SBCT Final EIS - Govsupport.us

Appendix D ⎯ Responses to Comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement116. Page 3–59, Reptiles: We understand that one of the points of entry for the brown tree snakeon Oahu was through Schofield Barracks. Will there be any extra attention paid by the Armyto make sure that no reptiles enter Oahu on their equipment?Response: With respect to the brown tree snake and other invasive species, all militaryvehicles and equipment returning to Hawaii from Guam are inspected closelyby USDA before leaving Guam. Furthermore, all military equipment leavingfrom and returning to Hawaii from the Continental U.S. is inspected by theUSDA to ensure the protection of Hawaii’s sensitive island ecology from invasivespecies. We thank you for your comment and participation in this publicprocess. Your comment has been considered and included in the administrativerecord for this process.117. In the Sensitive Wildlife Species section on page 3–60, it is mentioned that one of the sensitivespecies found in the area was the endangered bat. In a previous section on TerrestrialMammals on page 3–59, it is stated that the Hawaiian hoary bat, the only native terrestrialmammal on the Hawaiian Islands is not considered present on Oahu. Is the endangered batcited on page 3–60 a species other than the Hawaiian hoary bat or is the Hawaiian hoary batfound on Oahu in the vicinity of Schofield Barracks?Response: The Hawaiian Hoary bat is the bat referred to on page 3–60; however, this informationis incorrect. The bat is not currently found on Oahu but was historicallyknown from Oahu. The text about the Hawaiian Hoary bat has been revised.Please refer to Section 3.1.9.1 to review the revisions. We thank you foryour comment and participation in this public process. Your comment hasbeen considered and included in the administrative record for this process.118. The last paragraph in the Vegetation Community Descriptions section on page 3–65 talksabout the “Lama forest.” Since the term lama forest is not a commonly used descriptive termfor lowland forest in Hawaii, perhaps a descriptive sentence could be added to explain whatthey are. Also, the scientific name of lama should be spelled “Diospyros”.Response: Lama is the common name for Diospyros sandwicensis. The misspelling of thescientific name of lama forest has been corrected. We thank you for yourcomment and participation in this public process. Your comment has beenconsidered and included in the administrative record for this process.119. Table 5–5 is incorrectly titled “Summary of Potential Impacts to Wildlife Management fromAlternative A.” Please change “Wildlife” to “Wildfire.”Response: The typographical error has been corrected. Please refer to Section 5.2.4 toreview the revised table title. We thank you for your comment and participationin this public process. Your comment has been considered and included inthe administrative record for this process.120. Describing the vegetation at PCMS is not an acceptable baseline. The DEIS should look at alarger area for the baseline. Short grass prairie evolved with a ruminant grazing animal inlarge numbers and looking at a piece of prairie that has been taken out of grazing for morethan 25 years does not give an accurate picture.February 2008 D–38 2/25th SBCT Final EIS