As Osan undergoes facelift, cultural
relics' protection is a top priority
By Jim Lea, Osan bureau chief
Jim Lea / Stars and Stripes
A huge gingko tree at the Osan Air Base golf course is listed in the Korean National
Registry. |
OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — What could be called the symbol of
Osan’s environmental protection program stands on a knoll in the middle of the
base’s golf course.
It’s a huge gingko tree that is more than 700 years old.
It’s at least 40 feet tall with 30- or 40-foot branches stretching in all directions.
“It’s a cultural relic listed in the Korean National
Registry, and it’s immensely important,” said Capt. George Matusak, the
base’s Environmental Flight chief. “We keep a pretty close eye on it, and nobody
but golfers gets close to it.”
The tree is only one of many Korean cultural properties listed in a
computer database Matuzak’s office maintains. Others include the many graves dotted
around the base. “We don’t touch the graves,” he said.
Osan is undergoing a multimillion-dollar facelift with new
dormitories, a 300-room visitors quarters, a new 51st Fighter Wing headquarters and much
more.
One of the keys to the extensive construction is ensuring the
cultural properties aren’t endangered.
“No work goes on that our office doesn’t know about,”
he said. “No hole is dug and no new building is sited without our approval.
“Just the other day, work was about to begin on a project near
the site of the old American Forces Network-Korea building. There was concern that there
might be a grave in the vicinity. We looked in our database and found it. We told them,
‘You can build here, but the grave is there. Don’t touch it,’ ” he
said.
Cultural relics aren’t the only concerns for Matusak.
Matusak said the base was registered as a “Tree City USA”
in 1999, 2000 and expects to be this year. That’s a program sponsored by the U.S.
National Arbor Day Foundation, the Forest Service and the National Association of State
Foresters that encourages tree planting and nationally recognizes communities that do.
“We’re not only looking at simply the beauty trees provide,
we’re also thinking about things like soil erosion,” he said.
Issues such as fuel and toxic material storage are other concerns.
Last year during torrential rains, an underground tank ruptured on
base and several thousand gallons of fuel spilled. The spill was stopped and cleanup
operations began immediately. The base also invited environmental officials from Pyongtaek
and Kyonggi Province for a look at the spill, cleanup operations and what would be done in
the future to prevent reoccurrence.
Those Korean officials said they were satisfied with the cleanup
operation.
“We have a spill response team on standby constantly,”
Matusak said. “It goes to work immediately, directing what needs to be done whenever
something happens. So far this year, we’ve done amazingly well. We haven’t had a
single Class 4 leak (more than 100 gallons), only minor things that have been cleaned up
quickly.”
Now, he added, “we’re spending several million dollars to
move all our underground tanks above ground.”
Tank tightness tests are conducted annually at the base and the five
co-located operating bases and two bombing and gunnery ranges wing aircraft use for
training. Co-located operating bases are small U.S. enclaves inside South Korean bases
that are kept in a caretaker status until they are needed in training exercises or in the
event of war.
Osan instituted a program in which all hazardous toxic material
needed for base operations is ordered, tracked and stored by the supply squadron. “A
unit tells the supply people what it needs, they order it, input it into a computer
database, issue it and tells the unit to return whatever it doesn’t use to supply for
storage,” he said. “That keeps toxic material from being stored all over the
base, and we can control it better.”
Matusak says some people are concerned because it appears Osan
doesn’ have a recycling program. That, he says, is a misconception.
“Americans recycle,” he said. “But we don’t have
the separate bins for recyclable material that you see at other bases around the country.
We do, though, have an excellent recycling program. It’s automatic, part of our
refuse collection contract.
“The contractor goes through all the garbage by hand and removes
any recyclable material before he takes the garbage to the landfill. If he puts anything
that’s recyclable into the landfill, he gets fined by the Korean government,” he
added.
Matusak said his office has a budget of $4 million a year to do its
work, “and we keep very busy.
He added that the base follows both U.S. and Korean environmental
protection standards, something that now is mandated by the ROK-U.S. Status of Forces
Agreement.
He said his office works closely through the chain of command with
the Korean Ministry of Environment and Pyongtaek city officials.
“We’re very open, we have nothing to hide,” he said.
“We want them to know that we’re being good caretakers of the environment and we
don’t want to leave a bad footprint.”
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