Global News - July 2007

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Former nuclear testing site becomes wildlife refuge

Wed 18 July 2007 12:30 UK — North America

A former nuclear weapons test areas in the US has become a nature park and refuge for rare animals after a $7 billion clean up project.

The Rocky Flats nuclear weapons production site manufactured the trigger mechanism for most of the nuclear weapons that the US produced between 1951 and 1989.

However, a ten-year project has cleaned up the site, which has now been transferred to the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

The organisation has announced that the area - 12 miles from Denver - will become the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge.

"With the transfer of nearly 4,000 acres from the Department of Energy, the US Fish and Wildlife Service will establish the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge in order to conserve the rare and unique tallgrass prairie found along Colorado's Front Range," explained H Dale Hall, the service's director.

"As intended by Congress, the refuge will preserve a lasting wildlife and habitat legacy for future generations."

Mitch King, the service's mountain-prairie regional director, added: "The establishment of the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge enhances the already outstanding wildlife-dependent recreation opportunities in this region."

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