Public sees Makua fire damage
By Will Hoover
Advertiser Leeward O'ahu Writer
Yesterday, as lightning split the darkened sky and rolling thunder echoed through the normally sunny valley, the public got its first glimpse of the Makua Military Reservation since a military "control burn" gone awry scorched about 2,500 acres last week.
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About 45 residents and military personnel took part in a regularly scheduled cultural access tour coordinated by an activist group, Malama Makua, which has tried to have the valley returned to civilian control.
About 45 residents and military personnel took part in a cultural access tour coordinated by the activist group Malama Makua yesterday at Makua Military Reservation. About 2,500 acres burned in the valley last week when a fire set by the military got out of control when winds shifted.
And while there were some hard words about how the fire had been allowed to do such damage, there was an acknowledgement that the military was being open about the situation and trying to work with the community.
Several in the gathering implied that the foreboding weather reflected the anger of the spirits at the Army's handling of the valley since it began using it as a training area in the 1940s.
"This means something," said Maralyn Kurshals, one of several Wai'anae Coast Neighborhood Board members in attendance. "They are poor stewards of the land and need to be out of Makua now."
Native Hawaiians have expressed their displeasure with the military's presence in the valley after so many decades. William Aila, one of several who offered Ho'o kupu offerings at an ahu, or stone altar, reminded the military that it promised to clean up and leave the valley in six months — "And that was during World War II, more than 60 years ago," he said.
Malama Makua member Fred Dodge declared the valley "devastated." He said he wants the military to leave the valley once it cleans it up.
"I feel we've been betrayed by the Army," said activist Sparky Rodrigues, who announced that he had come to ask for the resignation of the person responsible. When he put the question directly to Col. David Anderson, the garrison commander, Anderson replied, "I have no intention of resigning."
The purpose of Tuesday's control burn was to make it easier to find and remove unexploded ordnance and find Hawaiian cultural sites. But, according to the military, the burn went out of control when winds shifted three hours after the fire was ignited. The fire was brought under control Thursday.
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"We all agreed that this needed to be done," Anderson said. "And this is the bad part. The good news is that we kept it within the military reservation, and that we did regain control before it got outside. And, we've been very open and honest with the public about what happened."
Activist Leandra Wai points to "Papa Hanau Moku," a petroglyph that is among Makua's most sacred cultural objects.
William Paty, a liaison between the military and the public, referred to the fire as a "substantial setback in the perception of the Army's ability to protect the valley."
But he stressed the vital need for a location where soldiers can train, particularly because of the events of 9-11, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, building tensions in the Middle East and uncertainty in such places as North Korea and Liberia.
Anderson said a silver lining of the fire is that more unexploded ordnance analysis is possible and that more cultural resources have been uncovered.
It was in 2000 that Eric Brundage, one of the military's experts on unexploded ordnance, rediscovered a prehistoric petroglyph that is now considered one of the valley's most sacred cultural objects. The military's official name for the petroglyph is Feature 11 at State Site No. 50803. But community members refer to it by the name it was affectionately given by activist Leandra Wai — Papa Hanau Moku, which Wai said means, "The Land That Gives Birth to The Islands."
When members of the tour visited the site yesterday, they learned why the area immediately around the petroglyph was still intact while vegetation nearby was a moonscape of ashes.
"When the fire started moving down here really fast, one of the Army firemen came out here in a hose truck to spray down the petroglyph," said archaeologist Laurie Lucking, cultural resources manager for U.S. Army Garrison Hawai'i. "As the fire approached he nearly got trapped — the fire was all around him — but he kept hosing down the petroglyph. And that's what saved it."
"You have got to give credit where credit is due," Dodge said. "And the good news is that they did protect this very important site.
"I'm also happy to say that the military has been accommodating here today."
Dodge expressed hope that if both sides remain flexible, it's possible that something positive could come from the ashes of Makua.
Christina Kemmer, civilian aide to the secretary of the Army, Hawai'i, was also hopeful.
"We have to work together," she said.
The cultural access tours are part of a legal settlement reached between the military and Malama Makua in October 2001 in which the civilian group was given limited access to the valley and the Army was allowed to conduct limited training.
The Army was also ordered to complete an environmental impact study.
