The Army cited strategic advantages Tuesday in deciding to keep a Stryker brigade based at Schofield Barracks on Oahu and to train the unit at Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island.

Lt. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, commander of U.S. Army, Pacific, said the military would continue to protect Hawaii’s natural resources. Environmentalists have raised concerns about potential damage to Hawaii’s fragile environment and cultural sites.

In 2005, the Army started transforming a light infantry brigade at Schofield into a Stryker brigade, a unit of 4,000 soldiers and 310 of the eight-wheeled, 19-ton Stryker vehicles.

But environmentalists and Native Hawaiian groups won a federal appeals court order requiring an environmental impact statement that thoroughly analyzed alternatives. The Army study, which was completed in February, considered basing the brigade in Alaska or Colorado.

But the Army said Tuesday it concluded Hawaii would best meet its strategic defense and national security needs.

“The Stryker brigade’s capabilities significantly increase our ability to win any conflict in the Pacific,” Mixon said. “We know that Hawaii has limited space and beautiful natural resources. We will continue to protect them.”

Hawaii’s Democratic U.S. Sens. Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka praised the announcement.

“We can and must find a balance between preserving Hawaii’s natural and cultural resources, and our need to make sure our brave men and women in the military have the training they need to fulfill their missions,” Akaka said.

David Henkin, an Earthjustice lawyer who represented environmentalists and Native Hawaiian groups in the court case, said a preliminary review of the Army’s decision provided some welcome news.

He noted the Army said it would consider a live-fire training range alternative to Makua Military Reservation, which is in a valley sacred to Native Hawaiians.

“It’s a very positive development because it indicates that finally there is an openness to at least evaluating alternative locations to Makua,” Henkin said.

The Army considers Makua vital to soldier readiness but Native Hawaiian groups value the remote valley for its temples and other sacred and cultural sites. Environmentalists point to several dozen endangered species that inhabit the valley.

Henkin said he was still reviewing the rest of the document to see whether it provides enough information for the reasons behind Hawaii’s selection.