Closure of San Miguel Island.

T

thataway

Active member
This should be of most interest to those of you who live and boat in S. Calif.

http://www.thelog.com/Newsletter/Articl ... nd-closure

The Channel Islands westward-most accessible land mass was shut down April 17, when Navy officials expressed apprehension over the island’s overall safety. The popular boating and camping destination, owned by the U.S. Department of Defense and managed by the National Park Service under a memorandum of agreement, was closed to determine activity that took place on the island during World War II. Capt. Larry Vasquez, Naval Base Ventura County’s commanding officer, said in April that safety is the utmost concern and the reason for the decision. But opponents of the closure are skeptical of the assessment. Marla Daily, president of the Santa Cruz Island Foundation and a Channel Islands archivist, said Vasquez has shown no proof for cause of closure, claiming he acted too quickly. “I believe Capt. Vasquez has abused his discretionary authority in closing this National Park Island, and I will continue to believe so until proof is shown,” Daily said. “It is a complete falsehood that San Miguel Island was used as a bombing range during World War II. Throughout World War II, San Miguel Island was occupied by island lessee, Robert Larkin Brooks and his employees.” While officials said the island would remain inaccessible for the rest of the year, sources have confirmed it may be longer. Kimberly Gearhart, a spokeswoman for the Navy at Point Mugu, said the Navy is still in the process of securing in-house funding of around $400,000 to begin a thorough risk assessment. “If we were to have the money today, the risk assessment can take anywhere from six to nine months,” Gearhart said. “What we’re figuring from today forward — anywhere from 12 to 15 months for the entire risk assessment process.
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Over 70 years after San Miguel might have been used as a bombing range, they are closing it to the public! Unbelievable! Although this was announced April 17 as "temporary" --in the last few days this has become over a year closure. I have tramped over much of this Island, I know a person who ran sheep there many years ago (might have been before WWII, not sure).
 
This came as a shock to all of us in the area. It doesn't really make much sense why to close it now when people have been roaming the island for years since it was bombed. Unless they are patrolling i'd say they will have a hard time keeping people off
 
Sounds like someone found some unexploded ordnance which would be quite possible if any part of the island was ever used as a bombing range. It's not uncommon for bombs or artillery shells to get embedded in the ground and be exposed years later by erosion. It's also possible that the military buried something there decades ago, explosives, chemicals, or just junk. Thousands of tons of stuff were often just buried on land or dumped offshore to get rid of it by the military with very little record keeping, particularly after WWII. Since the Navy owns the island most likely they made use of it for something at some time in the past so there really is no telling what might be there. I'm sure someone either found some item on the island, possibly revealed by erosion, or someone found some paperwork back on the mainland that revealed something that could be a problem.

Or, it could just be a conspiracy as the Island Foundation seems to think.
 
Don't understand the "conspiracy" idea! What could it possibly be? The only one I could think of is the Navy worrying about someone getting hurt on UXO and suing them, the NPS or the Fed Govt. If there is UXO there, it cold be a very legitimate concern! I can't believe it would take that long for a study though, get 'er done!

Folks are always looking for someone to "BLAME". The only thing the Navy buries is reactor cores in the high desert and everyone knows about those!

Charlie
 
Thanks Mike. Capt V may be a highly decorated leader but this kind of publicity will NOT get him looked at favorably by a promotion board. I was looked at a couple of times (early) by boards for flag before I was "in the zone" to be looked at "officially". At that point, having been in for 31 years and having been told that I and another Navy Captain friend who would also be in the zone that year, I decided not to wait and retire anyway. I think 31 years is enough for anyone and I had more fun as a Captain than many of my friends who stayed and did make Flag that year and later. I would have had to stay another 2 years at a minimum and probably go somewhere I didn't want to go.

Capt V may not be in that position, he apparently has had Command at Sea (the small device under his ribbons) could even have been an Aircraft Carrier and now has Command Ashore (the large device on the opposite side of his uniform. I had the latter as a Captain, the head of a Major Program in a Systems Command. As an Engineering Duty Officer, I could not be in Command of a vessel at sea.

Be interesting in any case to see how this unfolds. I'll ask some of my retired Flag friends if they know him.

Charlie
 
Captains Cat":ua1q1ba1 said:
Thanks Mike. Capt V may be a highly decorated leader but this kind of publicity will NOT get him looked at favorably by a promotion board.
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Exactly. That's why I expect Vasquez felt he had a pretty good reason for closing the island, not to mention having to justify to his superiors scraping up nearly a half million bucks to finance the "security sweep," as they called it. I expect the heart of this issue is the usual failure to be more open and explicit as to what the problem is, or is suspected to be. Often the government shoots itself in the foot by failing to just be up front about what is going on.

I understand that the Daly lady insists there was no bombing range during WWII and she may have evidence of that, but that leaves the time period of 1948, when the Navy evicted the ranchers, until it was opened for limited public use, a period decades, that most anything is possible there. Three quarters of the island is surrounded by military operating areas, one public chart shows a military firing area at the north side of the island, another shows the Pacific Missile Range just offshore to the south. There is no telling what went on there during the decades of the Cold War while civilian access was prohibited. Many of the activities of other military facilities in the area are still classified.

Personally, I'm thinking it's where they buried the aliens from Roswell after the autopsies at Area 51 were completed.
 
Mike, I don't know what your history is with the Island, but I first went ashore then in 1947, shortly WWII--and about when it was first practical for private boats to make the long trek up there. I was ashore there in the 50's, 60's on--the last time was in the early 90's. During this time there was no bombing or artillery practice.

The person who I knew, who lived on the Island never mentioned any Navy activity there. The National Park service--at least in the old days had minimal presence there. Often the ranger would be dropped for with supplies for a month--and he had no communication with the mainland. A number of times I relayed messages for the ranger, via marine SSB or ham radio. Today I would hope that the Park Service has some better communication. Once we "caught" the ranger with his girl friend there--who was not supposed to be on the Island. We promised to keep quiet. However, I had hiked over a fair portion of the Island without any escort thru the years.

I know that things are different now, with regular "packer" service to the Island. One has to remember that San Miguel can be a difficult journey--heavy seas and high winds at times.

Charlie--I don't see that Ventura County Naval Command is a premier assignment…but what do I know about the Navy:


Welcome to Naval Base Ventura County

Naval Base Ventura County (NBVC) is a premier naval installation composed of three operating facilities - Point Mugu, Port Hueneme and San Nicolas Island. Strategically located in a non-encroached coastal area of Southern California, NBVC is a key element in the DoD infrastructure because of its superior geographical location.
Installation Information

NBVC supports approximately 80 tenant commands with a base population of more than 19,000 personnel. Tenant commands encompass an extremely diverse set of specialties that support both Fleet and Fighter, including three warfare centers: Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center Port Hueneme Division and Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center. NBVC is also home to deployable units, including the Pacific Seabees and the West Coast E-2C Hawkeyes.
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In all of my visits to San Miguel Island there has never been a Navy Presence or any evidence that the Navy was in any way involved with the operation of San Miguel Island. It looks like sort of a power grab to me. The National Park Service has had the only presence I have seen there. San Clemente--entirely different. I have sailed around it, anchored in coves, been chased off by security, told I could not even dive in shallow water near the Island. That is a Navy presence!
 
thataway":9uuzak0c said:
Mike, I don't know what your history is with the Island, but I first went ashore then in 1947,...
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I've never been there. All of my experiences with military ranges, hardware, explosives, exclusion zones, and property disposal have been with the many military bases, ranges, and facilities in eastern NC. I'm sure the practices aren't that different.
 
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