The Army has completed its final environmental impact statement for the permanent stationing of a Stryker brigade at Schofield Barracks. Not surprisingly, the Army favors siting the brigade here.

It remains to be seen whether this conclusion will satisfy the federal courts.

What also needs clarity is how the Army will address the broader implications of its impact on Hawai'i's environment, including whether a Stryker deployment will affect its plans to use Makua Valley.

A supplement to the EIS was prepared as a result of a finding by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that the Army had failed to consider alternative locations.

Now, the Army has weighed a Schofield home base against two alternatives: Fort Richardson, Alaska, and Fort Carson, Colo. Hawai'i "is best able to meet the Army's strategic defense and national security needs in the Pacific theater," according to the EIS. A Hawai'i site gives the Army an additional deployment facility to respond rapidly in the Pacific; Alaska already has Stryker brigades.

That sounds justifiable, strategically. But the Stryker EIS states that it does not analyze impacts on the Makua Military Reservation, which is where Army live-fire training has been the subject of a separate controversy and comprehensive environmental study that is not yet finished.

Army officials explain in the current EIS that Makua is not needed to station the Stryker brigade in Hawai'i; the impact of live-fire training in Makua will be covered by the EIS required to continue activities in the culturally and environmentally sensitive valley.

Let's be sure that the value the community places on Makua doesn't get lost in the shuffle. If a permanent Stryker base is established here, the resources of Schofield and Pohakuloa training ranges are likely to be devoted to the needs of that unit, leaving fewer fallback options for live-fire training.

Regardless, this difficulty doesn't diminish Makua's importance as a repository of native species and historical artifacts, and the conflicts that training poses when a residential community is nearby.

We believe a balance must be struck among our nation's need to ensure a well-trained national defense force, the local economy and the desires of the host community our military is sworn to protect.