By REBECCA MARCH
Public Affairs

NAVAIR PATUXENT RIVER, MD—What were once two landfills on the banks of the Patuxent River is now a recreational area where visitors can sunbathe, beachcomb or picnic.

Fishing Point, a former installation restoration site here, opened as a Morale, Welfare and Recreation area at a ribbon-cutting ceremony July 1.

Station employees may now use the 52-acre site for wildlife viewing, berry picking, waterfowl hunting, game hunting, fishing and crabbing. No swimming is allowed at the site.

“Fishing Point is a part of our installation restoration, a Navy environmental program to identify, investigate and clean up past waste disposal operations and hazardous material spills,” said Capt. Charles Miller, Public Works officer.

Fishing Point is made up of two of these IR sites, Fishing Point Landfill IR Site 1 and Landfill Behind Rifle Range IR Site 12.

Fishing Point Landfill Site 1 was used as the station’s main disposal area from 1960 to 1974. The site contains an estimated 54,350 tons of solid waste including construction debris, paints, petroleum-oil lubricant products and miscellaneous station waste. Landfill Behind Rifle Range Site 12 was used for disposal of household and miscellaneous solid waste products from the mid-1950s to 1960.

The landfills are covered with a minimum two-foot vegetated soil cover. Some gas vents are still in place to monitor landfill activity.

Work to cover the site began April 3, 2000. The final project cost was more than $5.3 million. More than $2.1 million was saved on the project by using on-site soil, constructing a cobble stone beach, and using recyclable concrete for the roads.

“This is a good news story for the Navy, and a good news story for Pax River. We were able to bring this area back,” said Capt. Dane Swanson, NAS Patuxent River commanding officer.

Employees from the NAS Environmental Department Installation Restoration Program employees, Engineering Field Activity Chesapeake Environment Program, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Maryland Department of the Environment managed the site. OHM (now Shaw Environmental) did the site construction and CH2M Hill did environmental studies and design.

“We are very appreciative to those who made this happen,” Swanson said.

-USN-

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