Many endangered species inhabit the planned construction sites of the U.S. Marine Corp's helipads in northern Okinawa Prefecture, according to the results of an environmental survey conducted by the Defense Facilities Administration Agency and released Tuesday.
The findings will make further research necessary before the construction can go ahead, agency officials said.
Tokyo and Washington reached an agreement in 1999 on the construction of seven alternative heliports on the condition that more than half the space occupied by the Marine Corp's Northern Training Center be returned to Okinawans by the end of March 2002.
The DFAA's plan to conduct at least two more years of additional surveys of the proposed construction site, known locally as the Yambaru forest, means construction of the heliports will be further delayed.