NEWS INFORMATION FROM |
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THE OFFICE OF MAYOR STEPHEN R. REED |
FOR IMMEDIATE USE |
REPLACEMENT LAND IDENTIFIED, DEHART DAM ACREAGE NOT NEEDED FOR MILITARY TRAINING AREA EXPANSION AT FT. INDIANTOWN GAPMayor Stephen R. Reed today announced that replacement land has been identified to allow the Pennsylvania National Guard to expand its military training buffer zone at Fort Indiantown Gap and that land initially sought by the military at the DeHart Dam will no longer be needed. The Mayor has withdrawn the DeHart Dam parcel from the land purchase and replacement project as a result. Fort Indiantown Gap does extensive training of Guard and other military personnel. As a result of expanded and extended Guard and Reserve deployments in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo, training activities have increased. The National Guard needs to expand its buffer zone between where live fire training is conducted and where hikers, campers and hunters are located. To do this, the Guard seeks to purchase land from the Game Commission but is required to replace the Game Commission land with an equal number of acres so there is no net loss of Game lands. Initially, the Guard sought to purchase acreage in the DeHart Dam tract, in an area away from the Dam that would not have affected water quality or the Dam. “This project was initiated by the National Guard. While we had some concerns about this, our reason for cooperation was because if Fort Indiantown Gap is unable to fully accommodate its present and long-range training mission, it is in danger of being closed or relocated to another state during the upcoming Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC) proceedings. These are the same proceedings that caused the closure of much of the Letterkenny Depot outside Chambersburg and had threatened the Naval Inventory Control Point Depot in Mechanicsburg in the past. The upcoming BRAC process may threaten the Army War College in Carlisle. We did not want to give any legitimate reasons why Fort Indiantown Gap would be added to the list,” Reed said. “In the background, however, there has been a quiet effort underway from some time to identify another land area so that the DeHart Dam acreage would not be needed. That effort has been successful and it is anticipated that the replacement land to be transferred to the state Game Commission will be land in another un-identified county outside the Harrisburg area. It is contiguous to existing Game Lands there,” the Mayor stated. “The DeHart Dam parcel is no longer urgently needed and has been removed from the transaction, with the Guard being notified of such in writing by this Office,” Reed said. “We fully support the mission, role and existence of Fort Indiantown Gap as a vital military training installation whose importance, in this time of expanded Guard and Reserve deployments, has become greater,” Reed stated. |
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