The Hawaii Conservation Alliance is sponsoring a lecture this week regarding the soil of Kahoolawe. 

Cynthia Stiles, a soil scientist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, is expected to speak on Tuesday about a soil survey conducted on the largely uninhabited island last year. The talk is due to be held at the ING Direct cafi in Waikiki.

The military used Kahoolawe as a target and training area from World War II through 1990, when then-President George H.W. Bush ordered a halt to the exercises after years of protests and lawsuits from native Hawaiian groups.

The cleanup of the island began in 1998. 

Earlier soil surveys of Kahoolawe were done in 1942 for the military, and in 1995 to help early restoration plans.