Hawaii Agencies Criticize A Big Island Military Training Site Amid Push for Lease Renewal….The Army wants an extension of a 65-year lease to operate a military training site on the Big Island, a proposition Hawaii state officials question.
Two Hawaii state agencies have submitted blistering comments regarding the future of the Pohakuloa military training area on the Big Island.
Both the Department of Land and Natural Resources and the Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands list a range of adverse impacts the military site is having to animals, archeological assets, and cultural resources, among other things.
“It is inappropriate to conduct this type of warfare practice upon Conservation District land adjacent to areas designated as critical habitat” for the Palila “and a recreational campground for the people of Hawaii,” the coastal lands office said in its comments.
Palila is a critically endangered honeycreeper whose remaining habitat lies in dry, high-elevation forest and shrubland covering a small portion of Mauna Kea.
