A project manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is making the rounds to notify Island towns of an upcoming project to locate unexploded ordnance on land and water around South Beach, Cape Pogue and the Tisbury Great Pond. On Monday, Carol Ann Charette outlined the preliminary project details to the Edgartown selectmen, and again for the Chilmark board on Tuesday.

Ms. Charette said an initial investigation will be held to determine where military munitions might be buried at each of the three locations. The Army Corps will conduct geophysical surveys both on and offshore, in ocean and pond areas, to locate potential problem ares.

The sites were used for practice bomb training purposes during Wold War II and the explosives have continued to turn up in the areas ever since. Ms. Charette said practice munitions were discovered and removed from South Beach in Edgartown last year through similar geophysical surveys.

She said the exploratory surveys will be conducted from October of this year through February 2011. She said Monday that the initial investigation will be held “to find out if we have a problem, or if we don’t.” That’s just phase one of the project, which will continue should the Corps determine that future action is required to locate and remove any unexploded ordnance.

Equipment will include all-terrain vehicles, Bobcats, and hand-held machinery. Ms. Charette said the Corps will be respectful of rules against driving on certain beaches.

She said the project may require access to private property, but won’t interfere with tourism in the three target areas. “The Army Corps is in the process of acquiring rights of entry to go on people’s property for the project,” she said. Those rights would extend over a period of five years.

Ms. Charette said Tuesday that the five-year contract will give them a cushion necessary to complete the project. She said it’s expected to take closer to two years, but because of the large areas of private property that would be involved in the project, a five-year grant would be more cost effective. She said it would be much more difficult for the Corps to approach homeowners annually to renew permissions to access their property.

The price tag for the entire project is slated to be $5.2 million, which is funded by the Defense Environmental Restoration Program, as part of an effort to clean up former bomb test sites.

The Corps expects the remedial investigation to determine where munitions are located, whether or not there is any potential for health or environmental concerns, and whether the ordnance can be left in place, or should be monitored or removed.

In Chilmark, the selectmen voiced concerns about the impact on landowners. Selectmen Frank M. Fenner asked if they would be released from the rights of entry contract if remedial investigations determine that their property does not hold unexploded ordinance.

Ms. Charette said that would be possible, but not necessary. “If we have no reason to come on your property then we will not come on your property,” she said.