Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 12, Number 9, 1 Kepakemapa 1995 — Kaho ʻolawe draft use plan presented [ARTICLE]

Kaho ʻolawe draft use plan presented

by Jeff Clark "The kino of Kanaloa is restored." That's a hell of a sentence with whieh to begin a major planning effort, one that will guide the United States military in expending hundreds of millions of federal dollars over the next few years. But it's delightfully typical of the Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Commission (KIRC), created by the state and funded by the federal govemment to guide the Navy in its restoration of Kaho'olawe. The commissioners begin eaeh meeting with a chant beseeching deceased ancestors, and when the 50 years of practice bombing is discussed the hardware and its resultant debris are frequently referred to as "kūkae." The KIRC used that opening sentence as the first declaration in its vision statement for the future of Kaho'olawe. It means the island of Kaho'olawe, the material incamation of one of the four major Hawaiian and Polynesian gods - Kanaloa, god of the sea - has been re-endowed with the spirit of that deity. The vision statement and a set of landuse guidelines steeped in [the] Hawaiian culture contributed toward the composition of a draft land use plan that was presented to the public at statewide meetings in mid-July. The plan outlines the way the commission envisions the island to be used. When complete, the plan will serve as a guide for the eleanup plan - ostensibly, the Navy will elean the island to make it safe for the declared future uses. Stanton Enomoto, KIRC environmental analyst, said the use plan and the eleanup plan will be "very interdependent." Keoni Fairbanks, KIRC executive director,

emphasized that the island will only be partially cleaned. It will be rehabilitated merely to a point that would allow proposed uses, because the bombardment was so heavy that the Navy "would have to go down 50 feet and sift the sand and then put it all back" if the goal was a complete eleanup. The plan was devised by the firm PBR Hawai'i, with input from commissioners, focus groups eomprised of cultural and scientific experts, and others intimately familiar with the island including Les Kuloloio, Pualani Kanahele, Rowland Reeve, Davianna McGregor and Hardy Spoehr. The commission is hoping to complete work on the draft use plan by late August so it ean be shared with the Navy and then collaboratively completed by the end of the year. The plan specifies these future uses and facilities: • four Kahua Kauhale or primary education and culture centers with living areas (including a permanent house for a resident kahu and family equipped with water system, kitchen, waste storage and disposal system, solar electric and propane utilities backed by small generators, helipad, buoy moorings, hālau and pā wa'a [eanoe enclosure]); • 16 Kahua Ho'omoana or campsites (including a lua, pā wa'a, imu and outdoor fireplace); • Ho'ōla Hou or revegetation/soil stabilization areas. The plan identifies the hardpan and the heads of the gullies as critical areas for restoration; projects will include stream diversions, reservoirs, terracing, irrigation, and planting of native species; • six Kīhāpai Ho'oulu/Punawai or nurseries/reservoirs using natural water collected in the uplands; continued on page 8

Kaho'olawe draft use plan

• four Mahi'ai or agricultural areas, planting areas dependent on restoration and the availability of rain, dew or irrigation; • Kula or open lands, areas not designated for other uses, whieh will be revegetated with native plants; • Kai Lawai'a or areas for fīshing and oeean gathering - outside marine sanctuaries - for subsistence, cultural and educational purposes; • two Kai Kapu or marine sanctuaries at Black Rock and Kanapou Bay, where there will be no fishing or gathering; • four Mea Kanu/Mea Holoholona a me nā I'a or botanical/wildlife preserves, habitats for rare flora

and fauna; • a Kahua Kahiko or cultural/historical preserve at Honokoa where human activity will be eontrolled and where there will be no improvements except site protection and stabilization; • Alanui/Ala Hele or roads and trails - the existing road will be extended in six directions for restoration, fire control, access, and monitoring purposes; a trail around the entire island will be cleared; and mauka-makai trails will link the shoreline with the main mauka road; and • Ka Wai or water sources - three existing cistems will be restored; three new desalinization units and 17 water catchment tanks will be

installed. At the O'ahu public meeting, July 19 at Leeward Community College, one member of the eommunity expressed eoneem over the cost of developing the island so that the uses outlined in the draft use plan ean be possible. Ron Hughes wanted to know, "Who's gonna pay?" A. Frenchy DeSoto, KIRC eommissioner and OHA trustee, explained that the cost will not be exorbitant because of volunteers and because development will be relatively minimal. "The island has a basis of culture that does not require condominiums, does not require eemenl walkways. ... We're not looking at contempo-

rary-type" development, she said. "Our vision is not condos." In an interview, KIRC executive director Keoni Fairbanks acknowledged that, while there is federal money for the eleanup (Congress pledged $400 million over 10 years to remove ordnanee), there has been none set aside to develop the island for use. The commission gets 1 1 percent of the federal funds to cover its operational costs, Fairbanks said. and he hopes to minimize thos» costs so the savings ean be used for cultural purposes. For example. some of those funds have already been used by the commission to contract the Edith Kanaka'ole Foundation to

develop a cultural protocol. The protocol guides workers and others in how to act in a culturally appropriate manner when visiting or working on Kaho'olawe. Phyllis "Coochie" Cayan asked if victims of domestic abuse would be able to use Kaho'olawe, whieh the commission has said is a pu'uhonua, or plaee of refuge. Protect Kaho'olawe 'Ohana member Davianna McGregor, volunteering at the meeting as a spokesperson for the KIRC, said questions such as Cayan's would be decided by the commission as management issues. Approximately 60 people attended the meeting.