THE Commonwealth Bureau of Military Affairs is relaying to the public the Department of Defense’s reminder that “it is unsafe to enter the Tinian Mortar Range, including the Chiget Beach area at any time, due to the potential unexploded ordnance or UXO hazard that exists.”
According to the non-time critical removal action status update that the U.S. Navy released on Wednesday, “warning signs have been installed along the boundaries of former Tinian Mortar Range to remind the public that access is not permitted.”
There are no required detours in the area, the report added.
The Navy said it is addressing the former Tinian Mortar Range through the environmental restoration program.
The current non-time critical removal action on Chiget Beach is intended to clear the access way to Chiget Beach, the Navy added.
From November 2020 to February 2021, the Navy’s contractor completed a digital geophysical mapping or DGM detection survey, an “intrusive investigation of DGM target anomalies,” and the installation of land use controls at Chiget Beach and the Chiget Pathway.
However, high wave conditions prevented the completion of the “analog and digital subsurface removal that is planned within the Chiget Embayment.”
After the removal is completed and approved by the Navy and the CNMI’s Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality, public access to the Chiget Beach access pathway and Chiget Beach will be allowed, the Navy said.
At this time, the Tinian Mortar Range, including Chiget Beach, remains off-limits to the public, it added.
