Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 17, Number 8, 1 ʻAukake 2000 — Kahoʻolawe Island Reserve Commission continues its mission [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Kahoʻolawe Island Reserve Commission continues its mission

By Heieli Meeker, KIRC ĪHE KAHO'OLAWE Island Reserve Commission (KIRC), the agency responsible for managing the island, has completed six years of operations and is setting a course for the future, after completion of the U.S. Navy's elean-up of unexploded ordnance and scrap from the former target island. The KIRC staff will move its main offices from Honolulu to Wailuku in the fall to be better positioned for Kaho'olawe's management.

New commissioners This year the Commission welcomes one new member, Robert Lu'uwai, a Federal Aviation Administration employee and a descendant of Mākena fishing families. It also extended its appreciation to Palikapu Dedman, a long-time native rights advocate and Ka'ū coffee farmer, who completed a four-year term on the commission. Both Lu'uwai and Dedman are active with the Protect Kaho'olawe 'Ohana, the organization that began the movement to end the bombing almost 25 years ago. Two KIRC commissioners were confirmed for full four-year terms after serving last year as interim appointees. Dr. Isabella Abbott, an

O'ahu ethnobotanist specializing in limu, was appointed by the governor from a list of nominees submitted by Native Hawaiian organizations. Jeffrey Y.L. Chang was appointed by Maui Mayor Kimo Apana to fill a KIRC seat reserved for a Maui County representative. Chang is an executive assistant in Maui County's Department of Management. The new commissioners join Chairperson Noa Emmett Aluli, Moloka'i physician; Vice Chairperson Colette Machado, Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee; State Land Board Chair Tim Johns; and Burt Sakata, a long-time volunteer with the Protect Kaho'olawe 'Ohana. New Projects In June, the KIRC approved a fiscal year 2001 budget that includes a number of new program initiatives. KIRC will hire a risk management consultant to begin designing methods for gathering site-specific data and evaluating risk so that the island ean be used as a cultural reserve while also providing a safe environment. A water catchment system with a half-acre sized catchment surface will be KIRC's first on-island infrastructure project. Construction of the half-million gallon system will begin this year at Lua Makika, the crater at the summit of the island. Besides catching water, the fiscal year 2001 budget also included funds for a critical rescue mission of

delivering water to the last two Kanaloa kahoolawensis plants living "in the wild" anywhere in the world. A helicopter will carry water to 'Ale'ale, a rock pinnaele on Kaho'olawe's south coast where eaeh plant will get several gallons of water to get it through this particularly dry year. The Kanaloa kahoolawensis, also known as ka pulapula o Kanaloa, was discovered on Kaho'olawe in 1991 and was determined to be a whole new genus of plant, the first new genus discovered in almost 90 years. Paul Higashino, KIRC restoration ecologist, points out that saving the plant is symbolic of the struggle to return the entire island to more natural conditions. Kaho'olawe flotsam KIRC is a participant in the International Marine Debris Conference in August. Some conferees will travel to Kanapou Bay (sometimes called Obake Bay) to see the amount of ocean-carried rubbish. Last year, KIRC staff recovered a waterproof disposable camera on a Kaho'olawe beach and, by studying the photos, was able to return the pictures to the family that lost the camera in Kona a year and a half earlier. For more Kaho'olawe information, the minutes of the KIRC monthly meetings and status reports are on the KIRC web site; www.state.hi.us.kirc ■

Ka Pulapula o Kanaloa, a rare native species. thrives on a precipice over Kamōhio Bay. Photos: KIRC.

Tim Johns, KIRC commissioner and chair of the Board of Land and Natural Resources, surveys debris washed ashore at Kanapou Bay.