Announcements

A virtual public meeting to discuss the Proposed Plan was held on January 12, 2021. 

The presentation has been posted to the related documents section on this page and is titled, “Proposed Plan Presentation 1-12-2022.”

Please send your written comments on the proposed plan, postmarked or emailed by February 6, 2022 to:

Gina Kaso, Project Manager
U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District
696 Virginia Road, Attn: CENAE-PPE
Concord, MA 01742-2718
Email: gina.a.kaso@usace.army.mil

 

Site Location

The Camp Wellfleet formerly used defense site (FUDS) is located in the town of Wellfleet, Barnstable County, Massachusetts. It is approximately one mile east of South Wellfleet, Massachusetts on the Cape Cod peninsula. It consists of a total of 1,738 acres - of which approximately 1,688 acres are located in the Cape Cod National Seashore (CCNS) and approximately 49 acres in the town of Wellfleet, Massachusetts. The site is accessible from U.S. Route 6, which is located just west of the site. 

The environmental setting for the site comprises beaches and dunes, heathlands and grasslands, and forested areas. The area is currently used for recreational sunbathing, surfing, fishing, hiking, hunting, and picnicking. Land use at the site is projected to remain recreational.

Site History

The Camp Wellfleet FUDS site was previously used by the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy for training purposes. The 1,738-acre property was leased beginning in 1942 for an antiaircraft artillery training base, with an artillery firing line located along the beach cliff. The site was used as such by the U.S. Army until June 1944, when it temporarily closed. From January 1945 through the end of World War II, the U.S. Navy used the base as a mobile radar training school supporting Navy night fighter training based in Quonset Point, Rhode Island, and for Dove missile training. From 1945 to 1961 the Camp also was used for training by National Guard troops and Active Army Reserve anti-aircraft artillery training units. 

Munitions and explosives of concern (MEC) may remain within the project area. This project falls under the Military Munitions Response Program (MMRP) of the Defense Environmental Restoration Program (DERP). The Department of Defense (DoD) established the MMRP to address MEC (unexploded ordnance [UXO], discarded military munitions [DMM], and munitions constituents (MC) in high enough concentrations to pose an explosive threat) that are located on certain properties, including FUDS. Under the DERP, the U.S. Army is the DoD’s lead Agency for FUDS, and USACE executes FUDS for the Army.

Camp Wellfleet was declared as excess and officially closed on June 30, 1961. The Department of the Interior acquired the land through a Declaration of Taking in August 1961 to establish and develop the CCNS. The majority of the Camp Wellfleet FUDS property is currently owned by the National Park Service. The town of Wellfleet owns and manages approximately 49 acres.

Related Documents