Awards underscore Army's commitment to the aina

By Col. Douglas S. Mulbury

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Jun 10, 2012

~~<p>The aina in Hawaii is a finite and irreplaceable resource, and its importance in Hawaiian culture is without question. The aina holds that same importance for U.S. Army forces stationed here. The training of ground forces requires our use of the land, yet with that training comes a critical responsibility to care and protect the aina. Here in Hawaii, the Army takes that obligation very seriously.</p>
<p>We are bound by federal law to fully comply with numerous environmental statutes: the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Endangered Species Act, National Environmental Protection Act and National Historic Preservation Act, among others. We work closely with the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Hawaii Department of Health and the state Historic Preservation Office. We invest more than $16 million annually in Hawaii on environmental protection, with a staff of more than 130 experts — professionally trained biologists, archeologists and others — to protect more than 100 threatened and endangered species and numerous cultural and historic sites entrusted to our care.</p>
~~

The aina in Hawaii is a finite and irreplaceable resource, and its importance in Hawaiian culture is without question. The aina holds that same importance for U.S. Army forces stationed here. The training of ground forces requires our use of the land, yet with that training comes a critical responsibility to care and protect the aina. Here in Hawaii, the Army takes that obligation very seriously.

We are bound by federal law to fully comply with numerous environmental statutes: the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Endangered Species Act, National Environmental Protection Act and National Historic Preservation Act, among others. We work closely with the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Hawaii Department of Health and the state Historic Preservation Office. We invest more than $16 million annually in Hawaii on environmental protection, with a staff of more than 130 experts — professionally trained biologists, archeologists and others — to protect more than 100 threatened and endangered species and numerous cultural and historic sites entrusted to our care. Login for more...