n
To do this, five foot wide transect lines will be established parallel across the site, with lines set 250 feet apart, according to Silkebakken. These transects would be out of road view, and geophysical mapping and intrusive investigation for anomalies will follow.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn essence, we are going to brush cut those transect lines to create pathways across the site for us to go in to digital mapping,\u201d Silkebakken said.<\/p>\n
This data will be used to assess areas for \u201clow density and high density\u201d anomaly counts, according to him.<\/p>\n
The February activities will also take into account findings of archaeological and biological surveys done in October and November last year.<\/p>\n
The biological survey found some \u201cold growth vegetation\u201d and detected the presence of the nightingale reed warbler, an endangered bird.<\/p>\n
The old airfield was originally clear-cut to the ground by Japanese forces to put in their airfield. Because of this, \u201ceverything that has grown since then is not old growth,\u201d and \u201cis invasive vegetation that grew since the war ended,\u201d according to Silkebakken yesterday.<\/p>\n
He added that, \u201cthere is a sliver along the coast\u2014maybe 5 to 6 acres of area\u2014 that was left there that wasn\u2019t cut down in the 1940s.\u201d<\/p>\n
This area was identified in the biological survey and will not be brush cut, he said.<\/p>\n
As for the birds, Silkebakken said the company that did the survey \u201cheard reed warblers singing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNone were seen,\u201d he added. \u201cBut they heard them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The second biological survey will start in the next three or four weeks to \u201cfind how many are actually there,\u201d according to him. Additionally, megapodes\u2014another endangered bird\u2014will be checked too. This survey will take about two months, he said.<\/p>\n
Further inspection for contamination of soil will probably be done in the next few months as well. This, according to Silkebakken, will \u201crecheck the data\u201d that the Army Corps got in their study of the same area in 2009.<\/p>\n
The data is available in the Joeten Kiyu Public Library. These samples show \u201celevated levels of metal in the soil,\u201d according Silkebakken. \u201cWe believe this to be attributable to the munitions\u2019 presence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
About 50 historical artifacts were also found during a historical survey of the site. This was documented but will not be released to the public, out of the concerns for protection of these artifacts.<\/p>\n
Silkebakken said he could not elaborate much on the topic but said the survey \u201cfound some old pottery shards\u201d predating far past World War II in the \u201cold growth\u201d vegetation area on site.<\/p>\n
As for WWII artifacts, they found \u201ca spoon from a Japanese mesh kit\u201d and \u201cpart of a broken teapot\u201d with Japanese symbols on it, Silkebakken said.<\/p>\n
Asked what they would do with ordnance found during their investigation, he said they have met with the Department of Public Safety on this.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just came from a meeting with the Department of Public Safety. We are either going to detonate it on the site or [DPS] is going to come and take it off the site,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The remedial study being done will further define \u201chow bad the situation is,\u201d and if all of the 410 acres are impacted, he said. If not, he added, they would identify what areas are \u201cmore or highly contaminated versus others.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said that in a probable timeframe of about a couple of years, there will be removal action that \u201ccleans up everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another issue they are aware of are \u201cvery small,\u201d multiple parcels of land along the southern side of the site near the old Japanese Command Post, according to Silkebakken. The rest of site belongs to the Department of Public Lands, he said.<\/p>\n
Silkebakken said most of these properties have multiple owners. \u201cThere heirs pass it down from one to the next, and nobody lives on the property, they are just pieces of property with nothing on them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we have to get authorization from all people listed as an owner on any individual property, and they don\u2019t all necessarily live on Saipan, and it is a difficult path, and it is an ongoing path,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
If they could not get authorization in a reasonable time, he said those pieces of property \u201cwould not be included in this current investigation\u201d and a letter would be sent to all owners telling them essentially that if they don\u2019t allow the Army Corps to inspect the area \u201cthey are basically agreeing that they accept that risk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Public involvement<\/strong><\/p>\n Only a few showed up at Wednesday night\u2019s public hearing, made up mostly of individuals involved with the project, media, and a local businessman.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are looking for as much feedback as we can get,\u201d Silkebakken said at the hearing, as Marpi is a known tourist site.<\/p>\n He told the Saipan Tribune that any feedback or information that local community can give would be appreciated.<\/p>\n He said the public could contact U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Honolulu District\u2019s Helene Takemoto with their input, or for more information.<\/p>\n Takemoto can be reached at 808-835-4088 or at FUDS-POH@usace.army.mil.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Marpi Point Field\u2014a \u201cformerly used defense site\u201d and part of the Marpi area that was…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900,4],"tags":[464,215,44,364],"class_list":["post-189602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-local-news","tag-army-corps","tag-public-safety","tag-study","tag-wwii"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189602\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}