Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 27, Number 9, 1 September 2010 — My first journey to Papahānaumokuākea [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

My first journey to Papahānaumokuākea

I OHA's Heieli Guth travels to the Monument she helps manage By Heidi Kai Guth \ihoa arose from the sea exactly like a jagged molar tooth. Mokumanamana's rugged profile shape-shifted constantly as the vessel we rode circled her shores. And, the tiger sharks of East Island at French Frigate Shoals stealthily patrolled the shallow, aquamarine lagoon, seeking tasty bites of fledg-

ig albatrosses that foolishly rested their novice wings i atop the sea. H I had the honor of A traveling to PapahānJ aumokuākea Marine H National Monument W on the 240-foot-long f National Oeeanie and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) research

■ vesset Hi īaiaieai. watcmng tne three closest landforms of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands emerge fromthe oeean brought their isolation, fragility and mana into

focus. Arriving by sea, my fellow voyagers and I were overwhelmed with imagining how Native Hawaiian ancestors must have experienced these places from their smaller, more exposed voyaging canoes. Far enough removed from the more populated areas of the main Hawaiian Islands,

Papahānaumokuākea returns us to an era more attuned to the elements and closer to the world that Native Hawaiians' ancestors encountered and managed to thrive within. Walter Pu, who works at Haleakalā National Park and is a Hāna, Maui, member of the 'Opihi Monitoring Project that was one of the main components of our voyage, reflected just before our return that with all of their cultural eonneetions and sites, Nihoa and Mokumanamana are "temples in the middle of the oeean." Perhaps more importantly, he exhorted us to remember: "That is what all our Hawaiian Islands are." Having managed Papahānaumokuākea for almost four years for OHA,

with six other managers from other Federal and State agencies, I had not experienced until this June \ the depth and breadth of what we strive to protect and perpetuate, nor its potential for SEE FIRST āk J0URNEY ON ■ PAGE 32 ?

Heidi Kai Guth, center, at Miller Peak on Nihoa with environmental teacher Jessica Carew and Anan Raymond, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Regional Archaeologist. - Photo: Courtesy by RussellAmimoto

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FIRST JOURNEY

Continued from page 21 teaching us about the depth and breadth of what we should honor on our home islands. Twenty-two of us traveled to the southeasternmost portion of Papahānaumokuākea from June 17-26, 2010, as part of "Holo I Moana: 'A'ohe &s Pau ka 'Ike i ka Hālau r.!i < Seabird killed by marine debris and plastics. - Photo: ' James Watt/N0M k Ho'okahi." The interdisciplinary education and research expedition brought together diverse types of expertise and various cultural perspectives exemplifying in part Papahānaumokuākea management's intent to include Native Hawaiian knowledge and values in all activities within and about this spiritually and culturally significant plaee. Eaeh management entity of Papahānaumokuākea was represented on the voyage, either through employees or the focus of the projects themselves, whieh showcased the Monument's collaborative management approach. NOAA provided berths on their research vessel and an opportunity for teachers, eultural practitioners, resource managers and scientific researchers to work together on three projects. We assisted in archaeological tasks and heard comparative analysis provided by Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners and anthropologists from the Marquesas. We participated in 'opihi-moni-toring studies, whieh eomhine Western and Native Hawaiian research on 'opihi migration and colonization throughout the archipelago. Led by Chris Bird and Native Hawaiian community project leaders Walter Pu and Hank Eharis, we all took turns either running transect chains up cliff faces in pounding surf; count-

ing the types, sizes and numbers of 'opihi in eaeh transect; or documenting the information on site. We also learned from and helped world-renowned shark researcher Carl Meyer of the University of Hawai'i's Institute of Marine Biology in his tagging of Galapagos and tiger sharks to study their behavior and movements. In return, some of our members taught him about particular shark 'aumakua and their habits and homes.

For the archaeological component, we were permitted on land, within very specific parameters. Only six people were allowed on Nihoa or Mokumanamana at a time, and one of the six always had to be a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service-approved group leader, to help minimize possible impacts to the precious endemic wildlife and archaeology. Every other precarious step on eaeh crumbling rock balanced against another steep cliff seemed to require finger pointing and verbal wamings to those behind us of a well eamoullaged "Egg!" or fuzzy ehiek: "Bird!" Our single-file movements were deliberate and anxious. Anan Raymond, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Regional Archaeologist, and Kekuewa Kikiloi, a UH doctoral student in anthropology, have spent the most time on these islands of anyone in recent history, and we were fortunate to have Raymond lead eaeh of our groups on purposeful conservation and management hikes. For example, we explored locations for possible video mounts to monitor endangered Hawaiian monk seals, and measured freshwater drips from seeps on Nihoa, wondering how early Native Hawaiians

might have survived in the homes they built on the exposed angles of Nihoa and how they watered their sweet potato plots. All of us left with a more profound appreciation for the intelligence, tenacity and fortitude of Native Hawaiians' ancestors who found those rugged, stark and constantly eroding islands and managed to live, farm and worship upon them. William Ailā, a traditional fisherman from Wai'anae who has long helped seek protec-

i tions for, and educated ; people about, Papahānaumokuākea, was one of I six people who spent the | summer solstice night on Mokumanamana to try I to learn more about the placement of that island's numerous and prominent upright stones in correlation with movements of the sun, moon and stars. Afterward, Ailā said he

was honored to have been able "to feel the same wind, see the same stars and hear the same birds as my ancestors had." Such experiences highlighted the importance of creating future opportunities for appropriate "eultural interactions" with the plaee, as described by Pelika Bertelmann, a Makali'i voyaging eanoe crewmember and Program Coordinator for the Keaholoa Scholars Program at UH-Hilo, supporting Native Hawaiians in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. After experiencing the fragility of Papahānaumokuākea, all of the expedition members also agreed that even cultural access must be balanced with the place's protection and continued isolation. Papahānaumokuākea must remain a true pu'uhonua. We have an obligation to honor the past, keep the living Native Hawaiian culture thriving and protect this natural, cultural and historic sanctuary for future generations. ■ Heidi Kai Guth is a Generaī Counseī at the Offi.ce of Hawaiian Affairs. She is OHA's manager for the Papahānaumokuākea Marine Naūonal Monumenk

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Egg and 'llima sprout, Nihoa. - Phoīo: Heidi Kai Guth