Posted on: Wednesday, August 22, 2001

Interior secretary on Hawai'i visit

By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer

Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton is midway through a 10-day trip to Hawai'i that has focused in part on the military and included a Makua Military Reservation overflight and briefing.

Maj. Nancy Makowski, a spokeswoman for the 25th Infantry Division (Light), said Norton is looking for more opportunities for partnership between the Army and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, which the Department of the Interior oversees.

"Certainly, in our case, partnerships between Fish & Wildlife and the Army have been ongoing for a long period of time," said Makowski, noting that the Fish & Wildlife Service has monitored endangered plant and animal species in the 4,190-acre Makua Valley.

U.S. Pacific Command representatives said it was Norton's first trip to Hawai'i since her confirmation in January as the 48th secretary of the Department of the Interior.

Norton's itinerary included three days on O'ahu and visits to the USS Arizona Memorial, Ford Island and Pacific Commandheadquarters at Camp Smith, where she was to be briefed Monday on "military training land issues" before heading for Makua Valley.

An overflight of Marine Corps Base Hawai'i in Kane'ohe and stop at Diamond Head were to follow.

Yesterday's scheduled stops included tours of Hickam Air Force Base and Pearl Harbor Naval Base. Norton also was expected to stop at the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kaua'i before heading today to the Big Island, where a visit to Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park is planned.

The Department of the Interior oversees more than 400 million acres of public land, including all national parks, monuments and refuges, as well as the Bureau of Land Management, Office of Surface Mining, Fish & Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.