In 1950, the United States Department of Energy (then the . Atomic Energy Commission) began purchasing the land that became the present Savannah River Site (SRS). All residents were removed (figure A), and in 1951 the government closed the site to the public to begin work on production of nuclear weapons materials. At the time, abandoned agricultural fields dominated upland areas, and the SRS and the USDA Forest Service initiated an aggressive reforestation program.