Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 21, Number 4, 1 April 2004 — UH, activists at odds over progress on Mauna Kea audit [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

UH, activists at odds over progress on Mauna Kea audit

By Sterling Kini Wong Six years after a state audit that was critical of the University of Hawai'i's management of the observatory area atop Mauna Kea, the university and activist groups disagree whether the improvements implemented by the university are helping to ensure protection of the mountain's environmental and cultural resources. In a legislative informational briefing held on March 2, State Auditor Marion Higa said that the 1998 audit found that UH's management of the Mauna Kea Science Reserve was inadequate to ensure that natural resources are protected. She said the audit also found that new technology has impacted the reserve, whieh is home to more telescopes than any other single location on earth. UH Interim Vice President for Research James Gaines said that in response to the audit, the school updated its Master Plan for Mauna Kea to strike a better halanee between the need to protect the mountain's resources and the benefits gained from astronomy and recreation. Gaines said that the new Master Plan sets aside 95 percent of the ll,288-acre reserve as a natural and cultural preserve, whieh is off limits to development of any kind. In addition, he said, the remaining 525 acres would be identified as an Astronomy Precinct, with any new development being limited to about 30 acres and a prohibition against any construction on currently undeveloped cinder cones. However, environmentalists and cultural practitioners said they feel that they are playing a losing game in their efforts to get UH to protect one of the most sacred Hawaiian places. "The score is

13 for astronomy and zero for Hawaiians," said Kahu Kū Mauna Council Chairman Ed Stevens, referring to the 13 observatories built on Mauna Kea since the late 1960s. "Hawaiians have not received anything for the use of these ceded lands." Stevens said he would like to see proposed new telescopes replacing obsolete facilities atop the

summit to avoid development of new lands. "Quit adding more structures and make better use of what you've got," he said. "Every addition through the years has had a negative impact on the cultural and spiritual amhianee of our sacred plaee." Cultural practitioner Kealoha Pisciotta, who worked as a telescope technician for 12 years on Mauna Kea, said she supports astronomy but has lost faith in UH to manage the mountain. Pisciotta said that every month 48,000 gallons of sewage from the reserve is released into the mountain, whieh sits atop a key aquifer. She also said that since 1982 the scientists have seen a more than 99 percent decline in the capture rate of the wēkiu bug, whieh is unique to Mauna Kea's summit and onee thrived there, but is now being affected by astronomy development. The wēkiu is now a candidate to be listed as a federally endangered species. Sierra Club spokesperson Deborah Ward said that the university shouldn't be permitted to allow the construction of more telescopes because its 2000 management plan for the summit has not been approved by the Board of Land and Natural Resources. Following the briefing, Sen. Lorraine Inouye said that she would be submitting a resolution requiring the state auditor and the Legislative Research Bureau to investigate the methods for creating a management authority for Mauna Kea. Inouye said that based on the investigative findings, a bill could pass through the Legislature next year that would create a management authority for the mountain. ■

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A bird's-eye view of the Mauna Kea Science Reserve, home to 1 3 observatories - more than anvwhere else in the world.