Lake Hancock (Washington)
| Lake Hancock | |
|---|---|
  Lake Hancock  Lake Hancock | |
| Location | Whidbey Island, Washington |
| Coordinates | 48°06′43″N 122°35′20″W / 48.11194°N 122.58889°W |
| Type | lagoon |
| Surface elevation | 3 feet (0.91 m) |
Lake Hancock is a 200-acre (81 ha) coastal lagoon (and estuary) and former lake on Whidbey Island in the U.S. state of Washington. The elevation reported by United States Geological Survey is 3 feet (0.91 m).[1] According to some conservationists, it is "the most well preserved estuary on the island".[2] It was a U.S. Navy bombing range between 1943 and 1971, and legally is part of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island.[3][4] The lake is in Greenbank, Washington about halfway down the length of 55-mile long Whidbey Island and nearly bisects it; the lake has contacted Admiralty Inlet on the island's west side since 1934,[2] and from the east shore of the lake to Saratoga Passage on the east shore of the island near Greenbank Farm is less than one mile.[5] Washington State Route 525 runs about 500 feet (150 m) from the lake's eastern shore, down the narrow strip between the two bodies of water.[5]
The area is designated by Washington State Department of Ecology as the "Lake Hancock Munitions Response Site".[6] In 2006, 120 tons of contaminated material including creosote coated logs was removed by helicopter from the lake.[7] The Navy held public hearings in 2016 to determine if further cleanup of unexploded material should be undertaken.[8]
References
[edit]- ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Lake Hancock
- ^ a b Lake Hancock, Sound Water Stewards, accessed June 22, 2020
- ^ NAVFAC
- ^ Lake Hancock Target Range, Center for Land Use Interpretation, accessed June 22, 2020
- ^ a b United States Geological Survey "Freeland, WA" 1:24,000 topographic quad map, 1953, accessed via TopoView web application
- ^ "Whidbey Island NAS - Lake Hancock Munitions Response Site". Washington State Department of Ecology. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
- ^ Michaela Marx Wheatley (August 23, 2006). "Clean-up at Lake Hancock underway". South Whidbey Record. Oak Harbor, Washington.
- ^ Jessie Stensland (July 18, 2016). "Navy seeking input on cleanup plans for former bombing range". Whidbey News-Times. Oak Harbor, Washington.
The Navy is asking members of the public what they think about plans for removing any potentially explosive materials from an off-limits wetlands in Central Whidbey Island.
Sources
[edit]- Proposed Plan: Munitions Removal at Former Lake Hancock Target Range, Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington (PDF), U.S. Navy Facilities Command (NAVFAC), June 2016