Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range

Environmental Restoration Program Public Website

The current Installation Restoration Program (IRP) sites at the Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range (CMAGR) are managed under the Department of the Navy’s (Navy) Environmental Restoration Program (ERP). The overarching goal of the Navy’s ERP is to protect human health and the environment from past hazardous waste practices and releases at Navy IRP sites. The interactive map below shows which sites are being addressed under the Navy’s ERP. At CMAGR, the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Southwest in San Diego, California, manages the ERP.

Since its inception, the Navy’s ERP has identified seven IRP sites at CMAGR. Six IRP sites have been closed with no further action required and one was removed from the ERP because it is part of an actively used range and the contamination is a direct result of its current use.

Currently, there is one open Munitions Response Program (MRP) site at CMAGR, identified as MRP Site 01, or the Bradshaw Trail.

A link to an overview of past and current environmental investigations and cleanup activities completed at each of the IRP and MRP sites can be found by clicking the site name on the map.

CLICK HERE for acronym definitions and a glossary of the Navy’s ERP terms.

CLICK HERE for detailed information on the Navy’s ERP process.

CLICK HERE for additional site-specific documents for each site in the Navy’s CMAGR Administrative Record.

MRP Site 01 - Bradshaw Trail

MRP Site 01, also known as Bradshaw Trail, is comprised of thirty-four land parcels covering approximately 2590 acres. The site was formerly a part of the buffer zone within the CMAGR operational range’s northern boundary. The site’s parcels overlay approximately 36 miles of the Bradshaw Trail, a recreational trail managed by the Bureau of Land Management for hiking and off-road driving.

MRP Site 01 entered the MRP in 2015 with the intent of improving range management activities and public safety so that the Bradshaw Trail and land north of the trail could become solely public land. The potential for munitions and explosives of concern (MEC) to exist at the site remains because of its historic use as a buffer zone for CMAGR.

An environmental assessment conducted in accordance with the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act and the Navy’s MRP is underway. A preliminary assessment and site investigation completed in 2017 concluded that there is a potential for MEC to exist on the surface and to be buried across the site. Based on the site’s current and future use as a recreation area, additional investigation was recommended.

An initial remedial investigation completed in 2021 concluded that no further action was required for munitions constituents, those chemicals left behind by decaying munitions. This conclusion was supported by human health and ecological risk assessments that were based on the results of field sampling from across the site. Further evaluation of the extent of MEC potentially located below ground surface across the site was also recommended in the initial remedial investigation report.

As secondary remedial investigation initiated in 2022 is currently underway. The objectives of the investigation are to assess the potential for MEC at the surface and in the subsurface, identify what kind of items may be present at the site, and evaluate different technologies to determine the best methods for future clean-up actions. Following the investigation, the Navy, along with its regulatory partner, will assess remediation alternatives and provide the chosen alternative to the public for comment.