European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 28, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Not members of the Presidio s Engineer battalion do exercises within View of the Golden Gate Bridge. San Francisco s coveted Presidio is Park service s big peace dividend by the new York times t is difficult to imagine an enemy submarine slipping under the Golden Gate Bridge for purposes More damaging than a wild night on the town for Crew members. But for the last 217 years the Presidio has been what the army Calls the guardian of the Golden Gate a military Post first for Spain then for Mexico and for More than a Century the . Army. The sweeping views of the Ocean Bay and City have made the Presidio Garrison in Spanish Choice Vantage Point from which to watch for the foes who never arrived. The site where Long empty gun batteries Dot the terrain has been coveted by developers and envied by naturalists while providing tourists with picture perfect settings. But in a Victory for tourism the army is vacating the Post it has occupied since 1846 to make room for a new resident the National Park service. The Exchange will take place in about a year. The Presidio encompassing 1,480 acres has More than 1,000 Homes and apartments two hospitals 450 historic buildings two chapels a Bowling Alley and a Golf course. It is Home to More than a dozen rare or endangered Plant species including the world s rarest Plant the Raven Manzanita. In a Survey conducted after the army announced it would leave residents said the Presidio should be used to House the homeless or made wednesday july 38,1993 into a University of California Campus. After the first Blush of sacrifice faded however ideas have multiplied Many of them originating in vision workshops conducted by the Park service and attended by residents and representatives of organizations. Proposals have ranged from a bungee jumping Tower to a mushroom research Center. Whatever it does with the Presidio Park service officials say that financially it will be a break even operation. They also say they recognize a need for guidance from business professionals. The Agency estimates that $62 million will be needed to clean up the Posl s toxic waste and to restore buildings and toads. In addition the army spends $45 million a year to run the Post an amount that equals what the Park service spends each year on Yellowstone Yosemite and the grand Canyon Parks. Whether it was the Park service Ted Turner enterprises or Disneyland this would be a unique Enterprise by any measure said an Interior department spokesman Jay Ziegler. Tie Presidio is a new kind of Park. It s the kind of project that will reinvent the Park  the Presidio is one of More than 80 military installations being closed under the base realignment and closure act of 1988. Thanks to the foresight of former rep. Phil Burton the Presidio will become part of the Golden Gate National recreation area a wooded and mountainous area that runs for 75 Miles North and South of the army Post. Burton a Democrat whose District was nearby was responsible for legislation enacted in 1972 that provided for the Presidio to become part of the Golden Gate area if it was Ever abandoned by the army. But residents and some of the advisers fear that the Park service a year behind on its planning will not have tenants in place by the time the army leaves in september 1994. The Presidio already has a ghost town feel with buildings and Homes emptied As personnel relocated. About 1,500 civilians Are expected to lose their jobs by the time the army moves out. Although critics have accused the Park service of dragging its feet they do credit Park officials with one thing securing former soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev As the Presidio s first civilian tenant. In a dedication ceremony in april Gorbachev and his wife were Given the keys to a coast guard officer s House where they will run the Gorbachev foundation an organization that will be a think tank for global political and environmental issues. For two centuries the Presidio has stood As a Sentinel for the san Francisco Bay area said it. Gen. Glynn Mallory jr., commander of the 6th army at the ceremony it is Only fitting for the Leader of a peace foundation to be welcomed by a Soldier showing that the defenders of the Golden Gate have been a Success. Short subject army drafts frogs for pollution cleanup by Deb Riechmann the associated press a peek through a Microscope might reveal a Young tadpole without eyes or another with. One Eye. Others have two tails enlarged Heads or blisters and bubbles on their bodies. It s a microscopic Freak show inside an army Laboratory that is studying How chemicals and other pollutants affect the development of aquatic life. Instead of relying on expensive longer term studies of Laboratory rats or other mammals these scientists Are putting tiny Frog embryos and other test organisms in water tainted with pollutants. Within a few Days they can Monitor them for abnormalities that would signal acute or chronic toxicity. The army is developing the new technology to help assess the Long term effects of chemicals on the environment particularly at contaminated army Sites. Frogs Are joining military cleanup. It is being Field tested at Aberdeen proving ground 375-year-old weapon testing and research Center in Maryland which is trying to Dean up old waste dumps. However Robert Finch a research toxicologist at the . Army to medical research and development Laboratory in Frederick my said the technology has applications beyond the military. It has a Universal application. It could work in any contaminated waste site. It could be used in an Industrial context he said. Most Lexicology its have been used to working with warm fuzzy rabbits mice and rats. There is the animal rights Issue and also it s extremely expensive to run mammalian  the studies with organisms like Frog embryos costs tens of thousands of dollars less than working with rats or mice he said. The army began the research six or seven years ago when it realized that it had serious environmental problems at such Sites As Aberdeen and the Rocky Mountain Arsenal in Colorado but did not have a Good Way of assessing How the contamination might be affecting biological life. 4.,. By using species like the South african clawed Frog which develop from an Early stage embryo to a swimming tadpole in 96 hours scientists can team How toxic wastes affect development they can learn whether the frogs and other aquatic organisms develop tutors exhibit behavioural changes such As swimming in circles suffer genetic damage or have problems with their immune and reproductive systems Finch said. In april the army unveiled a new $2 million water testing Laboratory on wheels that will use this new technology to help scientists examine contamination problems at military Sites. There is not enough Money in the world to clean everything up to its original Pristine state Finch said. This work will help people when they Are going through the process of cleaning up Sites to determine How much they have to do before there is no biological  the stars and stripes 17