BERLIN, Md. — The National Park Service has reopened part of the Assateague Island National Seashore following a closure due to the discovery of unexploded military ordinance.
The National Park Service put a partial closure is in effect over the weekend for the North Ocean Beach swimming area of the Assateague Island National Seashore due to unexploded military munitions.
The normal lifeguard beach area is back open as of Thursday, Aug. 4, according to park officials. The beach is open both north and south of the life guard area. The parking lot remains open, as does the Beach Hut.
The closure was put into effect because of the discovery of multiple pieces of military munitions debris on the beach over the last two weeks. So far, seven pieces of debris have been found, park officials said.
During the 1940s, the U.S. Navy used this particular area of Assateague Island as a test range for rockets and bombs. In the 1950s, a clean up was done, and munitions debris was buried in pits on the island.
Due to natural movement of the island and sea level rise, some of these pits are now offshore. It is likely that the large Nor'easter in May disturbed the nearshore seafloor and uncovered one of these pits. This has resulted in pieces of ordinance coming to shore, NPS said.
According to officials, most of these pieces are just metal fragments, but some may still contain residue of either explosives or propellent and thus must be considered dangerous.
The Ocean City Bomb Squad and the Dover Air Force Base Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) team have been assisting the park in dealing with these items.
Park officials ask anyone who finds a piece of metal on the beach to leave it where it is and notify park staff. Do not pick it up as it is potentially dangerous.
Park management will be meeting this week with EOD experts in an effort to develop a plan for going forward.