MĀKUA IN government documents

This page of the Mālama Mākua archives features official government documents concerning Mākua, such as U.S. Department of Defense contracts, letters from government offices, reports from U.S. government agencies, and resolutions from Honolulu City Council. Information in U.S. government documents often concerning the downplaying of desecration done to sacred Mākua due to militarization is not without dispute. Each title below is followed by an excerpt from the publication or work. Webmaster comments, if any, will be bracketed and italicized. More will be added all the time, so please check back.

2018

U.S. House of representatives Committee on natural resources letter to U.s. department of defense

By Committee Chairman Rob Bishop and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chairman Bruce Westerman – June 13, 2018

“Dear Secretary Mattis: The Committee on Natural Resources is continuing its oversight of the potential manipulation of tax-exempt 501(c) organizations by foreign entities to influence U.S. environmental and natural resources policy to the detriment of our national interests. Specifically, we are interested in environmental litigation by U.S.-based 501(c) organizations against the Department of Defense and its negative impact on national security.”

[Earthjusticeʻs press release in response is included after the Committee on Natural Resources letter. It reads, in part:]

“This letter is a blatant attempt to turn attention away from the Trump administration’s campaign to undermine environmental and health protections and reward corporate polluters.

“Evoking national security is a red herring the Committee is using to call into question the work of Earthjustice and others to advance public health and environmental safeguards. Earthjustice holds the U.S. military and government agencies accountable to U.S. law established by the U.S. Congress, and those legal actions have been repeatedly upheld by U.S. courts. To suggest we are promoting foreign interests is absurd.”

2016

2016 Status Report for the Makua and Oahu IMPLEMENTATION Plans

By the Oʻahu Army Natural Resources Program

This status report (report) serves as the annual report for participating landowners, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and the Implementation Team (IT) overseeing the Makua Implementation Plan (MIP) and Oahu Implementation Plan (OIP). The period covered in this report is July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016. This report covers Year 12 of the MIP and Year 9 of the OIP. OANRP completes thousands of actions each year to implement the MIP and OIP (IPs); the results of those myriad activities are summarized in this report. The report presents summary tables analyzing changes to population units of plants and snails over the last year and since the IPs were completed, as well as updates on new projects and technologies.

U.S. Federal Register of Endangered Species in Hawaiʻi - vol. 81, no. 190, rules and regulations

By U.S. Department of Interior - Sept. 30, 2016

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Endangered Status for 49 Species From the Hawaiian Islands. AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior. ACTION: Final rule.

2015

Evaluation of Three Very High Resolution Remote Sensing Technologies for Vegetation Monitoring in Makaha and Kahanahaiki Valleys

By William Weaver and Dr. Tomoaki Miura – Appendix ES-4, Annual Progress Report for “Kahanahaiki Vegetation Mapping Analysis” Project Update: October 1, 2014 – September 30th, 2015

This report serves to update the progress of this project from October, 2014 through September 30th, 2015. Support of this project was made possible by the Oahu Army Natural Resources Program, Research Corporation of the University of Hawaii, Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit, the Natural Resources and Environmental Management program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Resource Mapping Hawaii, Pacific GPS, USGS, Apollo Mapping and the support staff within these organizations.

The project study location was switched from Makaha to Kahanahaiki in upper Makua Valley for easier site access. Kahanahaiki has served as a model research site for a host of research. It is representative of many resources and challenges faced for management in the Waianae Mountain range of Oahu. Progress was made with respect to gear rentals, testing, field data collection, UAS exploration, imagery acquisition and classification training. Four aerial image missions were conducted under contract by ReMap HI and 3 UAS missions were conducted for research and development purposes. Weather was limiting and the missions served to be partially successful, capturing a portion of the desired image dataset. Imagery data was obtained from satellite, aerial and gigapan imaging platforms. Suitable World View 3 satellite imagery was collected for the study area and preliminary image processing occurred. Survey tools were used to collect field data during the Summer of 2015.

2012

Cultural resource management of the army sub-installations on the island of oʻahu

By The Cultural Resources Section Staff, Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit, University of Hawaiʻi – Annual Report (June 2007-May 2009) prepared for The U.S. Army Garrison-Hawaii, Directorate of Public Works, Environmental Division – June 2012

This report documents the results of field, research, and support activities of the seventh and eighth years of an ongoing year-to-year cooperative agreement. The Cultural Resource Section’s normal fiscal year starts on the 1 June and ends on the 31 May. The present document, then, is a two-year combined report covering the period from June 2007 to the end of May 2009.

The primary Army lands considered for these research activities are the eight major training areas and ranges on Oʻahu. These are: Mākua Military Reservation (MMR), Kahuku Training Area (KTA), Dillingham Military Reservation (DMR), Kawailoa Training Area (KLO), and Schofield Barracks Military Reservation (SBA). Schofield Barracks is further functionally subdivided into the Cantonment Area (SBC) and the various attached training areas - East Range (SBE), West Range (SBW, which includes the active Impact Area), the South Range Acquisition Area (SRA) and South Range (SBS) (refer to Map 1). In addition, the Cultural Resources Section is responsible for all historical and cultural properties on the other 15 garrison sub-installations on O`ahu and has occasionally provided assistance with support for activities at Army properties on the island of Hawaiʻi.

2011

Changes in land cover and fire risk associated with nonnative grass invasion in Hawaii (poster)

By Lisa Ellsworth, Creighton M. Litton, and Alexander P. Dale – 2011

2010

Kahanahāiki Gulch

By Directorate of Public Works, U.S. Army Garrison, Hawaiʻi – Pamphlet – April 2010

[This is a pamphlet produced for volunteers of a U.S. Army Environmental Division work program. This pamphlet contains a valuable and exhaustive list of the endemic and indigenous species of plants and animals that call ahupuaʻa Kahanahāiki home, and makes a strong case for never using sacred Mākua as a training reservation. It is the belief of Mālama Mākua that Mākua should be returned from the U.S. military to the community for cultural appropriate use. – Webmaster]

Hanging on to the upper rim of Makua valley, Kahanahaiki gulch is a pocket of mesic forest, one of the last remnants of native forest in Makua valley. Mesic forests are one of the most imperiled forest community types in the Hawaiian islands. They are characterized by an annual rainfall of 1,200-3,800mm occurring mainly between October and March. The substrate tends to be well drained and can range from rocky, shallow, organic muck soils to steep, rocky talus slopes, shallow soil over weathered rock in steep gulches, or deep soils over soft weathered rock and gravely alluvium (Wagner, Herbst, Sohmer 1990). Kahanahaiki has most of these soil types in just a 150 acre area. It is also considered a diverse mesic forest containing a rich variety of native plants with no clear dominant species. Kahanahaiki is home to seven endangered plant species including Schiedea nutallii, Schiedea obovatum, Cyanea superba, Diellea falcata, Cyrtandra dentata, Flueggea neowawrae, and Cenchrus agriminoides, Nototrichium humile, Lepidium arbuscula the endangered tree snail Achatinella mustelina, and the endangered Oahu Elepaio, a native fly catcher.

Over the past two years, the Army’s Environmental Division has been proactive in conserving this rare natural resource. The exclosure around Kahanahaiki gulch was completed in December of 1996, and the feral pigs have been removed. Weeding projects, starting in the most intact areas, are improving the regeneration of the intact forest community. Monitoring and collecting propagules of the endangered plants will hopefully bring them from the brink of extinction. The rare and endangered animals are being monitored and predator control measures such as poisoning rats, is helping their lot.

Please enjoy this unique opportunity to experience this rare forest type but we also ask you to kokua and be aware of your surroundings. Since the removal of the pigs there is a lot of native seedling recruitment which we must be careful not to step on. If you are part of a weeding project make sure you are weeding a weed and not a native! If you are not sure, it is better to leave it or ask an expert. Snails are beautiful but are also federally listed and one must have a permit in order to handle them, please feast your eyes but don’t touch! We appreciate your interest and hard work, thank you very much!

APPENDIX 7-2: FINAL REPORT: SURVEY OF INVASIVE ANT SPECIES WITHIN MAKUA AND OAHU IMPLEMENTATION PLAN MANAGEMENT UNITS, OAHU, HAWAII 2004 - 2009

By Sheldon Plentovich – 2010 Makua and Oahu Implementation Plan Status Report – April 2010

Invasive ants have had devastating effects on biodiversity in the Hawaiian Islands, however information on new ant infestations and spread of existing populations into native communities is incomplete. Here we used bait cards to survey and identify invasive ant species on Makua and Oahu Implementation Plan Management Units on the island of Oahu. Twenty species of invasive ants were identified at 45 sites during 67 surveys conducted between 8 February 2004 and 7 October 2009. Survey sites ranged from sea level to 1220 m (4002 ft). Ants were abundant at most survey locations with the exception in some high elevation sites.

2008

Depleted Uranium, Natural Uranium and Other Naturally Occurring Radioactive Elements in Hawaiian Environments

By Dr. Kenneth H. Rubin – A Report Prepared for the National Defense Center for Environmental Excellence – May 2008

Makua Valley lies westwards of Schofield Barracks on the drier, leeward side of the Waianae range (Figure 10). As of this writing, DU has not been found on the MMR operational range, but the US Army contracted for scoping survey work there because documentary evidence suggested that the M101 may have been used there. Heavy vegetation and the presence of explosive hazards have prevented extensive ground surveys for DU on the range. Ten soil samples were collected from sites where sediment had collected from past runoff/erosion events around the perimeter of the MMR. Radiometric analysis of those samples found only natural U abundances and 234U/238U isotopic composition. Were presently unidentified DU contamination to exist somewhere on the range, its mobility in soils and waters at Makua Military Reservation are expected to be generally similar to somewhat less than at the Schofield firing range because of lower average rainfall at otherwise similar environmental conditions. Additional soil and water sampling conducted after such a discovery would demonstrate the actual extent of DU mobility on the range.

FINAL – TECHNICAL MEMORANDUM: Depleted Uranium Scoping Investigations

By Cabrera Services – A report prepared for Department of the Army
Headquarters, U.S. Army Sustainment Command Procurement Directorate, Environmental Contracting Division – April 2008

In August 2005, tail fin components and spotter round bodies (SRB) from the Cartridge, 20mm Spotting M101 associated with the Davy Crockett Light Weapon M28 were discovered during routine activities at Schofield Barracks. As a result of archive searches conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) regarding the potential for contamination resulting from the firing of spotter rounds for the Davy Crockett weapons system at Schofield Barracks, suspicion arose that this weapons system may have been used at other firing ranges in the Hawaiian Islands. The suspected ranges include Makua Military Reservation (MMR) on Oahu, Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA) on Hawaii, and Schofield Barracks Impact Area on Oahu. For MMR and PTA, details of the archive searches were reported in “Archive Search Report On the Use of Cartridge, 20 mm Spotting M101 for Davy Crockett Light Weapon M28, Islands of Oahu and Hawaii” (USACE, St. Louis District, May 2007). The basis for the Schofield Area scoping survey was from observations and information provided by USAG-HI.

The primary suspected contaminant associated with the spotter rounds body (SRB) is D-38 uranium alloy, also called depleted uranium (DU). The DU was used in the SRB of training rounds for the Davy Crockett weapon system because of its high density and weight. The DU component is approximately four inches in length and one inch in diameter. In the following sections of this report, a summary of the archive search for each area is provided, followed by the methods and results of field scoping survey investigations conducted at each of these three areas in August of 2007. The surveys were performed to assess the presence of DU fragments that might have originated from past training activities involving Davy Crockett SRB. The results of these survey activities will be used to develop the criteria and plans for a follow-on characterization survey of the potentially impacted areas.

2007

ARCHIVE SEARCH REPORT ON THE USE OF CARTRIDGE, 20MM SPOTTING M101 FOR DAVY CROCKETT LIGHT WEAPON M28, SCHOFIELD BARRACKS AND ASSOCIATE TRAINING AREAS, ISLANDS OF OAHU AND HAWAII

By U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – 508-page report – May 2007

In November of 2006, the U.S. Army Joint Munitions Command Safety/Radiation Waste Team tasked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Louis District, with this project. The project consisted of an archive search effort to collect data and information concerning the use of the Davy Crockett Light Weapon M28 on ranges at Schofield Barracks and associated areas. This weapon system engaged the use of a 20mm cartridge for spotting of the training round. This Cartridge, 20mm Spotting M101 consisted of a body constructed of D-38 Uranium alloy (Uranium-238 Depleted Uranium).

[…]

Analysis of the information gathered during this archive search identified a confirmed area on Schofield Barracks and several potential areas at Makua Military Reservatoin and Pohakuloa Training Area for the use of Cartridge, 20mm Spotting M101. […] The potential areas on Makua Military Reservation and Pohakuloa Training Area are based on range type and use, historic range maps and range regulations and common practice for the time period of the fielded Davy Crockett Weapons System (1961 through 1968).

Examination of Environmental Trends in Hawai`i Based on Trace Element Distributions in Cores of the Kiawe Tree (Prosopis pallida) (POSTER)

By Yvonne K. Parry, Eric H. De Carlo, and Steven R. Spangler – 2007

2006

Environmental assessment of mākua military reservation in hawaii

By Danny M. Harrelson and Mansour Zakikhani, Environmental Laboratory, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center – Nov. 1, 2006

The Army has conducted several site-specific environmental studies to address the major public concerns at Mākua Military Reservation (MMR). [Just how much the environmental studies addressed public concerns is very much up for debate. – Webmaster.] The monitoring and numerical technologies used at MMR may be of interest for other sites with the similar problems.

2003

Bases of Readiness: Installation Sustainability and the Future of Transformation

By Stanley H. Lillie and Paul A. Martin – An Institute of Land Warfare Publication – July 2003

[This article is clearly written by U.S. military officials for an audience of only U.S. military personnel. It speaks to ways of using community objections over the militarization of a sacred valley as a learning tool so the military can better maneuver around other community objections concerning other military installations. It is snarky, condescending, and divisive. It is important to point out that this article was written in 2003, a year before the last live-fire training had taken place in Mākua. The US military has not used sacred Mākua for live-fire training for nearly two decades, thereby proving wrong the U.S. militaryʻs assertion that it needs to conduct live-fire training in Mākua to maintain high levels of readiness. – Webmaster]

Weeks after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, soldiers and environmentalists stood outside a chain-link gate in Hawaiiʻs Makua Valley and announced the resolution of a lawsuit that had cut off live-fire training for three years.

“The issues that once divided us no longer seem as important as the cause that now unites us,” Major General James M. Dubik, commander of the 25th Infantry Division (Light), told reporters that morning.

The settlement announced that day with the environmental legal firm Earth Justice and local group Malama Makua restricted the Army to 39 company-level, live-fire exercises over three years and, among its provisions, required the Army to complete an environmental impact statement.

Partnerships forged in crisis can be fragile. A public meeting in March 2002–barely six months later–drew more than 80 community members, who spoke on both sides of the issue. Malama Makua board member Sparky Rodriguez said there is “no limit” to issues that might be raised in subsequent meetings. He mentioned land use, sovereignty, unexploded ordnance and environmental contamination as possibilities. Obviously the “issues” were still potentially very divisive.

2002

DoD Environmental Community Involvement Programs at Test and Training Ranges

By Office of Inspector General of the Department of Defense – Report No. D-2002-122 – June 28, 2002

Encroachment. The Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Installations and Environment) stated that encroachment is any pressure, both internal and external to test and training ranges, that affects the ability to carry out live testing and training. Encroachment caused by external factors is an increasing threat to military readiness. DoD recognized that encroachment issues were important after local community concerns threatened to interrupt, interrupted, and/or terminated the testing and training activities at ranges on the island of Vieques in Puerto Rico, at Massachusetts Military Reservation, at Makua Valley Military Reservation in Hawaii, and at Farallon de Medinilla in the Pacific Ocean.

2001

The Army, NEPA, and Risk Communication

By Mike Flannery and Keith Fulton – Federal Facilities Environmental Journal – Summer 2001

[This article is written by U.S. military officials for U.S. military officials and is another example of the hubris of the U.S. military. The U.S. military is often tone-deaf at best, or uncaring, at worst, when it comes to matters of how it relates to the environment and Indigenous communities, as well as communities of people of color, in general. It often plays the victim while accusing community opposition of playing loose with its ideology. When the U.S. militaryʻs savior complex at any cost is rebuffed by community opposition, condescension of the communityʻs ideology often follows. – Webmaster]

As an environmental manager, how good are you at risk communication? You may even be wondering, “what’s risk communication?”

Well, maybe you have been in charge of a public meeting to “scope” an environmental impact statement. You probably had your National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) “purpose of and need for” declaration down pat—with plenty of charts and graphs and a hired “expert” to back you up. Or maybe you were presenting the results of an environmental assessment (EA), which, of course, pointed to a finding of no significant impact.

What do these activities have to do with risk communication? Their common thread is: you are communicating in a high-concern, low-trust situation. There are many other examples, which may come to mind from personal experience, especially if you have been in the environmental management business for a while.

Now assume you are in the Army, or perhaps working for the Army as a civilian environmental manager. Emotional responses to environmental matters are sometimes ballistic. Some are convinced the military is the absolute worst polluter of all time. They just know that for a fact. How can the government be so callous towards our children’s health? Why not return the ground water and contaminated soil to its original condition—you people and your out of control weapons ranges created the pollution in the first place!

So, at a public meeting called by the Army last December, all the study and substance surrounding these environmental issues were to be made known to the concerned citizens of Waianae. This is an economically underdeveloped town on the leeward coast just to the south of MMR. They wanted no part of it. The Army’s plan to resume training met fierce resistance from a coalition of residents and environmentalists who asserted that military training, particularly with live weapons fire, is destroying the valley’s cultural, historic, and environmental legacy. “Our problem with the military is they don’t understand the significance of Makua Valley,” said one leeward coast resident and outspoken opponent of the Army’s plans. “They’re bombing the Earth Mother.”

What happened? Simply put, they didn’t care what the Army knew until they knew that the Army cared.

1999

Analysis of Fire Management Concerns at Makua Military Reservation

By The Center for Ecological Management of Military Lands, Colorado State University – December 1999

Makua Military Reservation (MMR) is located on 4190 acres on the northwest leeward side of Oahu, Hawaii. The reservation is surrounded on the north, east, and south by high, precipitous valley walls and on the west by the Pacific Ocean. Surrounding cliffs reach heights of 2100 to 2900 feet. Numerous threatened and endangered plant and animal species reside on these cliffs.

[…]

Part of the mitigation plan resulting from these consultations require the Army to provide a more effective wildfire management program. This report provides information about MMR’s fire history, fuels, potential fire behavior, and fuel modification recommendations.

1997

U.S. army engineers in hawaii: an inventory of records before 1948

By U.S. Army Corp of Engineers – Guides to Environmental Research – August 1997

These little known records are a treasure-trove of useful information about the Corps of Engineers' construction in the Pacific Ocean region. Some of the files included in this inventory contain correspondence relating to projects dating from the 1920s and 1930s, such as territorial airfield construction, creation and inventory of roads and trails, creation of the network of coastal defense guns with its railroad logistical support system, and a string of island airfields from Hawaii to Australia initially intended to ferry aircraft to General MacArthur's Philippine air force.

The specificity of the information and the wide range of sites included in this inventory will enable environmental researchers to quickly identify records worth examining. Use of this inventory should help researchers save time and money by showing them what is in this collection and where the relevant documents in it are located. This inventory is part of a larger series of records located in the National Archives at College Park, Maryland, and as such, reflect only a small percentage of possibly useful records there.

1996

letter from convention delegate to Hawaiʻi representative patsy mink concerning mākua

By Maralyn Kurshals, 1996 Democratic Convention delegate - May 20, 1996

[Democratic Convention delegate and Environmental Committee member Maralyn Kurshals writes to Hawaiʻi Rep. Patsy Mink about the U.S. armyʻs denial of a need to conduct an Environmental Impact Statement concerning Mākua Valley. Kurshals attached a resolution to this letter, but unfortunately, we do not have the resolution. – Webmaster]

hawaiʻi state senate bill 1643 attempts to form a prescribed burn committee

Hawaiʻi Senate Bill 1643 - April 1996

[After supposed prescribed burns by the U.S. army went out of control in Mākua Valley in 1995, a bill was put forth in the Hawaiʻi State Senate in 1996 which would have formed a Prescribed Burning Coordinating Council in order to “establish a mechanism through which laws, rules, and policies of those agencies responsible for the regulation of prescribed burning are both effectively reviewed and coordinated, so as to minimize to the greatest extent possible the danger to endangered and threatened species and environmentally sensitive areas, regardless of whether or not these species and areas happen to be located within any military-controlled lands.” Though it seemed like a worthy bill, it did not become law. – Webmaster]

NOTICE TO VACATE ISSUED TO MĀKUA BEACH COMMUNITY BY DEPARTMENT OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES

By Department of Land and Natural Resources - March 12, 1996

[Four days after being granted a year lease of Mākua Beach for supposed state park purposes, the DLNR issued a Notice to Vacate aimed at evicting the community at Mākua Beach. Though the DLNR threatened to enforce evictions in April 1996, the actual evictions did not take place until June. The 1996 Mākua eviction and events surrounding the eviction were documented in Mākua - To Heal a Nation, a film produced and directed by Puhipau and Joan Lander of Nā Maka o ka ʻĀina. The documentary tells the story of Mākua as a place for healing, a pu’uhonua, a place of refuge, not only for a few but for the larger Hawaiian community, which is crying out for answers to cure its social ills. But the occupying forces of the U.S. and their agent, the state of Hawai’i, have continuously evicted people from Mākua, from shortly after Dec. 7, 1941 through 1996. A 1983 Mākua eviction was also documented by Nā Maka o ka ‘Āina. You can view both documentaries on the Mākua in Documentaries/Film page of our online archives. – Webmaster]

department of u.S. army gives license of use of mākua beach to state of hawaiʻi for one year

By U.S. Army Engineer Division - March 8, 1996

[The U.S. army and the Hawaiʻi State Board of Land and Natural Resources come to an agreement for the establishment of a state park on the makai side of Farrington Highway for a single year. This move was widely believed to be made in support of the planned sweep of Mākua Beach community later that year. – Webmaster]

Hawaiʻi state board of land and natural resources meeting minutes concerning lease of mākua beach

By Board of Land and Natural Resources - March 8, 1996

The BLNR unanimously approved Item D-4: “Authorization of lease federal fee land and acquire right-of-entry for the Division of State Parks, Dept. of Land and Natural Resources, Mākua, Waiʻanae, Oʻahu…”

department of land and natural resources REQUESTS five-year lease of more than 11 acres of Mākua Beach

By State Parks Division of Department of Land and Natural Resources - March 8, 1996

After being granted a year lease of land at Mākua makai of Farrington Highway, the Department of Land and Natural Resources applied for authorization to lease Mākua Beach for five years.

STATE OF HAWAIʻI MEMORANDUM CONCERNING CHAIN OF TITLES OF MĀKUA AREA

By Abstractor, Division of Forestry and Wildlife - Jan. 30, 1996

[The State of Hawaiʻi Division of Forestry and Wildlife released a memorandum in January 1996 that attempted to establish a chain of titles of the Mākua area from the Mahele of 1848 through to the date of the memorandum. The chain of titles clearly states that all of the ahupuaʻa of Kahanahāiki and half of the ahupuaʻa of Mākua were established as Hawaiian Kingdom Government Lands in 1848. – Webmaster]

1990

HONOLULU CITY COUNCIL ADOPTS RESOLUTION 90-118 REGARDING POTENTIAL STATE PARK IN Mākua Valley, NOTIFICATION OF U.S. ARMY THAT LEASE MAY NOT BE RENEWED

By Council of the City and County of Honolulu - April 25, 1990

The Honolulu City Council unanimously adopted Resolution 90-118 in April 1990 that urged the State of Hawaiʻi to study the feasibility of establishing a state park on the land in Mākua that is leased to the U.S. army, as well as urged the State to notify the army and the Secretary of the Army that the lease may not be renewed when it runs out in 2029. The State did not act on the resolution or respond to it, prompting the City Council to adopt unanimously adopt Resolution 93-74 in May 1993, requesting “a timely and appropriate action on and response to 90-118.” Both resolutions are included in this link.

1986

Kāʻena Point State Park survey, including Mākua and Kahanahāiki Parcels

By Survey Division of the State of Hawaiʻi Department of Accounting and General Services - Feb. 11, 1986

1984

Field survey of endangered Oahu tree snails (Genus Achatinella) on the Makua Military Reservation, Oahu, Hawaii

By Carl C. Christensen and Michael G. Hadfield – Division of Malacology, Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii – April 1984

This report was prepared for the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, Pacific Ocean Division, on behalf of the Directorate of Facilities Engineering, U. S. Army Support Command, Hawaii (USASCH), and will be used by the installation in support of the USASCH Environmental Management Program.

1974

Foliage penetration (FOPEN) radar detection of low-flying aircraft

By Louis V. Surgent, Jr. – Army Land Warfare Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland – April 1974

Based on the helicopter detection tests performed in Hawaii using the USALWL Foliage Penetration (FOPEN) Radar, the US Army Aviation Systems Command (AAVSCOM) funded a short term program at the US Army Land Warfare Laboratory (LWL) to demonstrate the detection of helicopters flying nap-of-the-earth (NOE) using this VHF ground surveillance radar.

[…]

A series of detection experiments using the M-FOPEN intermediate range configuration were conducted on 2 April 1973 in Makua Valley, Hawaii, as part of the 25th Inf Division User Evaluation of these radars.

1964

u.s. president lydon b. johnson issues executive order to control mākua for military purposes

By U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson - August 15, 1964

[Executive Order 11166, also found in Dr. Marion Kellyʻs cultural history report on Mākua as Appendix D, was issued by U.S. President Johnson, which officially broke the promise of the contract the U.S. entered into in 1943, which stated the U.S. military would leave Mākua six months after the end of World War II. Johnson claims his authority to do so, however, by citing the Joint Resolution of Annexation on July 7, 1898, that supposedly handed Hawaiʻi over to the United States, including any government lands. A Joint Resolution of the U.S. Congress, however, only has jurisdiction within the boundaries of the U.S. The Hawaiian Islands were not within the boundaries of the U.S. on July 7, 1898. The only agreement that could pass the Hawaiian Islands to the U.S. is a Treaty of Annexation between two nations, such as the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that transferred much of the current U.S. Southwest, including all of California, from Mexico to the U.S. in 1848. Since there has never been a Treaty of Annexation, the Hawaiian Islands were never transferred to the U.S. in 1898 or any time after, and the authority by which President Johnson claims Mākua is false. – Webmaster]

Copy of 65-year lease of Mākua between Hawaiʻi state Board of Land and Natural Resources and the United States for military purposes

3. TO HAVE AND TO HOLD the said premises for a term of sixty-five (65) years beginning August 17, 1964, and ending August 16, 2029, subject, however, to the rights of the Lessor and the Government respectively to terminate this lease… 4. The Government shall pay the Lessor rental the following rate: ONE DOLLAR ($1.00) for the term of the lease…

1946

U.S. secretary of war attempts to appease Territorial Governor Stainback, rebuffs request for the return of mākua

By U.S. Secretary of War - Oct. 12, 1946

[Nearly one year after Territory of Hawaiʻi Governor Ingram M. Stainback attempted to exercise his authority under a revokable permit with the U.S. army to bring about the return of Mākua and surrounding areas from the U.S. military, the U.S. Secretary of War wrote to the U.S. Secretary of the Interior to seemingly placate Governor Stainback as well as deride the reasons the governor stated for the return of Mākua, calling the amount of land being occupied extremely small. The letter, also found in Dr. Marion Kellyʻs cultural history report on Mākua as Appendix I, states that the War Department will no longer push for an outright transfer of Mākua because the War Department believed military training and public use of Mākua could co-exist, a confounding thought process. The only public use of Mākua since the sacred valley was seized at gunpoint through present time is of Mākua Beach. – Webmaster]

1945

TERRITORY OF HAWAIʻI GOVERNOr STAINBACK ATTEMPTS TO EXERCISE HIS AUTHORITY TO REVOKE THE U.S. ARMYʻS PERMIT FOR USE OF MĀKUA

By Territory of Hawaiʻi Governor Ingram M. Stainback - Nov. 26, 1945

[Governor Stainback wrote to the Commanding General of the Central Pacific Base Command to say that not only does he not support a request for the 6,608 acres in and around Mākua – granted use to the U.S. military under Revocable Permit No. 200 in 1943 – to be simply transferred to the U.S. War Department, Stainback lays out compelling reasons why he desires to exercise his authority to revoke the permit, remove the U.S. military from Mākua Valley, and return Mākua and the surrounding area to the people of Hawaiʻi. The letter is also found in Dr. Marion Kellyʻs cultural history report on Mākua as Appendix F. – Webmaster]

1943

territorial government of hawaiʻi grants u.s. military revocable permit for use of 6,608 acres of mākua and surrounding area for war effort

By A.A. Dunn, Acting Commissioner of Public Lands - May 17, 1943

[Revocable Permit No. 200, also found in Dr. Marion Kellyʻs cultural history report on Mākua as Appendix C, was granted to the U.S. military as a “license extending for the duration of the present war and six months thereafter, to use and occupy for military purposes, those portions of the Territorial Government-owned lands” including Mākua and Kahanahāiki. Not only was this permit revocable by the territorial government Commissioner of Public Lands, it also stated that “the Military authorities shall vacate said licensed area, remove all its property therefrom and restore the premises hereby authorized to be used and occupied to a condition satisfactory to the said Commissioner of Public Lands.” Six months has long passed. – Webmaster]

1942

U.S. war department issues real estate directive to control mākua and surrounding areas due to PURPORTED military necessity

By Commanding General, Hawaiian Department, Fort Shafter - Dec. 22, 1942

[U.S. Congress passed a law directing the War Department to return all land in Mākua to the Hawaiʻi government just 20 days earlier. Despite that, citing a military necessity, the U.S. War Department moved to take official control of Mākua and surrounding areas by “Condemnation or purchase” of certain tracts of land, as well as the lease of others. Though the U.S. army eventually entered into a revocable permit with the territorial government of the Hawaiian Islands in 1945, its original intent for Mākua, after seizing the valley by gunpoint and forcibly evicting its residents after the U.S. entered into World War II, was officially laid out in a 1942 Real Estate Directive. This Real Estate Directive is also found in Marion Kellyʻs cultural history report on Mākua as Appendix H. – Webmaster]

an act [signed into law] – to authorize AND DIRECT the U.S. secretary of war to transfer certain land to the territory of hawaii

By 77th U.S. Congress – Public Law 781 – Dec. 2, 1942

“Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of War is hereby authorized and directed to transfer to the Territory of Hawaii all right, title, and interest in certain land in Makua Valley, District of Waianae, Island of Oahu, Territory of Hawaii, designated as parcel numbered 1 of the Makua Military Reservation on the map thereof dated March 1933, on file in the office of the Quartermaster General…”

Timeline of U.S. House Resolution 6013 that became U.S. Public Law 781:

Bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, Nov. 12, 1941

Referred with amendments in the U.S. House, Sept. 14, 1942

Referred to committee in the U.S. Senate, Oct. 6, 1942

Reported in the U.S. Senate, Nov. 2, 1942

Became public law, Dec. 2, 1942

TRANSFER OF CERTAIN LAND TO THE TERRITORY OF HAWAII

By U.S. Senate Committee on Military Affairs – Report No. 1667 – Nov. 2, 1942

“The Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (H.R. 6013) to authorize the Secretary of War to transfer certain land to the Territory of Hawaii, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with recommendation that it do pass.”

AUTHORIZING THE SECRETARY OF WAR TO TRANSFER CERTAIN LAND TO THE TERRITORY OF HAWAII

By U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Military Affairs – Report No. 2445 - Sept. 14, 1942

“In view of the fact that [Mākua] reservation is no longer needed for military purposes, and since the transfer of [Mākua] parcels No. 2 and 3 to the Hawaiian Government has rendered parcel No. 1 inaccessible and entirely surrounded by public lands, it is recommended that this legislation be enacted…”