Army wins praise
for heiau helpActivists are allowed to move rocks
away from a detonation site
Waianae activists working for decades to stop military use of Makua Valley have paid the Army a rare compliment: Soldiers have done much to protect several ancient cultural sites there from a planned detonation of three World War II bombs.
"I give the Army a pat on the back," said Waianae resident William Aila. "They allowed me go in and move the rocks (part of cultural sites) out of harm's way.
"We also got a commitment from the Army to allow us to go back, restore the area and put the rocks back."
Late yesterday, Col. David Anderson, U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii commander, decided to delay today's detonation of the three bombs, including one weighing 1,000 pounds, "due to technical and logistic considerations."
Patricia Simones, Army spokeswoman, said she did not know what caused the delay or when the detonation will take place.
Aila, who visited the area this week, said the Army told him that it did not believe the risk of fires -- a major concern -- was high.
"The grass is green but the ground is moist," Aila said.
Aila said he was allowed to remove seven boulders, which appeared to be part of an ancient rock wall or agricultural terrace. They are about 3,300 feet from Farrington Highway and near the 1,000-pound bomb.
The other two bombs -- one weighing 500 pounds and the other 100 pounds -- also are in the north end of the valley. The smaller bomb is near dried-up Punapohaku Stream, said Isaac Moriwake, attorney with Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund.
Sandbags will be used to contain the blast from the bombs, Aila said.
"We plan for the worst," he added, "but hope for the best."
Although the 500-pound bomb is in the general vicinity of another ancient rock wall, Aila believes "it will be out of the blast area."
Moriwake said the three bombs were uncovered after last July's fire, which was started to control the brush in the valley but raged out of control, scorching half of the 4,190-acre military training site.
He said the recent rains helped the grass to grow to where "they are about head high," and the ordnance had to be marked by ribbons. Moriwake said "the Army realized that something had to be done because of the danger and the risk."
Aila said he was first able to examine the area two weeks ago, and representatives of Malama Makua, a Leeward Oahu activist group, were allowed to videotape and document the site. Malama Makua plans to have several representatives monitor the detonation.
Makua Valley has been used by the Army as a training area since 1943. On Oct. 23, 1998, the Army blew up five World War II explosives, including a 1,000-pound bomb lodged on the valley's north ridge about 1,155 feet above the Ukanipo Heiau.
The Army is now in the process of preparing an environmental impact statement justifying continued use of the Makua Valley range for live-fire combat training.
The Army has said that 80 percent of live-fire training on Oahu by soldiers and Kaneohe Marines takes place in Makua. Until 1989, rockets and missiles were fired in the valley until their use was banned because of the brush fires they caused.
At least 47 species of threatened and endangered plants have been found at Makua.