Since 2005, DND has spearheaded a project to reduce public safety risks posed by unexploded explosive ordnance (UXO). Called the DND UXO and Legacy Sites Program, its primary aim is to identify and catalogue locations across Canada where UXO is present. DCC is currently engaged in UXO clearance operations as well as public education campaigns near five legacy sites in south-central British Columbia: Madelaine Lake/Glenemma, Goose Lake Range, the Commonage, Coldstream and the Cosens Bay area. According to Stephanie Culleton, DCC’s Environmental Project Coordinator for the Regional District of North Okanagan, the stakeholders are many and varied. "The federal, provincial and municipal governments, as well as private landowners—everybody has a stake," she says.
Culleton explains that the focus is on five distinct pieces of land. All are properties formerly owned, leased or used by DND that contain UXO from past military operations. Before World War I, DND established a military camp near Vernon. Later, during the World War II and Cold War eras, military maneuvers occurred throughout the region. A number of Okanagan locations were used for live-fire exercises involving artillery, mortars, tanks and anti-tank weapons. Today, much of the land is used for private farming. Tourists and local residents frequent a provincial park southeast of Vernon. On the Okanagan Indian Band Reserve, inhabitants have long had some concerns about the dangers of UXO from decades past. Ordnance known to have been used on ranges and training fields in the Vernon area includes pyrotechnics (thunder flashes and smoke grenades), small arms ammunition and mortars. “The most common types of UXO found are two- and three-inch mortars, primarily World War II era,” says Culleton of the Vernon legacy sites.Since the end of World War II, there have been eight UXO-related fatalities in the Vernon area. In the spring of 1948, three men were killed while loading topsoil into a truck. In March 1963, two Boy Scouts were killed and one was injured when the youths discovered an unexploded mortar. In April 1973, two children were killed and two others wounded by an explosion possibly caused by a two-inch mortar located close to their trailer park.As Canada’s population increases, it is inevitable that people will come into more frequent contact with UXO on properties that were once remote. That is certainly the situation in the Okanagan, where the need to reassess UXO hazards has been highlighted in recent years by commercial and residential land development. Culleton notes that the area is thriving economically and expanding at a rapid pace. Residential subdivisions with million-dollar homes are being constructed in the region.
In 2007, a wide area assessment of the Vernon legacy sites was conducted. However, the area was discovered to contain heavily magnetized rock and the results of the survey were not specific due to magnetic interference. DCC is now using different technology and an innovative approach to maximize the output of usable data. In 2008, DCC began working closely with the City of Vernon and its surrounding areas to help minimize the risk to local citizens, especially construction workers. DCC’s strategy for 2009 involves increasing public awareness. Culleton says there are plans to visit schools in the region to let children know what they should do if they discover a suspicious-looking object. Determining whether something is UXO can be difficult, even for an expert. After it has been lying around for decades, the ordnance usually loses its original shape, paint and markings. It may look more like a piece of old pipe, a pop can, an old car muffler or bits of rusty metal. Culleton expects that DCC will have a role to play at the Vernon-area legacy sites for years to come, especially in educating the public and raising awareness of the risk.
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The UXO Hazard Legacy Sites in the Vernon, B.C., Area
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