Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 25, Number 6, 1 Mei 2008 — Q&A [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Q&A

Phūtū aūd interview by Lisa Asato Ka Wai ūla staff

Miehael Nāho'opi'i's new post as executive director of the Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Commission begins another chapter in his 15-year association with the island. In

1993 he heeame the first Native Hawaiian naval officer assigned to Kaho'olawe, overseeing the !W 1980 Navy-Protect Kaho'olawe 'Ohana eon-

sent decree and the island's turnover to the state in 1994. He also served as senior proj-

ect manager for two subsequent cleanups necessitated by 53 years of Naval target practice, and is a longtime member of the | nonprofit Protect Kaho 'olawe 'Ohana. Nāho'opi'i shared some thoughts on KIRC in an interview with KWO, portions of whieh appear here.

KWO: The first time you set foot on Kaho 'olawe you were a 15-year-old Kamehameha Schools student, and you met leaders like Unele Harry Milehell, Unele Les Kuloloio and Dr. Emmett Aluli, who is now KIRC ehainnan. Doyou rememberyour first impressions ofthe island? MN: Oh yeah, I still even have my journal from it. That was in '81, and we were the first student group to go out there to Kaho'olawe. I remember a lot of goats, and it was really barren. There was no grass, some kiawe trees and we stayed in Hakioawa, where the PKO stay now. I remember the first poles of the hale (that PKO built) had just gone in the ground. . . . And it was neat because you could still walk around and you could feel like people from ancient Hawai'i were living there because you could see everything that they left behind. Like they stood up and walked away. Here's all their tools, and here's the area where they ate and this is the area where they camped. It was all still there. Nothing was touched. KWO: More than two decades later, you 're heading KIRC, the state agency charged with managing the reserve while it is helā in trust forafuture sovereign entity. What's new? MN: Our primary strategic goal now is to secure funding for the future. . . . (We're) actually going to change the way we operate. I've already spoken to the staff. Eaeh program now has to start thinking about being self-sufficient - we ean do any project you want if you ean get the money for it. ... So we'll cut the waste, we'll make ourselves more sustainable. KWO: Sustainability is part ofyourgoal? MN: We're looking not just energy but

we're looking sustainable everything we do. . . . The more things that we ean utihze on island, the less we have to bring in, the less we have to take off, less we have to depend on helicopters and boats and fuel. It's like running a whole city out there and trying to do all the projects we have, efficiently. KWO: You recently tookyour first ojficial trip to Kaho 'olawe as executive director. What didyou do there? MN: I went to observe the operation, eheek to see how things were running. I built half that base eamp when I was in the Navy so I'm familiar with the operations. ... I also went up to help out with the Hehn 'Ohana. George Hehn's famhy eame back to Kaho'olawe for the first thne since George had passed away in '77. They went with the PKO, and it was part of their closure with the whole issue with George. . . . They eame up and they wanted to see the island, so I helped drive around and facilitate, just volunteer, help out. (George Hehn and Kimo Mitchell disappeared off Kaho'olawe in 1977 while protesting the bombing.) KWO: WiUfuU restoration of Kaho'olawe happen in our lifetime? MN: Right now we have an end vision, but we don't know how we're going to get to that very long-tenn end goal. So I had this exercise for my staff: If we had ah the money that we ever needed, what would we need to do to get to that vision? I have a wah in my office of Post-It notes of the different projects that we would do to get to the end. So I figure if we just pull down the Post-It notes that we think we ean do in the first, second, third, fifth year, eventuahy we'll puh down every single Post-It note off the wah, and we ean all go home. (Laughs) □

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