Malu 'Aina

Today, Pöhakuloa is being bombed with live-fire artillery, shelled with mortars, pierced with rockets, blasted with grenades, and penetrated with machine gun fire.  This includes live-fire training with troops, tanks, drones, assault helicopters, armored vehicles, howitzers, etc. that are also creating a disturbance upon the land.

You can witness examples of such live-fire training online at the following links:

PTA Gun 1 Direct Fire Mission
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIJKsj0ZN-w&feature=relmfu

Mortar Training at PTA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g_DXBzH-CY&feature=related

Marines at PTA.mpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYl6s3V5Nms&feature=related

PTA Battery 5 round mission.MOV
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkCiEFoxEzo

1/12 artillery, 2009 PTA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7WvsJVgBV4&feature=relmfu

The Pöhakuloa Training Area (PTA) under the control of the U.S. Army is the largest live-fire range and training complex (132,000 acres) in Hawai‘i or anywhere in the Pacific region.  Within PTA is an artillery impact area of 51,000 acres that has been so heavily bombarded for nearly 60 years that it considered an extremely hazardous zone because it contains a significant amount unexploded ordinance (referred to as MEC/UXO).

In addition, health issues for this land and our people include residues of depleted uranium (DU) that was used in the munitions during the 1960’s as well as the disbursement of lead from the ammunition of small arms firing from past and ongoing training.

What is presently happening at Pöhakuloa is what was happening on the island of Kaho‘olawe when it was used for live-firing training and as a bombing target by the U.S. Navy and other military forces.

For those who still remember, it was also a time when kanaka such as George Helm and others spoke out that we are connected to the ‘äina and that such desecration should not continue.  His message was simple, “We are in a revolution of consciousness. What we are looking for is the truth. There is man, and there is the environment.  One does not supercede the other. Man is merely the caretaker of the land, that maintains his life and nourishes his soul. The land is sacred. The church of life is not in a building, it is in the open sky, the surrounding ocean, and the beautiful soil.” This was his philosophy which serves as a reminder that the health of our ‘äina is directly connected to the health of our people.

Accounts about the issues surrounding the protection of the cultural and natural resources on Kaho‘olawe can be revisited online at the following links:

Story of Kahoolawe by Those Who Were There
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_db6kAZdBW4&feature=related

Kaho’olawe Aloha ‘Aina – George Helm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwifpCaanis&feature=related

Kaho`olawe Video Archive – Harvey Ota, Keoki Fukumitsu at `Iolani Palace, 1982
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3vn9eR598U&feature=relmfu

Kaho`olawe Video Archive – Joyce Kainoa at `Iolani Palace, 1982
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpccWQtDwX4&feature=relmfu

Kahoolawe Reborn Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW9g2i6mCeY&feature=relmfu

The movement led by the Protect Kaho‘olawe ‘Ohana to stop the bombing of Kahoʻolawe and to have the island returned to the people of Hawaiʻi provides a message of hope in achieving such an incredible feat.  As a result of those who came forth at that time, the U.S. Navy transferred title of ownership of the island back to the State of Hawaiʻi on May 9, 1994.
Subsequently, the Protect Kahoʻolawe ʻOhana, the Kahoʻolawe Island Reserve Commission, and thousands of volunteers continue to combine their effortsof stewardship and transformation to revegetate and restore the island’s natural and cultural resources.

Through Kahoʻolawe, we experienced even larger lessons about our Papahänaumoku (Earth Mother) and how we, as kanaka, have a responsibility to care for and nurture the natural resources of earth, sea, and sky.  Our küpuna understood and honored this responsibility as Aloha ‘Äina, a loving care for the natural elements, resources, and forces of life.  Accordingly, it is about living in harmony with the ‘äina, kai, and everything else we are connected to.

The U.S. Army is proposing to upgrade the Pöhakuloa Training Area by renovating and constructing new facilities in the Cantonment area, widening and upgrading access roads, and constructing integrated training facilities known as the Infantry Platoon Battle Course (IPBC), Live-fire Shoothouse, and Military Operations on Urban Terrain (MOUT) within the IPBA that would be built on land within the artillery impact area.  Some of these proposed projects include expanding the live-fire training and increasing the desecration and impacts upon these lands of Pöhakuloa.

Pöhakuloa is a key cultural and spiritual area for Hawai‘i Island.  There are significant sites within its landscape.   Ancestral guardians of this land have made their presence known and shared that within this area can be found the energetic center of this island.  In earlier times, there was a group of elderly men who would walk along these energy lines that run East-West and North-South, intersecting at Pu‘u Koli within Pöhakuloa, in addition to one that encircles the entire island.  Our küpuna walked upon these lines of energy because they knew the significance of maintaining them.  Lines such as these are part of the energy grids that sustain the vitality and health at many different levels for this island and its people.

The U.S. Army is required by law Section 106 to consult with Native Hawaiian Organizations (NHOs) and Native Hawaiian (NH) individuals who have an interest and/or connection to this area due to the proposed undertaking.

At the moment, a Programmatic Agreement is being drafted by the U.S. Army to push forward the proposed expansion projects at PTA without adequate input from NHOs and NH individuals.  The U.S. Army is inferring that there aren’t any others who are interested in being consulted.

What can be done? Your Native Hawaiian organization and/or Native Hawaiian individuals can contact the PTA Commander directly and formally request to be consulted as part of Section 106 on this Programmatic Agreement and future projects at Pöhakuloa:

Commander of the Army Garrison – PTA,
Lt. Colonel Eric P. Shwedo
P.O. Box 4607, Hilo, HI 96720-0607
Email:  eric.p.shwedo.mil@mail.mil

It is as simple as having the U.S. Army and others know that we haven’t forgotten what our küpuna deeply understood, Aloha ‘Äina (love and respect for the land). We can help others remember that our ‘äina is still sacred.

Every voice is significant just as every signature was significant when many of our küpuna signed the anti-annexation petitions after the 1893 overthrow.

Your organization can also be listed on the NHO Notification List compiled by the U.S. Department of Interior, Office of Hawaiian Relations, found at http://www.doi.gov/ohr/nativehawaiians/list.html.

In addition, your organization can also request to be listed with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the State Historic Preservation Division on their Section 106 Consultation Lists.

Also, if you want to be contacted when other such information becomes available to us regarding Pöhakuloa, we can put you on our email alert listing by sending a request to ekflores@hawaiiantel.net.  Likewise, if you wish to be removed from this email listing, just let us know.

Feel free to circulate this correspondence to other Native Hawaiian Organizations and Native Hawaiian individuals who have an interest in protecting our ‘äina.


Me ke aloha o ka ‘äina,
E. Kalani Flores
Representative of Flores-Case ‘Ohana
P.O. Box 6918
Kamuela HI 96743
ekflores@hawaiiantel.net

Ahu where energy lines intersect at Pu’u Koli overlooking Pohakuloa.