SEAL BEACH : Naval Station Wildlife Tour Comes With Price
About 115 volunteers will get a rare opportunity this weekend to tour part of the 1,000-acre National Wildlife Refuge inside the Naval Weapons Station--but they will have to clean up the place first.
From 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, volunteers will take part in the 20th annual Wildlife Refuge Cleanup Day. The tour comes after the work.
“There is a little bit higher level of trash this time because of the heavy rains,” said Naval Weapons Station spokesman Joe Davidson. Debris was washed into the wildlife area from flooded areas of Huntington Harbour and Seal Beach.
Volunteers were required to register to gain admittance to the high-security weapons station and will be required to show photo identification to gain admittance. Cleanup participants are allowed to bring binoculars for wildlife viewing, but cameras are forbidden.
The cleanup of about 70 hazardous waste sites at the 50-year-old, 5,000-acre Naval Weapons Station is also underway. A newly formed Restoration Advisory Board, which is made up of community members, is reviewing areas where paint, solvents and chemicals have been dumped over the years. Navy officials estimate that hazardous waste cleanup could cost more than $11 million and take until 2005 to complete.
This weekend’s event is organized by the Sierra Club and the Audubon Society in conjunction with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Naval Weapons Station.
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