Navy Protects Native Species at Lualualei

Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Naval Magazine Lualualei Branch, is home to several native and endangered Hawaiian water birds and plants. It is the Navy’s job to protect these natural resources as long as it continues to operate at this location.

The Lualualei Annex is located in the coastal town of Nanakuli, about 30 miles from Honolulu. The installation sits near mountains in an area where brushfires are a concern during the summer months due to the dry weather conditions on the island’s leeward side. The Navy environmental team took the brushfire concerns and wove them into methods used to design and plan for native wildlife and plant protection.

Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Naval Magazine Lualualei Branch, is home to several native and endangered Hawaiian waterbirds and plants. It is the Navy’s job to protect these natural resources as long as it continues to operate at this location.

The Lualualei Annex is located in the coastal town of Nanakuli, about 30 miles from Honolulu. The installation sits near mountains in an area where brushfires are a concern during the summer months due to the dry weather conditions on the island’s leeward side. The Navy environmental team took the brushfire concerns and wove them into methods used to design and plan for native wildlife and plant protection.

During a recent visit to the Lualualei Annex, Kimber Troumbley, a terrestrial natural resource specialist with Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command, Hawaii, noted the many protected native plants that reside in and are close to grassy fields that are fire prone.

“So, we’ve got these big antenna fields, and then there are these invasive grasses and these dry, wooded areas,” she said, pointing toward the dry brush that expands out and comes near the protected area. “We have this convenient road here that starts to create a firebreak, and then we have these nice weed mats in here.”

Troumbley said the roadway would help slow down the progress of open flames rushing across the grassy land area if there was a brushfire. If the flames continued, they would run to a line of native – but not endangered – plants called “‘A‘ali‘i” on the other side. This plant stands up well against wind and is fire tolerant. She then motioned toward a large black tarp laid across a row of invasive weeds on the other side of the road between protected native plants.

“We laid the weed mat down and then planted all of these non-endangered plants around our endangered species inside.”

This next layer of vegetation would also slow down the flames. That layer is made up of native plants called “Maʻo” which is a coastal species adapted to dry conditions and can assist in holding moisture into the soil. The Ma‘o creates an additional buffer. Although these outplants are protected native species, they are not as rare as the endangered plants located here at Lualualei.

“By planting the native non-endangered plants, the natural resource team hopes to not only shield the endangered plants from potential fire threats but also promote native vegetation in the area allowing the endangered plants to self-propagate and grow within healthy native habitat,” Troumbley said.

Additionally, these methods add to native plant populations, increasing the resilience of native ecosystems and native plant survival. The natural resource team planned the firebreak design like the extended layers of an onion ensuring the most endangered plants are protected at the center.

“If the fire did come through, they would stop it, and not reach those endangered plants that we’re trying to protect,” said Troumbley.

Deeper into the vegetation live the abutilon menziesii, or Ko‘oloa‘ula. These plants are native to Hawaii and are listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The JBPHH natural resource team manages the protection of the plant, and they work with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) to ensure this species does not go extinct.

“We work with DLNR and Waianae Mountains Watershed Partnership,” said Troumbley. “(The Navy works with) the state’s Rare Plant Protection program to collect ESA-listed plant seeds to put them into a rare seed bank, and the state can also use the seeds to propagate seedlings.”

She added that “by slowly expanding these conservation areas utilizing the firebreak method, the natural resource staff envisions a future where Lualualei landscape is characterized by native vegetation, less invasive grasses, and mitigated fire risk conditions.”

The U.S. Congress passed the Endangered Species Act of 1973, and according to the document, it was because the law makers determined various wildlife and plants were going extinct due to growth and development. Fifty years later, the Navy continues to comply with these laws of protection.

“We have the Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan (INRMP,) which is our guidance document,” said Nicole Olmsted, Navy Region Hawaii’s conservation manager. “It has our requirements for compliance, and we have projects that show us what we can do for management and improve habitat quality for our species because we want to be good stewards of the land that we use.”

Not far from where the protected plants are is a fenced-off area with signs informing people of a designated wildlife refuge location. This area is an unexpected wetland that is home to several ESA-listed waterbirds.

“We have a wetland here at Lualualei, and it’s home to native birds, including the endangered Hawaiian coot,” said Olmsted.

The ‘Alae ke‘oke‘o, or Hawaiian coot, is native to the state, and according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Services, is smaller and genetically distinct from the American coot on the North American continent.

“And they are nesting out here,” said Olmsted. “We’ve seen more nesting, and we’ve done invasive weed removal from the ponds to open up the wetlands so that they have habitat. They are increasing in population size here, so it’s exciting to see.”

The work that the Navy environmental team is doing here might not be noticed very often. However, tucked away here at Lualualei Annex is a quiet natural resource management program designed to protect native wildlife and plants, and continue the Navy’s conservation and land stewardship mission.