Okinawa’s Marine bases have won the Secretary of the Navy’s Environmental Quality Overseas Award, one of 17 individual and base environmental awards bestowed for fiscal year 2004.
Each award is to be presented at a ceremony Tuesday at the U.S. Navy Memorial and Naval Heritage Center in Washington, D.C.
Staff at the Facilities Engineering and Environmental Branch on Camp Foster credit the award to ongoing work on their environmental management system, as well as projects measuring ecosystem impacts.
The new management system emphasizes studying and mapping Okinawa for problems before they happen, said environmental officer Joseph Vogel.
The branch hopes to put rules and procedures in place that would let the system be confirmed independently as meeting the world-recognized ISO 14001 standard for environmental management.
“Meeting the standard carries a lot of credibility with the Japanese government,” Vogel said.
The large swaths of natural habitat and thousands of species that live on Okinawa, particularly in the north, make environmental management unique among Marine bases, he said.
For example, wild boar populations have risen on base lands while falling in other parts of the island. Species threatened by the island’s imported mongoose population also are a concern, Vogel said.
The environmental branch also educates locals who farm on base land about proper pesticide use and erosion, he said.
A geographical information system gives the branch a leg up in determining how erosion and other problems impact the environment. With the GIS, planners can plot where a hazardous material spill would flow and which storm drains to protect, Vogel said.
But advanced technology only goes so far to protect natural resources without local participation, planners say.
“More people want to do the right thing,” said deputy environmental officer Maj. Brent Ronning. “More people realize they want to be good neighbors. They don’t want to be the ugly American.”
Base residents and workers can help by putting recyclables in separate trash bags, Vogel said — and by not pouring cooking oil down the drain. Local wastewater systems are not meant to process the oil but products like Tempuru, available at Japanese grocery stores, solidify cooking oil, allowing it to be recycled, Vogel said.
