Ka`u News Briefs May 13, 2013

Ka`u resident Dick Hershberger, portraying Thomas Jaggar, shows the scientist's equipment in the Whitney Vault
during A Walk into the Past tomorrow and every other Tuesday. Photo from KDEN

A STAFF MEMBER FROM U.S. REP. TULSI GABBARD’S office will visit Pahala Senior Center on the second Wednesday of every month from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. as part of Gabbard’s districtwide constituent outreach program. The program, called Tulsi in Your Town, will allow her local staff members in every county to assist with casework and other issues.

Tulsi Gabbard

      “As a member of Congress, it is my priority to be accessible and available to people in every corner of Hawai`i,” Gabbard said. “My constituent outreach plan will maximize my team members in every county. While my office is open and available on a daily basis, my team and I want to be proactive and let people know we are always here to help. I encourage people to visit with my staff during these community outreach days to get to know how we can be of assistance, and so they may share their thoughts and opinions about how we can best serve Hawai`i and our country.”
      For more information, contact Blaise De Lima at 
blaise.delima@mail.house.gov or 
(808) 987-5698.

AFTER TAKING A SIX-WEEK TRAINING PROGRAM for eight-week summer internships in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park, students participating in the park’s Youth Ranger Internship Program took part in graduation ceremonies last week at Volcano Art Center’s Ni`aulani Campus in Volcano Village. They included students from Ka`u, Pahoa and Kea`au high schools and Hawai`i Academy of Arts and Science.

Kupono McDaniel, who won the
recent King Kalakaua look-alike
contest, oversees HVNP's summer
internship program.

      The school internship program began in 2010 with Ka`u High. Training started after visiting professor Joan Rubin and The Ka`u Calendar publisher Julia Neal worked on a grant with Ka`u High School principal Sharon Beck and Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park staff. Edmund C. Olson provided classroom space and has been providing a van for transportation each year. The initial $60,000 grant grew last year to $320,000. After federal funding was cut this year, community groups and individuals helped make up the difference. Friends of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park was able to provide over $90,000 after receiving grants from the Cooke Foundation, Ltd, the Victoria S. and Bradley L. Geist Foundation and Kamehameha Schools’ Aima Education Program. 

      Hawai`i Pacific Park Association also provided funding.
      “We are so grateful to our community for embracing this life-changing program,” said park ranger Kupono McDaniel. “The Youth Ranger Internship Program is designed to empower local students to affect change in the world and to expose them to meaningful career options. The skills they learn will make them better candidates for any career they choose to pursue.”
      Elizabeth Fien, education and outreach coordinator for the Friends of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park, said the class included “a lovely group of Ka`u kids.” She also said that McDaniel, who has coordinated the program since its inception, “is amazing to work with” and “knows how to connect” with the youth. Fien, who also arranges forest restoration events in the park, said, “We need to grow children, too.” She said she sees the program as a way to get young people involved in stewardship or the environment.
      This summer, many of the students will have an opportunity to work in the parks divisions of interpretation, natural resources, cultural resources, maintenance, protection and administration.

This koa at Kona Hema, managed by The Nature Conservancy, was placed on
the National Register of Big Trees in 2012. Photo from American Forests

OF THE SIX NEW HAWAIIAN TREES CROWNED as national champions in the American Forests’ Big Tree Program, five are on Hawai`i Island. 

      The Big Tree Program is a nationwide competition to find the largest trees in the United States that are recognized as “champions” of their species.
      According to American Forests, the goal of the Big Tree Program is “to preserve and promote the iconic stature of these living monarchs and to educate people about the key role that these remarkable trees and forests play in sustaining a healthy environment.”
      American Forests’ newly released spring 2013 National Register of Big Trees includes about 40 new national champion trees, with a total of 780 national champions.
      In 2012, Hawai`i had six champions, including a koa, two coconuts, an a`ali`i, a manele, and a hau.
      With the six new champions, Hawai`i is now home to a total of 10 nationally recognized champion trees.
       Hawai`i Island’s five new champion trees are a wiliwili (Eryrthrina sandwicensis) at Pu`u Lani Ranch and, at Pu`u Wa`awa`a Forest Reserve, a kolea (Myrsine lessertiana), an olopua (Nestegis sandwicensis), a papalakepau (Pisonia brunoniana) and a mamane (Sophora chrysophylla).
      “The Big Tree Program has really grown in Hawai`i over the past few years, and we’re proud that some of our native trees are being recognized on a national level,” said Sheri Mann, forestry program manager at the Division of Forestry and Wildlife. “These trees help highlight the beauty and uniqueness of Hawaiian ecosystems, as well as the importance of preserving our native forests.”
      New nominations for champion trees are being accepted until a fall deadline yet to be determined. All nominations must include the tree’s exact location and three measurements: trunk circumference (inches), height (feet), and average crown spread (feet). These are combined to assign the tree a score.
      Send nominations and questions relating to the Hawai`i Big Tree Program to Hannah Bergemann, 
1151 Punchbowl St., Room 325 or contact her at 808-587-0164 or 
Hannah.A.Bergemann@hawaii.gov.
      For more information about the Hawai`i Big Tree Program, see hawaii.gov/dlnr/dofaw/forestrr/big-trees.

A WALK INTO THE PAST, the living history program that brings Hawaiian Volcano Observatory founder Thomas Jaggar to life, takes place tomorrow at 10 a.m., 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. Participants meet at Kilauea Visitor Center in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park, then walk across the road to the Whitney Vault, an underground room containing original equipment used by Jaggar in his research on Hawai`i’s volcanoes.

 Fossilized footprints in the Ka`u Desert are the topic at tomorrow's
After Dark in the Park. Photo from NPS

AT TOMORROW’S AFTER DARK IN THE PARK program, Dr. Jadelyn Moniz-Nakamura discusses fossilized human footprints in the Ka`u Desert. Research suggests the story behind the fossilized human footprints in the Ka`u Desert may be more complex than originally thought. Footprints found in desert ash layers were believed to have been created in 1790 by the army of the Hawaiian Chief Keoua on their way back from battle. While in the area, Kilauea erupted, sending suffocating ash down on one group. Others made it out alive, leaving their footprints in the then-wet ash. The ash dried, forever memorializing this event – or did it? 

      The program begins at 7 p.m. 
at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. $2 donations support park programs.

KA`U RESIDENTS ARE URGED TO PARTICIPATE in Wednesday’s County Council meeting from Ocean View Community Center’s remote videoconferencing site, which Hawai`i County Council is considering closing down due to lack of use. The meeting begins at 9 a.m. at Council chambers in Hilo.
      Agenda is available at hawaiicounty.gov.

HAWA`I ISLAND NETWORK OF ARTISTS holds a wrap-up meeting Wednesday from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Volcano Art Center’s Ni`aulani Campus in Volcano Village. This is a final opportunity to learn about VAC’s HINA Project and be included in this research study. Partially funded by Hawai`i County, the project aims to encourage and support a greater awareness of Hawai`i Island artists and the economic impact of this unrecognized creative workforce. See more at www.HINArtists.org. 

THE NEXT KA`U AGRICULTURAL WATER COOPERATIVE DISTRICT meeting is scheduled for Thursday, May 16 at 4 p.m. at the Royal Hawaiian Orchards Field Office. The organization is restoring agricultural water from the old plantation system. Meetings are open to the public. For more information, call Jeff McCall at 928-6456.

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.

ALSO SEE KAUCALENDAR.COM AND FACEBOOK.COM/KAUCALENDAR.

Ka`u News Briefs May 12, 2013

Fossilized footprints in the Ka`u Desert are the topic of discussion at After Dark in the Park Tuesday. Photo from NPS

KAU’S U.S. REP. TULSI GABBARD went on national television this morning asking for a new way to handle sexual assault accusations in the military. Gabbard, herself a member of the National Guard and a veteran of Middle East combat, talked about recent revelations that the number of accusations of rape and other sex crimes in the military is on the rise. She was interviewed by Candy Crowley on CNN’s State of the Union along with U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckwork, another National Guard member, veteran of Iraq, helicopter pilot and double amputee.
      “It is not enough to say it is unacceptable,” said Gabbard. The response to accusations of sexual assault in the military “has to be a victim-centered response that is safe, transparent and responsible.”

Reps. Tulsi Gabbard and Tammy Duckwork discussed sexual assault
accusations in the military on CNN's State of the Union.

      Gabbard and Duckworth described sexual assault as a power issue, not a sex issue. With the military tradition of power and rank, it can be fixed, they said. 

      However, reporting sexual assaults has led to retaliation in the ranks. The atmosphere for women soldiers has been one of having to travel in buddy teams, not going out alone, even when a woman thinks she should be safe with her military colleagues. Gabbard said that sexual predators “seek out weak targets. I was not a weak target,” she noted, saying that she did not experience inappropriate sexual aggression during her time on duty.
      Both Gabbard and Duckworth said the Uniform Code of Military Justice has not been able to solve the problem. They called for independent investigators for such cases and a code that will prevent commanders from overturning the outcomes.
      The two also noted that almost half of the sexual assault victims are men. They said that such assaults on women and men are a betrayal to the unit, the military and the nation, not only the victim.

AGRICULTURAL TOURISM is on the agenda for the Leeward Planning Commission meeting scheduled for Thursday, May 16 at 9:30 a.m. at West Hawai`i Civic Center. The initiator is the County Council, which wants to amend Chapter 25 of the Zoning Code to “clarify definitions, procedural guidelines and requirements, and standards related to agriculture tourism operations.” The rules for ag tourism have been debated at the County Council and its Planning Committee with testimony from the public for more than a year. County Council member Brenda Ford asked, “Will this bill result in new food crops growing on the island, or will this bill be for people who want to cash in and be part of the tourist industry?”

Leeward Planning Commission meets at West Hawai`i Civic Center
Thursday. Image from bigislandvideonews.com

      During hearings, neighbors of ag tourism activities talked about crowded roads, lack of parking and noise, along with such activities as loud music and parties that don’t have anything to do with agriculture.
      Ford pointed out that 15,000 visitors a year would average 40 people a day. People in rural areas “don’t want to be in an urban area with buses coming next door to our properties,” said Ford. “When you get to 30,000, that is 82 people a day.” Imagine 30- something a day vehicles coming to your neighbor’s property,” she said. “Urban traffic going in and out of a little private road,” in some cases, she said.
      “I am for ag tourism,” she said, but called for regulation.
      Previous discussions included keeping weekly or daily numbers of visitors going to ag tourism destinations and requiring a plan approval for locations with larger numbers.
      Planning director Bobby Jean Leithead-Todd said up to 30,000 visitors a year are allowed under current county ordinance. A plan approval with drainage study for new construction is required for operations with that many visitors expected.
      Leithead-Todd noted that farm stands are separate issues under county and state law and are permitted use – they are not ag tourism, she said.

AN INNOVATIVE TRAINING PROGRAM by the U.S. Department of Defense will bring 75 military reservists to Ka`u June 4 - 12 to provide free medical care in clinics open to the public.
      Tropic Care 2013 will run two clinics, at Ka`u High & Pahala Elementary School and Ocean View Community Center. Clinics will be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., closing early at 12 p.m. on the final day, June 12.
      Health care services that will be provided free of charge include physical exams, dentistry, optometry (exams and glasses), medication review and provision of some medication, and nutrition education. Patients will be seen on a first-come, first-served basis and are advised that there may be long wait times.

Tropic Care, which visited Kaua`i last year, comes to Ka`u next month.
Image from youtube

      “This is an opportunity to bring needed medical, dental and vision services to the district of Ka`u,” said Aaron Ueno, Hawai`i District health officer with the state Department of Health. “These services are open to the entire island, and we are hoping to do this again in the future with community support.” 

      Tropic Care 2013 is a partnership between the U.S. Department of Defense and the state Hawai`i District Health Office, supported by the County of Hawai`i and Ka`u Rural Health Community Association. It is an exercise of the Department of Defense’s Innovative Readiness Training program, which challenges reservists to plan and implement rapid mobilizations to distant and unfamiliar areas.
      “We thank the Department of Defense and all the reservists for coming to Hawai`i Island and reaching out to our residents,” said Karen Teshima, executive assistant to Mayor Billy Kenoi. “This innovative program will benefit everyone involved and will further our goal of keeping our community safe and healthy.”
      Other community partners collaborating to bring this service to Ka`u are the Hawai`i Department of Education, Ocean View Family Health Center, Hui Malama Ola Na `Oiwi, Bay Clinic, Hawai`i Island Cardiovascular, Hawai`i Island Community Lung Assessment Science Studies, Ocean View Community Association, Kona Community Hospital, Hawai`i Police Department, Hawai`i National Guard’s Youth Challenge Academy, Ka`u Hospital, Pacific Quest and the Veteran’s Administration.
      For more information on Tropic Care 2013 or to request special assistance or an auxiliary aid seven days prior to the event, call (808) 974-6035 or email Martha Yamada of the Public Health Nursing Section at martha.yamada@doh.hawaii.gov.

KA`U RESIDENTS ARE URGED TO PARTICIPATE in this week’s county government meetings from Ocean View Community Center’s remote videoconferencing site, which Hawai`i County Council is considering closing down due to lack of use. A special meeting of the Council, focusing on the budget for the next fiscal, takes place tomorrow at 8 a.m. at Council chambers in Hilo. The Council’s regular meeting begins Wednesday at 9 a.m., also in Hilo.
      Agendas are available at hawaiicounty.gov.

HAWAI`I WILDLIFE FUND sponsors more cleanup activities this month. 

      Anchialine pool cleanups take place this Tuesday and Wednesday. The group seeks volunteers to help remove non-native plant species (Seashore paspalum) and excess sediment from the bottom of the northernmost Ho`onoua anchialine pool. Participants will also monitor water quality, shrimp abundance, and survey for `ope`ape`a (Hawaiian hoary bats).
      Saturday, May 25 marks the fourth annual Manuka Natural Area Reserve coastal cleanup being co-hosted by Hawai`i Wildlife Fund and DLNR’s Natural Area Reserve staff. Volunteers meet at Manuka State Park (mauka of highway) for caravanning to cleanup. This cleanup requires at least a mile of hiking. Camping is an option at Kiolaka`a Ranger’s cabin Saturday evening after the cleanup. Space is very limited, and coordinator Megan Lamson suggests signing up early. For more information or to RSVP, contact her at 769-7629 or kahakai.cleanups@gmail.com.

HAWAIIAN VOLCANO OBSERVATORY FOUNDER Thomas Jaggar comes to life Tuesday when Ka`u resident Dick Hershberger presents the living history program A Walk into the Past. Programs begin at 10 a.m., 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Participants then walk across the road to the Whitney Vault, an underground room containing original equipment used by Jaggar in his research on Hawai`i’s volcanoes.

Dr. Jadelyn Moniz-Nakamura

WHOSE FOOTPRINTS ARE THESE REALLY? is the question discussed at After Dark in the Park this Tuesday. Research suggests the story behind the fossilized human footprints in the Ka`u Desert may be more complex than originally thought. Footprints found in desert ash layers were believed to have been created in 1790 by the army of the Hawaiian Chief Keoua on their way back from battle. While in the area, Kilauea erupted, sending suffocating ash down on one group. Others made it out alive, leaving their footprints in the then-wet ash. The ash dried, forever memorializing this event – or did it? Dr. Jadelyn Moniz-Nakamura examines geologic evidence that may indicate much more prehistoric activity in the area. The program begins at 7 p.m. 
at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. $2 donations support park programs.

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.

ALSO SEE KAUCALENDAR.COM AND FACEBOOK.COM/KAUCALENDAR.

Ka`u News Briefs May 11, 2013

The Mauna Loa Observatory recorded the sobering climb of CO2 in the atmosphere beyond 400 ppm this week. Photo by Forrest Mims

CO2 IN THE ATMOSPHERE reached the predicted 400 parts per million this week at the planet’s most respected observation point – Mauna Loa Volcano. Passing through the 400 ppm threshold which had been predicted by climate scientists was widely reported today, from the New York Times to National Geographic and business journals like Commodities Now.
      The measurement is seen by scientists as tied to climate change. The announcement was made by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration yesterday. James Butler of NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory said: “It's important mainly as a milestone that marks a steady progress of increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere."

     According to National Geographic, "The last time the concentration of Earth's main greenhouse gas reached this mark, horses and camels lived in the high Arctic. Seas were at least 30 feet higher—at a level that today would inundate major cities around the world."
     According to Commodities Now, “The threshold has become an important marker in U.N. climate change negotiations, tagged as a dangerous level by most climate scientists.

 For many years scientists have said that concentrations need to be kept below, or pushed back to, 350 ppm for countries to meet an international target of keeping the average temperature increase below 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) this century.

 Dozens of observing stations around the world monitor atmospheric carbon dioxide. 

Image by James Wright of Skeptical Science

But Mauna Loa, a volcanic mountain on the Big Island of Hawai`i, is regarded as the benchmark site. “Two instruments at Mauna Loa showed carbon dioxide at 400.03 ppm on Thursday. Certain arctic observing stations exceeded 400 ppm more than a year ago, and the global average of atmospheric carbon dioxide could break the 400 ppm barrier in the next year or so, Butler said by telephone from Boulder, Colorado.

 Whether or not that occurs, Earth's atmosphere hasn't had this much carbon dioxide in it for at least 800,000 years, and possibly for as long as 5 million years.
      “During the last 800,000 years, the level of atmospheric carbon dioxide fluctuated between 180 ppm and 280 ppm. With the widespread burning of coal and oil during the Industrial Revolution, the concentration of carbon dioxide rose to about 290 ppm by the end of the 19th century, Butler said.

 In the 20th century, the rate of increase accelerated, with levels between 370 and 380 ppm by the year 2000." An animated graph that shows the history of atmospheric carbon dioxide is online at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/history.html


LOWERING DEPENDENCE ON OIL will result in lower costs for locally produced food, according to Richard Ha, owner of Hamakua Springs and a member of the Big Island Community Coalition, which advocates using local resources to lower electricity rates.
     “I first noticed our farm costs rising steadily back in 2005 and 2006,” Ha wrote recently on his blog hahaha.hamakusprings.com. “Rising costs affect every aspect of our farm, and it was very worrisome. Looking into it, I realized that the rise in price was due to the price of oil increasing.

Richard Ha, right, says it is hard for farmers to compete with mainland
food imports because high electric bills here make  ag too expensive.
Photo from U.H. Hilo

     “Here in Hawai`i, we are being squeezed extra hard. More than 70 percent of our electricity comes from oil. Compare this to the U.S. mainland – Hawai`i’s primary competitor in many produce and food manufacturing categories – which relies on oil for only about two percent of its electricity generation.  “Farming is very energy intensive, and farmers’ refrigeration and water pumping costs have steadily gotten more expensive. Wholesalers’ and retailer refrigeration costs have gone up, too. This means food costs more. 

     “Oil prices have quadrupled in the last 10 years, and this has put the economy into a continuous recession.
     “The era of cheap oil is over. And the stuff produced in the future will be even more costly, setting a higher floor as time goes by. Unless we do something, it will squeeze us all even more.
     “What can we do on the Big Island to lower electricity costs, and the cost of locally produced food? Biomass and geothermal can do that today. There may be other choices maturing in the next few years, too. Producing electricity from geothermal here costs half as much as producing it from oil. And the Big Island will be over the hot spot that provides us with geothermal for 500,000 to a million years.”

 
HAWAI`I PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION has received more testimony from O`ahu residents regarding the proposed contract for Hawaiian Electric Light Co. to purchase biofuel from `Aina Koa Pono, which plans to grow feedstock in Ka`u to supply a refinery above Pahala. These O`ahu testifiers are concerned about a plan put forth by the state Consumer Advocate to increase electricity rates on O`ahu only, instead of having increase on both Hawai`i Island and O`ahu to support the `Aina Koa Pono project.
      State Rep. Cynthia Thielen, of Kailua on O`ahu, wrote: “As much as I believe in enhancing the renewable energy sector of Hawai`i’s economy, such as solar, wave, wind, geothermal and biofuels, I am worried that locking in a twenty-year contract with AKP for biofuel at roughly $200 per barrel is not a wise decision. I understand that a fixed price will lead to more investor confidence and thus increase much needed investment in this nascent but promising technology, but could we not tie the price of AKP’s biofuels to the price of oil on the global marketplace instead? I understand that this is the way it works in many European countries that rely on imported natural gas (from, say, Russia). Biofuel barrel prices would increase and decrease with crude oil prices, and they would still provide enough security for investment, as crude oil surely will not leave the global marketplace within the next twenty years.

Rep. Cynthia Thielen, seen here  at an environmental restoration project, submitted testimony
to the PUC regarding `Aina Koa Pon. Photo from Cynthia Thielen

     “Secondly, as much as I am aware that the island of Hawai`i has the highest electric utility rates among all the islands, we on O`ahu are not faring much better. I do not think that I can support any more electricity rate increases on my constituents, many of whom are already struggling to pay their electric bills as it is. If you contractually tied the price of biofuels to the price of crude oil in the marketplace, then electricity rates would not raise in any abnormal way (only in the way they already fluctuate with the price of oil).
     “I sincerely hope you will reconsider this proposed contract with AKP. I have researched their organization and their methods and am impressed with the scope and ambition of the proposed project. I think it could have tremendously beneficial impacts on the state of Hawai`i as a whole. Once again, my primary concern is with the locked-in contractual price of $200 per barrel, a price my already struggling constituents must pay.”
      Jim Wolery, of Kaneohe, wrote, “This is what I hope to be another of many, many requests from other O`ahu HECO customers to please, please, please not approve this scheme by Hawaiian Electric to saddle its O`ahu customers with yet another surcharge by contracting with AKP on Big Island to purchase biofuel at far above any reasonable or comparative cost with standard or available alternative production media - simply to be able to advertise their “Green Energy” efforts. It is unreasonable and unacceptable. If they want to prop up AKP so bad, or promote themselves as a ‘Green Energy’ company, let them pay whatever premium there happens to be over the going rates for standard fuel choices. The ‘Disconnection’ scheme was bad enough, this would be piling on more insult to that already egregious injury.” 

      Another resident, James Roller, wrote, “Let it be known that one HECO customer on O`ahu is not happy at the prospect of having to pay extra on my electric bill in order to subsidize a “not so sweet deal being pursued by HELCO and AKP. This deal would only benefit the residents of the Big Island (if it really in fact does). There are cheaper alternatives that what AKP is proposing on charging HELCO for their energy resources. Please take time to review this proposed contract before it is let and subject it to the common sense test. This is one HECO customer (and believe me there are many hundreds more) who do not believe the test is passable with the information or alternatives available to HELCO. Besides, my wife and I work hard at keeping our bill as low as possible. The prospect of paying for something that I am not directly responsible for using is somehow distasteful, and I am not so sure it would pass the constitutionality test not to mention the common sense test.” 

     Robert J. Manson, Jr., also of Kaheohe, wrote, “I strongly oppose the fact that O`ahu rate payers would essentially fund this project for Big Island rate payers. This is absurd. Why would it be even considered, especially without O`ahu rate payer input/comment? Please do not approve.
      Sue Nance testified, “As on O`ahu resident and HECO consumer, I am outraged at this payment cabal for Big Island power through AKP and HECO. We have not been openly and fully informed and seem, once again, to have little or no voice in decisions which cost us unfairly and unjustly. Continuous rate increases (while the CEO is the highest paid executive in Hawai`i) have been nasty enough. This proposal is outrageous and grossly unfair. Please pay some attention to the needs of O`ahu residents/consumers and stop thinking of us as ‘cash cows’ for some of the most absurd ideas to be imposed upon us.”

KA`U CELEBRATES MOTHER’S DAY tomorrow with dining options. In Na`alehu, South Side Shaka’s restaurant offers a champagne breakfast and brunch buffet from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Prime rib dinner starts at 5 p.m.
      Hana Hou Restaurant’s lunch options, available from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., include Italian seafood in a red clam sauce or roast beef sirloin and shrimp. Dinner features prime rib or a seafood platter and includes a special dessert.
      Kilauea Military Camp’s Crater Rim Café in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park has a buffet from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Menu items include prime rib au jus, blackened shrimp alfredo, macadamia nut-crusted fish, salad and potato bar, mashed potatoes, rice, green beans, pineapple-upside-down cake, ice cream bar and beverage. KMC is open to authorized patrons and sponsored guests, and park entrance fees apply.