Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 14, Number 4, 1 April 1997 — Dream of Kahana Valley "cultural park" frustrates residents [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Dream of Kahana Valley "cultural park" frustrates residents

by Deborah L. Ward The ahupua'a of Kahana is one of 0'ahu's most picturesque rural valleys, the last intact ahupua'a on the island. Since 1966 it has been envisioned as a "living cultural park," where traditional Hawaiian lifestyle and cultural practices co-existed with general park uses. Yet problems in realizing this vision have persisted , say ahupua'a residents. At times they have clashed with the state parks division whieh manages the park, and with eaeh other, over how this concept should be realized. Recently, Kahana residents met with an Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee task force on Kahana to seek OHA's assistance. OHA Trustee-elect Hannah Springer, a task force member, says OHA could advocate in the legislative and administrative arenas for development of community-based solutions. Ben Shafer, a Kahana resident and president of the Friends of Kahana Valley, a non-profit organization, says a major eoneem is the control of the valley by state parks division, and its laek of sensitivity to native Hawaiians. "Their definition of a park is different from ours. I think the difference is in philosophy. DLNR is into developing. We're into preserving. We're talking about living culture. They want pienie tables, barbecue pits and a Boy Scouts eamp. ... DLNR has a master plan but their ideas are inconsistent and ineomplete." Several years ago Kahana residents, including Shafer, sought

through legislation, to transfer Kahana valley to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Though the bill died, Shafer still favors this option, with Friends of Kahana Valley leasing the valley from OHA, and acting as caretaker to carry out a master plan. Shafer says, "It would benefit the public. There is so mueh potential here. ... We could make the area became economically self-sufficient, restore the lo'i, plant other crops. "We have a whole ahupua'a. We ean have fishermen out in the bay, people caring for the fishponds." Kahana's 5,300 acres are still largely undeveloped and reach four miles to the back of the valley. With a large curving bay and a forested sandy shore, it is a popular pienie and camping spot. Mauka of the coastal park are clustered homesites. Kahana is home to about 31 families, some who are descendants of earlier generations who lived there. Many residents are native Hawaiian and still practice traditional self-sufficient lifestyles. Kahana is an ideal loeahon for a "living cultural park" to feature the unique host culture of Hawai'i. In return for 65-year leases from the state parks division, residents must perform 25 hours of service eaeh month, by participating in cultural "interpretive" programs. For some residents who have full-time jobs elsewhere this has proved difficult. Residents share their talents by teaching a cultural art such as lauhala or coconut leaf weaving, lei-making or hula. Or they might demonstrate how to prepare an imu for cooking foods, or canoeing or fishing in the bay. In February, residents worked together to prepare a pro-

īoeoi weieome and pā'ina for the visit of the Hōkūle'a voyaging eanoe. Friends of Kahana Valley plans to apply for federal and

state grants for restoration projects, and recently received a $24,000 OHA grant to elean and restore the Huilua fishpond at the bay's edge. Kahana Community Association president Ululani Bierne adds that residents ean be clearing trails, planting wauke and hala for leis and weaving, opening up land for raising agricultural crops and building a eanoe hālau. "The true spirit of living in an ahupua'a is when the people ean bond together," she says. "We want to prove to the state we ean manage our own park. We wanted OFLA to be the oversight agency." Bierne, a former state representative, and new president of Kahana Community Association, says valley residents are also concerned over problems they have faced in getting mortgage loans for new homes that they had to build because DLNR was relocating them out of a flood zone. Residents being relocated are eligible for $55,000 in housing assistance loans from the Housing Finance Development Corp. Erline "Sunny" Greer, was raised in Kahana on her family's six-acre farm where they raise ti leaves, bananas, papayas, okra, Iong beans,

limes, oranges, mangoes and avocado. She is an outspoken and fervent supporter of the unique Hawaiian identity of the ahupua'a. "We need to keep the environment elean, make it a plaee of refuge. We should be preserving, protecting, restoring and maintaining." The immediate past president of Kahana Community Association, she believes DLNR state parks division needs to be doing more to live up to its responsibility by working with valley residents to preserve and restore the historic sites in Kahana, not paving for parking lots and pienie areas. Greer says DLNR should be clearing away vegetation from heiau and historic sites, restoring the taro fields and 'auwai that still exist, and restoring the Huilua fishpond (its name means "twice joined," says Greer, like a mother's arms) by digging out the sand, removing the mangrove, restoring the pond walls, pulling out alien plants and stocking the pond with Hawaiian fish. She also believes ahupua'a residents should be free to go where they want in the valley without needing to get permission from the park manager to open the combination loek on the valley road.

An OHA grant will soon allow Kahana residents to begin restoration ot the Huilua fishpond