Lake Hancock (Washington)
| Lake Hancock | |
|---|---|
 Lake Hancock historical marker, situated across Highway 525 from the private Naval Preserve and estuary | |
  Lake Hancock Location within Washington (state)  Lake Hancock Location within the United States | |
| Location | Whidbey Island, Washington |
| Coordinates | 48°06′43″N 122°35′20″W / 48.11194°N 122.58889°W |
| Type | lagoon |
| Etymology | Samuel Hancock (Whidbey Island settler) |
| Part of | Puget Sound, Salish Sea |
| Basin countries | United States |
Surface area | 200-acre (81 ha) |
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 lake was named for Samuel Hancock, an early settler of Whidbey Island.[6]
The area is designated by Washington State Department of Ecology as the "Lake Hancock Munitions Response Site".[7] In 2006, 120 tons of contaminated material including creosote coated logs was removed by helicopter from the lake.[8] The Navy held public hearings in 2016 to determine if further cleanup of unexploded material should be undertaken.[9]
References
- ↑ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Lake Hancock
- 1 2 Lake Hancock, Sound Water Stewards, accessed June 22, 2020
- ↑ NAVFAC
- ↑ Lake Hancock Target Range, Center for Land Use Interpretation, accessed June 22, 2020
- 1 2 United States Geological Survey "Freeland, WA" 1:24,000 topographic quad map, 1953, accessed via TopoView web application
- ↑ Stensland, Jessie (June 12, 2009). "Judge judged superior by peers". Whidbey News-Times. Retrieved July 13, 2026.
- ↑ "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
- 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, archived from the original (PDF) on January 24, 2017