Ka`u News Briefs Feb. 29, 2012

Sandalwood flowers create the lehua-iliahi lei. Lei by Brian Choy. Photo by Nathan Yuen at hawaiianforest.com

NATIVE TREES, LIKE SANDALWOOD and koa, could receive protection from a bill in the state Legislature, but some landowners oppose it, saying government has no business managing trees on private property. The state Department of Land & Natural Resources proposes permits to harvest sandalwood and other natives. The measure passed a Senate committee yesterday, with a ‘yes’ vote from Sen. Gil Kahele. Ka`u has the largest native forests in Hawai`i.
       The bill says, “All commercial harvesting of native forest resources deemed in need of conservation on all lands shall be done in accordance with a harvest permit approved by the board, and in accordance with the provisions regarding conservation of aquatic life, wildlife, and land plants and the provisions regarding environmental compliance.” It would be “unlawful to harm, destroy, or harvest any material of a forest resource, living or dead, deemed in need of conservation for commercial purposes without a harvest permit.”

      The owner of Vogelvik Furniture in Ocean View opposes the bill, saying it is “overreaching” and that current law “provides an adequate mechanism for protecting forest species which may be in decline.” Mats Vogelvik said the proposed permit system would “endanger the jobs of local craftsmen, manufacturers and retailers in every facet of the koa industry.” Land managers from Parker Ranch and other big landholders also opposed the bill.
      Conservation biologist Rick Warshauer, of Volcano, supported the bill. “The sad history of sandalwood in Hawai`i is one of repeated foreign exploitation, export and complicity by local facilitators, a history that continues to this day,” he wrote. He called testimony opposing the bill “self-serving and full of shibai,” and said, “Those and their carpetbagging cohorts are just as shameless.” See more at www.capitol.hawaii.gov. Search for sandalwood.

A NEW NATIONAL PARK SERVICE report shows that more than 1.3 million visitors in 2010 spent $88,258,000 in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park and in communities near the park. That spending supported 1,162 local jobs.
      “Communities near national parks have always understood their positive fiscal impact,” said park superintendent Cindy Orlando. “Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park, the most popular destination on the island of Hawai`i and one of the most visited attractions statewide, is vital to the economic well-being both of our island and state economies,” she said.

One of Ka`u's largest employers is Hawai`i Volcanoes
National Park, says superintendent Cindy Orlando.
Photo by Julia Neal

      Fifty-two percent of the 2010 spending/jobs are related to lodging and food and beverage service, followed by 29 percent on other retail, 10 percent entertainment and amusements, seven percent on gas and local transportation and two percent on groceries. In 2011, an estimated 1.35 million people visited the park, an increase of 3.6 percent from 2010.

KA`U HIGH, ELEMENTARY & NA`ALEHU SCHOOLS will have longer instructional days next school year, and teachers will have 12 extra training days. The teachers have approved the change to help accommodate the Race to the Top requirements to preserve some $25 million in federal funding. The extra hours not only mean more education for children but more pay for teachers. Teachers who don’t want the longer days are eligible to apply to transfer to other schools, and teachers wanting more hours can also apply to teach in the Ka`u-Pahoa area and in Wai`anae on O`ahu, the two places where the program is being established. Eighty percent of teachers in the schools where hours will be extended voted to approve the agreement, according to the union, the Hawai`i State Teachers Association.

Kulani could be reactivated as a prison to bring inmates home
from the mainland, where the state pays for their keep.
Photo from www.bigislandvideonews.com

A NEW PRISON could be established at Kulani between Volcano and Hilo or seven miles from Kulani on state land as part of an initiative to bring all inmates home from prisons on the mainland, where the state pays for their care. State Public Safety director Jodie Maesaka-Hirata testified to a Senate committee yesterday saying the state could save $19.5 million the first year and more than $26 million the second. Her department also wants to shorten prison terms and, instead, have more community programs to help offenders to stay out of trouble. 

THE KA`U DISTRICT GYM & SHELTER Draft Environmental Assessment refers to Hawai`i County’s General Plan as saying that a district recreational facility should include a gymnasium with office, storage, restrooms and showers. Neither the Na`alehu nor Pahala school campus gyms “meet this standard,” the report states.
      It says the new gym and disaster shelter will provide “beneficial recreational impacts.” The facility could accommodate simultaneous activities. It could host NCAA basketball games, HHSAA and Parks & Recreation basketball and volleyball tournaments using cross-court configurations. The plan calls for expanded space for a weight room for use by students and community, saying that the existing weight room is “deficient in space and quality.”

The Ka`u shelter and gym is to be built on grassy area between the
football field and tennis and basketball courts.

      There would be athletic offices, lockers, showers, training room and storage. Bleachers would have a maximum capacity of 1,050 persons. It says this is “more than adequate to accommodate the entire school enrollment of 590 students for assemblies.” The bleachers could be retracted fully or partially, depending on full-court or cross-court configurations. A portable stage would allow performances and other events such as graduation. A removable covering would protect the hardwood gym floor.
      Space would provide opportunities for participation in more diverse athletic and physical education activities such as wrestling and martial arts, using the recreation and multi-purpose rooms.
      The EA states that the facility would provide “indoor recreation or physical education opportunity when vog conditions are not conducive to outdoor activity.”
      The EA is available at public libraries in Pahala and Na`alehu and online at hawaii.gov/health/environmental/oeqc/index.html. Comments are being accepted through March 23. Send to Tammy Kapali, Planner, PBR Hawai`i & Associates, Inc., 1001 Bishop Street, Suite 650 Honolulu, HI 96813 or fax 808-523-1402. Comments can also be sent to County of Hawai`i Department of Public Works, Attn: David Yamamoto, Aupuni Center, 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 7, Hilo, HI 96720 or faxed to 808-961-8630.

Debris from the Japan tsunami could end up in the North Pacific Gyre, aka
the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and be spit out by currents headed to
Hawai`i. Image from Fangz 

DEBRIS FROM THE JAPAN TSUNAMI last year could reach the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands within a few months and the main Hawaiian Islands within a year. Wildlife biologists worry about fishing gear from Japanese boating fleets that washed away, creating a threat to wildlife. Much of the debris sank into the ocean near Japan, and some of the remaining debris could hook up with the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, between here and California, before being spit out and riding currents to Hawai`i.  

REP. BOB HERKES invites the public to a meeting of the Vog Task Force today at 5 p.m. at Pahala Community Center. Herkes said he wants people to come to the meeting to share their experiences with vog so that the state government and Legislature will understand its effects on Ka`u residents and the environment.

`Alala hatchlings Photos
from San Diego Zoo

Young `Alala Kinohi

KA`U FOREST RESERVE management will be the subject of a community meeting on Friday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Ocean View Community Center, sponsored by the Ka`u Chamber of Commerce. An Environmental Assessment has been published on plans to manage hunting, preservation of endangered species, the re-introduction of the `Alala, or endangered Hawaiian crow, and possible opportunities for hiking and camping in this pristine forest. 

PROCEEDS FROM A RUMMAGE SALE on Saturday go to the Ka`u Hospital Foundation Scholarship Fund, which helps Ka`u students enrolled in any medical training program. The sale takes place at Na`alehu Community Center from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.

A RUMMAGE SALE on Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Volcano Garden Arts in Volcano Village benefits Volcano School of the Arts & Sciences. To donate or volunteer, call 985-9800.

SEE OUR SPONSORS AT KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM AND PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM.

Ka`u News Briefs Feb. 28, 2012

These diagrams from the Draft Environmental Assessment show sightlines from different areas surrounding
the proposed building site of the Ka`u shelter and gym, the structure in green.

THE KA`U SHELTER FOR DISASTERS to be built in Pahala on the school grounds may include two rooms with air cleaning capabilities, according to the county’s project planner David Yamamoto. Yamamoto recently explained that a multipurpose room separate from the new gymnasium would be 2,832 square feet and could handle 190 people during a bad air event. A recreation room, also proposed for the new complex, would be 1,932 square feet and would provide shelter for 128 people for bad air events and 48 people for longer-term shelter.
      He explained that during a disaster event, be it hurricane, vog, fire, or earthquake, regulations require 15 square feet per person for the short term and 40 square feet per person for longer term, should people be unable to return to their homes. Currently, the plan for the gymnasium, which would serve as the larger shelter for 1500 people for short term and 560 people for longer term, would not include equipment to clean the air.

Rep. Bob Herkes

A MEETING ON VOG will be held by the state Legislature’s task force tomorrow at 5 p.m. at Pahala Community Center. Rep. Bob Herkes, who proposed the task force to tackle problems with air quality and volcanic emissions, said he wants people to come to the meeting to share their experiences with vog so that the state government and Legislature will understand its effects on Ka`u residents and the environment. 

CONCERNING CONSTRUCTION of the shelter and gym to withstand earthquakes, project planner David Yamamoto said that “seismic design will be in accordance with the latest building code, which is the 2006 International Building Code as amended by State of Hawai`i Building Code. A building’s ability to resist seismic forces is difficult to relate to an earthquake magnitude for reason that seismic forces are dependent not only on magnitude but also distance, depth, geological properties along its travel paths” and other factors, he said.

      The EA is available at hawaii.gov/health/environmental/oeqc/index.html and at Pahala and Na`alehu Public Libraries.
      Comments can be sent to Tammy Kapali, Planner, PBR Hawai`i & Associates, Inc., 1001 Bishop Street, Suite 650 Honolulu, HI 96813 or faxed to 808-523-1402. Comments can also be sent to County of Hawai`i Department of Public Works, Attn: David Yamamoto, Aupuni Center, 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 7, Hilo, HI 96720 or faxed to 808-961-8630.

Rep. Denny Coffman

THE STATE REAPPORTIONMENT COMMISSION is scheduled to meet tomorrow to finalize proposed maps that create new boundaries for state Senate and House seats. 

      Proposed House of Representative boundaries have Denny Coffman representing Ka`u from its northwest border to west of Punalu`u, if he were to run for re-election. Coffman’s current district includes areas from North Kona to Honokohau.
      Coffman was appointed chair of the House Committee on Energy & Environmental Protection after Rep. Hermina Morita resigned to become chair of the Public Utilities Commission. He also serves as a member of the committees on Consumer Protection & Commerce; Housing; Judiciary; and Water, Land & Ocean Resources. Coffman’s information on the Hawai`i State Legislature website says he has been “a leading advocate for environmental protections and renewable energy opportunities for a sustainable future” and that he “is working on legislation to help business people obtain loans from the private sector to create or expand businesses by providing tax credits only if a solid realistic business plan is prepared and implemented.”

Walter Kahiwa, Jr.

A NEW COMMUNITY-RUN SCHOOL is planned for Miloli`i starting in August, according to former public and Kamehameha school teacher Walter Kahiwa, Jr., of Hauoli Kamana`o Church. Speaking at the annual La `Elima event last Saturday at Miloli`i halau, he noted that the dropout rate of children from Miloli`i is high because they spend hours on the bus going to and from school. Kahiwa said that a number of people, like himself, who grew up in Miloli`i, want to mentor this generation of children and will base learning on culture and the environment as well as life skills needed for the outside world. The annual La `Elima event celebrates the fishing village’s survival of a massive earth shift and kaiko`o, or big seas. According to Kahiwa, the church, established in 1842, was left floating during the great earthquake of 1868 when the land subsided below sea level. However, the water lifted the church and helped it “surf” to the new shoreline, undamaged. Villagers used fallen coconut trees as rollers to move it to its current location.

AFTER DARK IN THE PARK tonight presents a new anthology of modern mo`olelo entitled Don’t Look Back: Hawaiian Myths Made New. The program begins at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Author Christine Thomas reads from her book and signs copies. Two-dollar donations support park programs, and park entrance fees apply.

VIST OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM.

Ka`u News Briefs Feb. 27, 2012

A vog-safe multi-purpose room would by located in the proposed ancillary building, according to the
Ka`u Gym & Shelter Environmental Assessment now available for public comment.

THE VOG TASK FORCE meets Wednesday at 5 p.m. at Pahala Community Center. Issues on safe places for the community during bad air alerts will be discussed. Included will be the new community disaster shelter planned with more than $17 million in funding already approved. The new shelter and gym would have one room for 130 people during bad air days. Ka`u Hospital says it cannot serve as a disaster shelter even with its upcoming renovation that will provide air cleaning equipment.
      The task force was proposed by Rep. Bob Herkes to tackle problems with air quality and volcanic emissions in connection with agriculture, human health and the effects of vog on infrastructure, like metal buildings, fencing and vehicles. Herkes said he wants people to come to the meeting to share experiences with vog so the state government and Legislature will understand its effects on Ka`u residents and the environment.

Hawaiian Petrel Photos courtesy of Jim
Denny/hawaiianendangeredseabirds.org

THE RECENTLY RELEASED Ka`u Gym & Shelter Environmental Assessment includes letters from the public.
      Darcy Hu asked planners to consider potential impacts of night lighting on nocturnal seabirds that may be transiting the area. Species include the endangered Hawaiian Petrel, or `Ua`u; the threatened Newell’s Shearwater, or `A`o; and the Band-rumped Storm-petrel, or `Ake`ake. Hu said, “Both adults and young of these species can be disoriented by artificial lights and come crashing to land or circle repeatedly and become exhausted. Once on the ground, these birds are vulnerable to a variety of threats including cats, dogs, rats and cars”
      The report states that the design will specify minimal shielded exterior lighting to prevent potential distraction to night-flying birds. All other exterior lights would be turned on only as needed and designed in accordance with the county’s exterior lighting standards.
      Earl Louis sent a comment to PBR stating, “I live right across of this proposed development. As a resident of 37 years, I feel that this structure would block the view of the hillside of Makanau and Pu`u Enuhe, the hills above Punalu`u.”

      According to the EA, the only unavoidable impact would be obstruction of views for a few residents. “The views of most residents are already blocked by existing school buildings or trees. The benefits provided by the higher ceiling for athletic activities and plantation-style roof line offset the unavoidable impact,” the EA states.

Newell's Shearwater

      The EA is available at hawaii.gov/health/environmental/oeqc/index.html and at Pahala and Na`alehu Public Libraries.
      Comments can be sent to Tammy Kapali, Planner, PBR Hawai`i & Associates, Inc., 1001 Bishop Street, Suite 650 Honolulu, HI 96813 or faxed to 808-523-1402. Comments can also be sent to County of Hawai`i Department of Public Works, Attn: David Yamamoto, Aupuni Center, 101 Pauahi Street, Suite 7, Hilo, HI 96720 or faxed to 808-961-8630.

NATIVE HAWAIIANS AND PACIFIC ISLANDERS are 44 percent of those on the waiting list for public housing assistance, according to the county housing agency, which also reports that about 54 percent of the families have children, and seven percent of the families are elderly.
      A Peter Sur story in the Hawai`i Tribune-Herald reports that more than 6,000 people remain on the waiting list on this island alone, and the county only has about $14 million in funding for 1,796 rent vouchers under the Section 8 program for the next fiscal year. The average voucher is for $650, which is provided to private landlords, with the renters making up the rest by paying $350 from other sources. According to the story, the county is encouraging more people to sign up, in case more funding becomes available, even though the waiting time is long. Families who signed up back in 2007 recently received vouchers.
      The county’s annual report on its Section 8 housing program is open for public comment through March 8, the story says.

GAS PRICES IN KA`U continue to climb. This morning at Ka`u Gas in Pahala the price was $4.57 per gallon. At the 76 Station in Na`alehu, the price was $4.57. In Ocean view it was $4.43 at Kahala Gas, $4.40 at Ocean View Market and $4.37 at Kahuku Country Market.

Anne Lee and David Howard Donald have been promoting their Volcano
Project at Volcano Farmers Market for three years.

THE VOLCANO PROJECT recently celebrated its third anniversary promoting the idea that its nonprofit educational organization should operate the Volcano House hotel, camping, restaurant, bar and gift store operation within Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Founders of the Volcano Project David Howard Donald and Anne Lee have met with the public every Sunday at the Volcano Farmers Market for 157 weeks and collected more than 1,500 names on petitions and more than 55 letters from community leaders and public office holders urging support of their project. They said they want to “thank the thousands who have come by, sharing their comments and time, offering advice, encouragement, and support, and we especially thank Linda Ugalde, president of Cooper Center Council and Volcano Farmers Market.” The Volcano Project team says that “a nonprofit, with no shareholder dividends to pay, can use 100 percent of the profit to double Volcano House employment over that of a mainland corporate concessioner, serving park visitors more attentively and creating badly needed jobs in our depressed economy. Our plan to create a hospitality school, teaching industry life skills to residents and youth, at affordable tuition, is an invaluable benefit to our rural society, especially in these difficult times.” Donald and Lee point to “overwhelming support from politicians, organizations, institutions and residents.” 

       The National Park Service regional office is expected to soon announce which one of several entities applying to manage the concessions has been selected. The facility has been shut down for more than two years during a renovation and selection process.

THE CONSTANT SWARM OF EARTHQUAKES halted over the weekend between Saturday just after midnight and Sunday at 2 p.m., with little activity through Monday morning, according to Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologists. The swarm was near the Namakanipaio campground where the Kilauea and Mauna Loa plates meet.

NOELANI HO`OPAI, of Kamehameha Schools East Regional office, will be at Na`alehu United Methodist Church social hall today from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. to help Hawaiian families complete applications for any summer enrichment program and Ho`oulu Data Center. 

A NEW ANTHOLOGY of modern mo`olelo entitled Don’t Look Back: Hawaiian Myths Made New is the topic at After Dark in the Park tomorrow at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Author Christine Thomas will read from her book and sign copies. Two-dollar donations support park programs, and park entrance fees apply.

SEE OUR SPONSORS AT KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM AND PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM.