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Sites where the United States has manufactured and tested some of the world's most deadly weapons are now peaceful havens for wildlife.
They now protect black bears and black-footed ferrets, coral reefs and bushy steppes, rare birds and endangered salmon.
An impressive number of animals and habitats have flourished on six obsolete weapons complexes – primarily nuclear or chemical weapons – because the sites have banned public intrusions and intrusions. 39; other types of intrusions for decades, reported the Associated Press.
The government converted the sites into refuges under the direction of the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
This June 1971 photo shows the installation and cement base at Ground Zero on the island of Amchitka, Alaska, where a 1 megaton nuclear explosion exploded at about 4,000 feet underground in 1969. (AP Photo, File)
Amchitka Island, part of the Alaska National Marine Wildlife Area, was the scene of three underground nuclear tests in the United States in the 1960s and early 1970s. An unknown volume of material radioactive remained in the caverns blown by the detonations. Part of the island, closed to the public, has been designated wilderness area.
The Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge in Indiana was formerly known as the Jefferson Proving Ground. The army has tested more than 24 million artillery fire for half a century. The firing range remained congested with about 154,000 pounds of depleted uranium shell fragments. The refuge has been designated an area of global importance for birds by a bird conservation coalition, with part of the site open to the public.
A sign in the Hanford Nuclear Reserve warning of potential hazards in the soil along the Columbia River near Richland, Washington. (AP Photo / Elaine Thompson)
Nine reactors produced plutonium for US nuclear weapons at the site, known since as the Hanford Reach National Monument in Washington State. Faced with the urgency of the Second World War and the Cold War, Hanford left behind vast quantities of contaminated soil and water. Shrubby grasslands and habitat on the Columbia River were home to mink and otters, endangered salmon and many other species.
Johnston Island, which is part of Johnston Atoll, is 305 km southwest of Honolulu. (AP Photo / Ronen Zilberman, File)
Johnston Island, part of the Johnston Atoll Atlantic National Wildlife Area in the central Pacific, served as a springboard for US atmospheric nuclear tests in the 1960s. In 1962, two launches failed, dispersing radioactive debris on the island of one square mile. The shelter is home to an abundance of seals and corals.
Hikers on a trail in Rocky Flats National Wildlife Area, Broomfield, Colorado, November 2018. (AP Photo / David Zalubowski, File)
The US Department of Energy has manufactured plutonium triggers for nuclear warheads at the site, which will later be known as the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge, northwest of Denver. There was a long history of leaks, fires and violations of the environment. Its rare tall grass prairies are home to hundreds of species, including an endangered jumping mouse.
Critics have said that Rocky Mountain Arsenal, Colorado, had shown the weaknesses of a clean-up designed to be good enough for a wildlife refuge, but not for people to live there. (AP Photo / David Zalubowski, File)
The Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, in the northeastern suburbs of Denver, was a site where the military had manufactured chemical weapons and private companies made pesticides. Bald eagles nestled on the site and wildlife officials reintroduced the endangered bison and ferrets.
The military closed the sites to protect people from the dangerous work that was being carried out, and not to preserve the environment, said David Havlick, a professor at Colorado State University in Colorado Springs, who studied conversions between the army and wildlife.
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Most conversions took place after the first and second world wars. It was an inexpensive way to expand the national shelter system, particularly in urban areas where open space is scarce, said Mark Madison, historian of the Fish and Wildlife Service.
During the Cold War thaw in the 1980s, more surplus military lands were reserved for shelters. Some are among the most dangerously polluted sites in the country, but they are home to hard-to-find areas.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
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