Aloha and Welcome!
Welcome to the United States (U.S.) Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) Land-Based Training and Testing environmental planning website.
This website is an online resource for information on the preparation of the Environmental Assessment (EA) to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of the Proposed Action to continue conducting land-based, multi-domain (air, land, sea, space, and cyberspace) training and testing, including an increase in activities among the military services on lands under federal jurisdiction at PMRF and Ka‘ula Island. The Missile Defense Agency is a cooperating agency because of its launch activities at PMRF, and the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, and U.S. Marine Corps are participating in the development of the EA as additional range users.
On Sept.19, 2025, the Navy, in cooperation with the Missile Defense Agency, released a Final EA for proposed land-based training and testing activities within the Study Area. The Final EA contains the results of the environmental analysis of the Proposed Action and the potential impacts on the human and natural environment. The Navy sincerely thanks all who participated in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process for this important project. Members of the public, Native Hawaiian Organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and State of Hawaiʻi agencies provided valuable input and shared their cultural, ecological, and traditional knowledge of Kauaʻi and Kaʻula Island to improve and strengthen the environmental impact analysis. Public involvement is an integral part of the NEPA and National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) Section 106 processes.
Based on the analysis presented in the Final EA, consideration of public comments received on the Draft EA, and potential effects on historic properties, the Navy determined that implementation of the Proposed Action would not have reasonably foreseeable significant effects on the quality of the human or natural environment. As a result, the Navy has signed a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) and an Environmental Impact Statement will not be prepared.
In accordance with the NHPA, the Navy is consulting with Native Hawaiian Organizations and the Hawaiʻi State Historic Preservation Officer to develop a memorandum of agreement that will minimize or mitigate adverse effects on Kaʻula Island, a recently identified traditional cultural place. While this consultation is pending, no training will occur on the island unless the Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet authorizes it for national defense or national security purposes.
PMRF and the EA Study Area
PMRF is a premier testing and training area where new technologies are tested and military service members are trained to defend the United States and its territories, interests, and allies. Strategically situated in the Hawaiian Islands, PMRF provides a realistic environment for training and testing in the use of surface, subsurface, land, air, and space weapons systems. PMRF’s unique location includes relatively isolated ocean areas to the north, south, and west that safely and effectively support military readiness activities. Training and testing activities have been conducted at PMRF for decades. Please visit PMRF Kaua‘i and PMRF Barking Sands websites to find out more about PMRF.
The Study Area for the EA consists of lands within federal jurisdiction at PMRF Barking Sands (Main Base)*, a roughly 0.5-mile-wide and 7.5-miles-long area, beginning at the high tide line and extending inland to the boundary of the PMRF installation. The Study Area also includes Ka‘ula Island, an offshore islet under federal jurisdiction where gunnery and bombing exercises with non-explosive (inert) ordnance occur.
The Study Area does not include any of the lease or easement lands (Kōkeʻe, Makaha Ridge, Miloliʻi Ridge, Kamokalā, Mānā Water Well, or lease lands that abut Barking Sands) for which the State of Hawaiʻi currently maintains jurisdiction. There are no proposed changes in use or operations at these locations and the current level of operations are analyzed in the PMRF and Kōkeʻe Park Geophysical Observatory Real Estate Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that is concurrently in development. There are no proposed changes in use or testing and training activities at Port Allen or Ni‘ihau; therefore these locations were not included in the scope of the EA. Activities at these location were analyzed in the 2008 Hawaiʻi Range Complex EIS (Volume 1; additional volumes also available).
*Note that “Main Base” is a common naming convention for Navy fee simple, leasehold, and easement lands on the Mānā Plain. The PMRF Land-Based Training and Testing EA includes an analysis of the potential impacts from the Proposed Action only on the fee simple (federal jurisdiction) lands.