Kaneohe Marines today got a chance to take their amphibious assault vehicles out for a spin in real-life conditions.

In a program that began in the early 1980s, the Marines drive their vehicles through the Nuupia Ponds Wildlife Management Area adjacent to the Marine base.

The exercises, held each spring, help to break up weeds on the mudflats and open habitat areas for the endangered Hawaiian Stilt. The exercises also help control invasive pickleweed ground cover that could crowd the birds out of their nesting areas and open better foraging grounds.

In addition, the checkerboard patterns that the vehicles drive in leave water-filled furrows that discourage predator access.