But they did.
All cleaned up and ready to go.
From one of the worst messes on earth to a place where nature is once again king.
Talk about a turnaround, and an expesive one at that.
'New' Fernald welcomes visitors
Last Updated: 5:12 pm | Tuesday, June 5, 2007
'New' Fernald welcomes visitors
CROSBY TWP ? Visitors can get an early look at the Fernald Preserve Wednesday through Sunday during the site?s first open house.
Tours of the preserve will follow a 6:30 meeting Wednesday. Visitors can see manmade wetlands as well as forest and prairie areas.
The site once housed a uranium foundry. Workers removed or buried tons of toxic waste in a federally funded cleanup effort that took 10 years and cost $4.4 billion.
More than 900 acres of the complex have been converted into the nature preserve.
?Our goal is to make the Fernald Preserve a destination for not only anyone interested in the history of the Fernald site, but also for birders and other nature lovers,? said Jane Powell, manager of the site for the U.S. Department of Energy?s Office of Legacy Management.
Cost for the site?s ecological restoration was $14 million.
A former warehouse is serving as a temporary visitors center, housing children?s activities and displays during the open house.
Van tours of the site will be available every hour on the hour, said Sue Walpole, a spokeswoman for the preserve. More ?rugged? tours can also be arranged for specific areas of the site, she said.
Parts of the site are still ?greening up? and native trees and grasses haven?t grown to full maturity, she said.
Crews are using a handwritten land survey of the area that was produced in 1819 to guide the restoration and plantings, Walpole said.
Birders can find about 150 species of birds on the site, as well as deer, fox and other wildlife. Some endangered species have taken up residence on the site.
Call Walpole at 513-648-4026 for more information on the open house.
Wonder if they'll hand out glowsticks at the opening [img]eek.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/hmmm.gif[/img]
Maybe not [img]wink.gif[/img]
