Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 21, Number 1, 1 January 2004 — Mākua training resumes [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Mākua training resumes

By Sterling Kini Wong As the result of a December agreement between the Army and the activist group Mālama Mākua, 1,200 Schofield Barracks soldiers recently completed two weeks of live-fire training in Mākua Valley, the first such training since a massive brush fire started by the military closed the range in July. The resumption of live-fire training was met by opposition from community members who believe that military operations threaten cultural sites and endangered native species in the valley. The soldiers participated in exercises simulating convoy ambushes, designed to prepare the troops for deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan, where the Army says combat most frequently occurs during convoy operations. Fate last year, the Pentagon announced that in February and March 8,000 soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division (Fight), whieh is headquartered at Schofield, will be sent to Iraq and Afghanistan. Permission to conduct convoy ambush training was granted to the Army under a Dec. 4 agreement with Mālama Mākua. That agreement modified an October 2001 court settlement establishing parameters for live-fire training in the 4,190-acre valley. The terms of the settlement — whieh allowed the Army to conduct 12 live-fire exercises eaeh year in exchange for completing an environmental impact statement on military operations in the valley — had not allowed convoy ambush exercises, but the new agreement permits two such operations per year. The original settlement stemmed from a

lawsuit filed in 1998 by the environmental law group Earthjustice on behalf of Mālama Mākua, charging that the army was failing to comply with federal environmental law. The lawsuit halted all live-fire training in the valley. While the new agreement allows convoy exercises, it prohibits the use of mortar and artillery cannons, whieh the previous settlement had authorized. The Army insists that the use of mortar and artillery cannons in training is imperative for combat readiness, but community activists disagree, contending that the artillery has caused several brush fires and threatens the 40 endangered species and 100 cultural sites in the valley. "While we don't believe that any military training at Mākua is appropriate, we understand the Army's desire to make sure its soldiers are prepared to defend themselves," explained Mālama Mākua board member Sparky Rodrigues. "We looked for a way to let the Army do this defensive training while limiting the potential to damage the cultural sites and native species that make Mākua so precious." In July, a "controlled burn" intended to clear 800 acres of guinea grass went out of control and scorched more than half the valley, including 71 endangered plant species and 150 acres of endangered species habitat. As a result of the brush clearing caused by the fire, however, three previously unrecorded cultural sites were also discovered. The Army began operations in Mākua during World War II, evicting loeal residents and later reneging on its promise to return the land within six months of the end of the war. ■

A young soldier takes aim during "war games" in Makua valley shortly after the Sept. 2001 terrorist OttackS. Photo: Naomi Sodetani