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David Lawrence, staff geologist at Global Environmental Engineering, gave an overview of ongoing sampling that is occurring on the township's 11- acre parcel that housed the sportsman's club for more than 50 years.

In August, the sportsman's club vacated the property, which Mina G. Wilcox originally deeded to the township for public use in 1948. An August Michigan Supreme Court decision ended two years of litigation with the result that the parcel must be developed into a park or be returned to Wilcox's heirs.

Of 67 samples submitted for analysis, 13 were above "direct contact" and showed levels ranging from 445 to 22,000 parts per million, he said during the regular Tuesday meeting of the Elk Rapids Township Board of Trustees.

Three water monitoring wells were installed to determine the groundwater flow, and Lawrence said they found that water flows west toward the East Bay. Two more wells were put in afterward -- one "downgradient" of an old mid-range berm and the other downgradient of an old long-range berm. Samples taken from four of the wells came back "below detection," he said.

"So the water's clean," Supervisor Bill White said to clarify the statement.

And nothing is migrating from the property, Lawrence added.

Two to three soil samples were taken from each of 149 locations, comprising about 310 total samples, not including those taken from impact berms, he said.

Three to five samples were taken from each of the five berms, and results from those samples are not yet in. The berms were used as backstops in target shooting to capture bullets.

Berm samples are being tested for the presence of several metals: antimony, lead, copper, zinc, iron, tin and arsenic, he said. He won't run all the berm samples for those elements, but he wants to show whether they are factors. Lead is the major concern, but other contamination may exist there as well, he added.

Lawrence said the 67 samples submitted for analysis were chosen because they were "where contamination is most likely" -- around berms and shotgun areas. Samples were also submitted from areas that were expected to have minimal impact, such as near the roads, parking area and clubhouse building, to show there wasn't contamination there, he said.

"The contaminated soil is where you'd expect to find it," he told the board. Also tested were clay pigeon areas. Lawrence said that historically, clay pigeons contain polynuclear aromatics, which can contaminate soils but "historically hasn't." He said he dug under the clay pigeons for sampling and only two came back with contamination at or above detection.Those two were "way below" cleanup levels, he said.

He hopes to submit a large batch of samples by the end of the week and may return to the land to take more near a long-range berm, he said. Bullets are still in that area, and he may take the samples to show where the contamination stops, he added.

"It's one of those things (where you) put a little money up front to save a lot," he said after the meeting.

He hopes to have "substantial completion" by the end of the month, he said.

White said after the meeting that the township is waiting for the results and due care plan, after which it will address cleanup. Global is helping the township look into cleanup options, he said.

The township has a year to "substantially" complete the park with two years for final completion. White said the year is from the time the Supreme Court made its ruling on Aug. 1.

The current park plan will probably see some changes based on sampling results, he said, but those changes and the cost of cleanup are contingent on knowing the extent of contamination.

The township board voted in November to allow Global, an Elk Rapids firm, to continue sampling the former home of the Elk Rapids Sportsman's Club at a cost of no more than $21,670 for several tasks.

The proposal from Global included several tasks, including creating a sample plan, discussing the plan with the Department of Environmental Quality and performing the sampling, Global's Chris Griffin told the board in November. After analysis, a risk assessment and feasibility analysis will be done, and remedial options are balanced with cost and appropriate options for the site are found at that time, said.

The final task is submitting the "due care" plan the DEQ. It's a requirement of an earlier baseline environmental assessment that the plan be submitted six months after the BEA, added.

Global was chosen perform the baseline environmental assessment the property after it submitted the lone bid for the project in October.