UXO Safety and Education Promotion with “Wally the Woodchuck”
at an Active FUDS Site in West Virginia

Visit the Dolly Sods West Virginia Maneuver Area website for more info - http://www.lrh.usace.army.mil/projects/current/derp-fuds/wvma/dolly_sods_information/

During World War II, the Dolly Sods Region (DSR) of West Virginia was used for military maneuver exercises and artillery/mortar practice, which led to unexploded ordnance (UXO) contamination.

Today, the remoteness and scenic qualities of the DSR attract up to 76,000 visitors annually. Previous remedial actions were conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), and have significantly reduced the amount of UXO posing a hazard in the most widely used areas of the DSR. However, previous removals could not, and were not expected to reduce ordnance-related risk to zero due to environmental damage, cost, and technology limitations.

To manage remaining risk without scaring the public to the point that they are afraid to enjoy the land for its intended uses, an innovative public awareness and education program has been developed, and is currently being implemented in the DSR. This presentation will demonstrate the importance of effective agency partnering in such projects, will provide examples of DSR outreach tools, and will promote an exchange of ideas regarding ways to educate the public about UXO-related risk.

To support USACE, S&C Advertising & Public Relations (San Antonio, TX) addressed communication challenges and facilitated a partnership between USACE, the U.S. Forest Service, the WV Department of Environmental Protection, and the WV Division of Forestry starting July 2002. These efforts resulted in a signed partnership agreement and a public awareness and organizational plan for the project within only 5 months.

Another important result of this interagency cooperation was that found-UXO response time was reduced from as long as 7 days to as short as a few hours. The team’s overall communication goal was to clearly explain and inform the public of UXO-related risks. In an effort to focus the campaign’s general message, the team created an animated spokesperson “Wally the Woodchuck”.

Wally communicates the “3 Important Rules of UXO Safety”: Spot, Walk Away, and Call, to children and adults alike in simple terms. Since the clearance of UXO along many hiking trails enhanced the safety of DSR visitors, the team created a new trails map with a safety message, which will be freely distributed to the public.

Other new educational products include: new UXO warning signs, children and adult brochures, an educational video, a children’s animated presentation, an adult presentation, a train the trainer presentation, and a tradeshow booth. USACE is creating a DSR web site that will host all of these downloadable educational tools; this approach will be used in conjunction with traditional hard-copy distribution methods. The new site will be promoted to visitors of the area, first responders, teachers, local authorities, and the media fall 2005. As a result of the team’s innovative outreach efforts, public safety information will be readily available to all those seeking the enjoyment that the DSR has to offer.