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.