
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, August 16, 1994                   TAG: 9408160086
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

FORMER BASE TO BE BIRD REFUGE

WASHINGTON - A proposal to incorporate a surplus Army post into the Mason Neck Wildlife Refuge in Washington's Virginia suburbs got the approval of Congress this month, making it likely that bird-watchers and hikers will soon tread on land once used for secret testing associated with nuclear weapons.

Transfer of the 580-acre Woodbridge Research Facility, formerly known as the Harry Diamond Laboratories, in eastern Prince William County, was included in a military appropriations bill that now will go to President Clinton, who is expected to sign it.

The bill calls for the Army to turn over the land, which borders the Potomac River, to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Sept. 30.

Over the years, the site had a variety of Defense Department roles. Once it was a secret radio listening post; later it was an electronic testing ground, where certain effects of nuclear blasts were simulated. The tests did not involve explosions or radioactivity and did not harm the environment, according to Army officials

The land is on a peninsula at the confluence of the Potomac and Occoquan rivers, less than 15 minutes south of the Capital Beltway, and it harbors 200 animal species and 300 kinds of plants. It is one of the most lush habitats and bird marshes in the Washington area, said Dennis Shiflett, spokesman for the Virginia Wildlife Federation.

by CNB