Featured Research Project (January - March 2002)

Introduction to Natural Resource Management Challenges on Hawaiian Military Bases

Dr. Diane Drigot (M.S., Ph.D. UM-SNRE)  
EMI Alumni Affiliate

Project Background

The Department of Defense manages about 25 million acres on more than 425 military installations in the United States. These military properties host some of the finest remaining examples of rare native vegetation communities, such as old-growth forest, tall-grass prairies, and vernal pool wetlands, and at least 300 federally listed species. Managing and conserving natural resources on US military bases pose unique challenges to federal natural resources managers employed there. They must help ensure that combat training missions continue with no adverse effects on environmental quality, natural resources, and affected communities. As Senior Natural Resources Management Specialist at Marine Corps Base Hawaii (MCBH), Dr. Diane Drigot is additionally challenged by MCBH's location in the Hawaiian islands - the most isolated land masses in the world, with a unique natural and cultural resource heritage and over 25 percent of US endangered species. MCBH itself is a place of uncommon beauty, rich biological diversity, and numerous Native Hawaiian sites and historic structures of national significance. Many groups advocating cultural and natural resource protection watchdog these scenic, culturally- and ecologically-valued landscapes. Meeting the demands implied by these challenges requires strategic, detailed planning and coordination with a variety of individuals and agencies (e.g., engineers, architects, industrial hygienists, wildlife biologists, archaeologists, chemists, landscape architects, media, elected officials, congressional auditors, public interest groups, Native Hawaiian organizations, and military personnel). The range of problems faced, the kinds of projects devised, and the leadership, technical skills, and public support required to resolve these challenges represent a microcosm of the complex environmental and natural resource management situation facing many land managers around the globe today.

Ecological Setting

A principal MCBH landholding with many sensitive natural and cultural resources is the 2,951 acre Mokapu peninsula on the windward coast of the Island of O'ahu. Mokapu supports a military and civilian workforce of over 12,500 strong with about 17,000 military family residents, 2,000 structures, a wastewater reclamation facility, a busy air field, a landfill, a weapons firing range, and numerous air/ground tactical vehicle industrial support facilities. The peninsula also supports 50 species of protected migratory seabirds and shorebirds, including 4 endangered waterbirds; a seabird colony of over 3,000 nesting red-footed boobies; an ancient Hawaiian fishpond complex managed as a protected wetland and national historic property; ground-nesting bird habitat adjacent to tracked vehicle maneuver areas; and two adjacent pristine marine bays zoned with stringent water quality standards. Several nearby off-shore islands are restricted state seabird sanctuaries hosting thousands of seabirds. Adjacent waters also host public recreation, live corals, threatened green turtles, endangered humpback whales, and Hawaiian monk seals. Mokapu contains over 70 archaeological and World War II historic sites, including a major Native Hawaiian burial dune complex listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Mokapu's sand dune shorelines also support rare native strand vegetation treasured in Hawaiian folklore and gathering traditions. Another MCBH parcel on windward O'ahu is the 1,049-acre Marine Corps Training Area-Bellows (MCTAB) next to the town of Waimanalo--a rural community of small farm lots, Native Hawaiian homesteads, and parks along O'ahu's largest white sand beach. Stormwater runoff from a largely agricultural, flood-prone Waimanalo watershed contributes heavy non-point pollution to streams that flow through MCTAB into Waimanalo Bay. Hawai'i lists this stream as "significantly impaired" and the Ko'olaupoko watershed region in which Mokapu and MCTAB are located is ranked Priority One for restoration under the National Clean Water Action Plan. USMC Amphibious Assault Vehicles (AAVs) travel several miles from Mokapu to MCTAB via open ocean to perform critical beach landings and maneuvers at MCTAB--the only convenient and cost effective Hawaiian training location. AAVs share Waimanalo Bay with coral reef ecosystems, green sea turtles, Native Hawaiian subsistence fishing and recreational activities.

Recent Initiatives to Address Resource Management Challenges

1. Alien red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) and pickleweed (Batis maritima) are major invasive plants in Hawaiian wetlands, including Mokapu's Nu'upia Ponds fishpond complex. They pose a threat to the habitat of four endangered waterbirds and sixteen species of native fish found in the ponds. After 20 years of effort with thousands of volunteers and over $2.5M of contracted labor, about 22 acres (virtually all) of the mangrove were removed. Pickleweed, an invasive ground cover, is annually plowed under using Amphibious Assault Vehicles during "mud ops" training maneuvers. Several years of monitoring fieldwork show that the pond's endemic, endangered Hawaiian stilt (Himanotopus mexicanus knudseni) readily colonize mudflats cleared of alien vegetation. Their numbers here have more than doubled over the past two decades from about 60 to 130 birds. Localized water quality improvements were documented, and Native Hawaiian landscape restoration has been photographed and mapped. Civilian and military volunteers regularly perform service projects to sustain these gains and an environmental tour/education program is supported.

2. Over the past decade, MCBH has sustained "bullets and boobies" through integrated weapons range and natural resources management. At Mokapu's Ulupa'u Crater, a colony of over 3,000 federally-protected migratory seabirds (red-footed boobies (Sula sula rubripes)) is located in the impact area of a weapons firing range. During 1990 "Desert Storm" preparations, significant bird and habitat losses occurred when a ricocheted bullet triggered a brush fire in the dry alien grasses that had invaded the area. Since then, about $5M of range operation and resource management improvements have been undertaken, including fuel break road and waterline construction, innovative habitat repair, brush fire equipment and training improvements, invasive fire-prone vegetation replacement, better grounds maintenance, and a closer working relationship among environmental, training, regulatory, and public interest agencies. In sum, through a decade of adaptive management and continuous improvement, environmental considerations are now more fully integrated with range operations; an updated brush fire and resource management plan has been implemented; habitat damage and incidental booby "take" are significantly reduced; innovative techniques in bird habitat restoration have been implemented (e.g., nesting platforms, native revegetation); and the weapons training mission has been sustained as well as the booby colony.

3. MCBH was one of the first military installations to integrate Clean Water Action Plan's watershed approach into natural resources management. In FY99, over $400K was invested in a demonstration watershed restoration project which engaged 1,000 community volunteers to create three native plant riparian (streamside) gardens on MCBH and MCTAB to demonstrate non-point source pollution best management practices and help implement a regional vision of improved watershed health. University of Hawaii credits and tuition waivers were granted to 16 local elementary school teachers who participated through a graduate-level watershed health course, designed and taught by Dr. Drigot. This project was one of 30 national watershed success stories posted on US Environmental Protection Agency's website. This project also produced displays, maps, and technical reports on fluvial geomorphology, archival, historical, indigenous, and local knowledge inputs to a watershed assessment for both Mokapu and MCTAB. A related project built a multimillion dollar barracks next to Mokapu central drainage channel to include a stormwater retention basin, designed to biofiltrate non-point pollution with native plant landscaping and to attract native Hawaiian waterbirds. Even before barracks construction was complete, the new wetland retention basin hosted successful hatching of a clutch of Hawaiian stilt eggs. Such enhancements are the outcome of adhering to Executive Order 13123 on the "greening" of Federal Facilities.

4. In Nov 2001, pursuant to the Sikes Act Improvement Act, an Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan (2002 - 2006) was completed to guide the direction of ecosystem-based resource management while supporting "no nest loss" in capability of MCH to support combat readiness in the years to come. Required plan concurrence has been achieved from cooperating agencies: US Fish and Wildlife Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, and Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources. Completion of such INRMPs is required by about 425 military installations with significant natural resources throughout the US. Monitoring plan implementation progress at these installations now represents a key opportunity to track how one major federal agency integrates ecosystem-based resource management into its other "homeland security" concerns while sustaining its core mission to support combat readiness, morale, health, and welfare of its voluntary military workforce.

For Further Information

Contact Dr. Diane Drigot

Visit the DoD Environmental Security website to view a Watershed Manual

Visit the EPA's website for Watershed Success Stories to read about The Ko'olaupoko Watershed: Working Together on Tropical Watershed Restoration

Visit the US FWS website to read the Endangered Species Bulletin, Nov/Dec 2000 on The DOD and Endangered Species; e.g., Drigot, D. C. "Safeguarding Hawaii's Endangered Stilts"

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