Update 4/19/2023, 5:50 pm: NPS shared in an email:
The park will be updating the Congresswoman with the new information in the near future.
Here’s the release we sent yesterday: https://www.nps.gov/rocr/learn/news/part-of-fort-totten-park-closed-for-public-safety-after-discovery-of-metal-canisters.htm
Here’s a brief update from today:
The U.S. Army safely removed the two metal canisters yesterday evening and are currently analyzing them off site. The NPS is working to determine the next steps to evaluate this area. Additional information on the canisters is not available at this time.
Fort Totten Park is open for recreation, but visitors should stay on the Metropolitan Branch Trail and the grassy areas of the fort itself (near Fort Totten Dr. And Crittenden St. NE). Visitors should not use unofficial trails through the woods.
Original post
Yesterday evening, Metro trains bypassed Fort Totten Metro station “out of an abundance of caution” after a National Park Service (NPS) employee apparently found “metal canisters” in Fort Totten Park. NPS states that the canisters were found “in a large mound of soil along Farragut St. that appears to have been pushed into the park from the road.” The U.S. Army is testing the canisters. The park is closed “east of Fort Totten Drive, south of Gallatin Street, and north of Brookland Ave NE/Farragut St.”
As noted previously on the blog, Metro alerted NPS several years ago that contaminated soil was brought in from Spring Valley (a former WWI munitions testing site) to rehabilitate land on the west side of the park that had been used as a staging area for construction of Metro’s green line. NPS stated it conducted testing out of an abundance of caution and found nothing of concern. Several years later, NPS found a WWI ordnance on the east side of the park during construction of a pedestrian trail. NPS stated it did more thorough testing and found nothing of concern. NPS had to abandon the planned trail location after running into infrastructure for Metro’s tunnel.
During this time, residents shared concerns with both NPS and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton’s office about the possibility of contamination from Spring Valley. NPS assured residents that the contaminated soil was removed (from the west side of the park) and stated that there was no reason to believe that contaminated soil was brought to other areas of the park.
On February 7, 2023, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton belatedly expressed concern and requested that NPS conduct more thorough testing of the park. NPS officials attended ANC 5A’s meeting on February 22, 2023. At that meeting, officials stated that they would have a statement in response to Congresswoman Norton’s letter by the next day (February 23) or no later than Friday (February 24). I have not seen any communication from NPS since the ANC 5A meeting. It is completely possible I missed a statement. I reached out to Congresswoman Norton’s office a couple of times in March to find out if NPS shared any communication or plan with her office. No one from Congresswoman Norton’s office responded to my emails.
It is entirely possible that these recently found canisters are just waste. But it is really baffling how elected officials in this city are just shrugging about all of this and making residents do their work.
Next Stop...Riggs Park 