Marines fencing Waikane area
By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer
| • | "I don't want to give anyone the impression that within two years something wonderful is going to happen and that piece of property is going to magically be cleaned up. It's going to be a long process."
Maj. Chris Hughes |
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"Construction of the fence is ongoing," said Maj. Chris Hughes of Marine Corps Base Hawai'i in Kane'ohe. He said that within the next two weeks crews will be transporting fencing materials via helicopter to Waikane Valley.
The project is expected to take at least six months.
"That's the hope," Hughes said. "It's going to be a heck of a job. The terrain is extremely challenging. We expect crews installing the fence to encounter delays.
"It's going to be done in segments, and the high ground is going to be the last phase to be completed."
Art Machado, chairman of the Kahalu'u Neighborhood Board, said area residents feel strongly that the military should clean up Waikane Valley, not merely fence it off. Machado said military officials explained to the board at a meeting in November that the valley is too dangerous to use for training and that it would be too expensive to clean up.
"They said it's not safe for them, and they are not going to clean it up," said Machado, who reported that more than 100 people attended that meeting.
"They were upset. They are not satisfied with the fencing idea."
During World War II the military leased the land from the Kamaka family and used it for target practice and training through the mid-1970s. The military eventually took title of the land after it was condemned, but told the Kamaka family it would one day be returned to them after it was cleaned up.
In 2002 the Marine Corps proposed returning to Waikane Valley for training. However, after an exhaustive study, it concluded that the cleanup would be too costly. That's when it announced the security fence would be put in to protect the public from possible unexploded ordnance.
Hughes, who emphasized that the Marines want to work with the community, said that over time the Department of Defense has tried to address the problems of cleaning up training and target areas, such as it did with Kaho'olawe and other target ranges around the country. But that process takes time, he said.
"I don't want to give anyone the impression that within two years something wonderful is going to happen and that piece of property is going to magically be cleaned up," he said. "It's going to be a long process.
"And that's why constructing the fence is the prudent, responsible thing to do to ensure that the hiker or the pig hunter doesn't accidentally find himself in that area."
Reach Will Hoover at 525-8038 or whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.
