Ka`u News Briefs May 26, 2012

A baby Pseudorca, a false killer whale, in Hawaiian waters. Photo by Robin Baird, courtesy of cascadiaresearch.org

THE NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL went to federal court this week to put Pseudorca, the false killer whale, on the Endangered Species list. The false killer whale is rare, with an estimated population of under 200 remaining in Hawaiian waters. It is known to be somewhat friendly, even offering to share its own fish catch with other marine animals, divers, snorkelers and fishermen. Its face is also known to appear to be smiling.

False killer whale grabs mahi for dinner. Pseudorca has been known
to offer its catch to people.  Photo by Dan McSweeney courtesy of
cascadiaresearch.org

       Scientists at the National Marine Fisheries Service recommended early last year that the false killer whale be listed as an Endangered Species. Fisheries, however, is yet to make a final decision, leading to the suit.
      According to a report by Associated Press reporter Audrey McAvoy, Michael Jasny, a senior policy analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council, calls listing Pseudorca a “no-brainer…. It represents our best chance to save them. Saving them could go a long way toward preserving the remarkable marine oasis of which they are a part,” he said.
      Listing them as an Endangered Species is expected to encourage Hawai`i’s longline fishing fleet to take more care. The AP story says that before new rules recently changed the types of hooks allowed, the fleet “was accidentally killing or seriously injuring an average of 7.4 false killer whales each year. This exceeds the 2.5 per year that the fishery could kill or seriously harm without affecting the population’s ability to survive.”

Kalaekilohana hosting the recent Ka`u Coffee Festival dinner. Photo by Julia Neal

KALAEKILOHANA WOULD BECOME A LODGE with approval of a special permit application by the Windward Planning Commission. The application asks that a permit for the four-bedroom bed and breakfast establishment and certified kitchen facility allow expansion into a five-bedroom lodge with a certified kitchen that will also offer meals to registered guests and accommodate small community and private events once a month. The property is located in Kama`oa Haven Subdivision on the east side of South Point Road about one mile from Mamalahoa Hwy. Kenny Joyce and S. Kilohana Domingo are owners, and the application goes before the Planning Commission on Thursday, June 7 at its meeting at Council Chambers in Hilo at 9 a.m.

COMMENTS ON THE KA`U FOREST RESERVE MANAGEMENT PLAN’S Draft Environmental Impact Statement are due June 22. Copies are available at Na`alehu and Pahala Libraries as well as online. The plan would be implemented over a 15-year time frame. To help preserve native species, it includes options for fencing portions of the 61,641 acre Ka`u Forest Reserve mostly in the upper elevations. The plan would provide trails for hunters and hikers. 

      The reserve is located between 2,000 and 7,000 feet in altitude above the villages of Pahala, Na`alehu and Wai`ohinu. It has some of the most pristine native Hawaiian forest in all of the Islands and is managed by the state Department of Fish & Wildlife. The agency is tasked to protect, manage, restore and monitor the natural resources of the Ka`u Forest Reserve. The reserve was established on Aug. 2, 1906 to protect the forest on the lower slopes of Mauna Loa, with particular regard to the water supply of the agricultural lands of Ka`u. The reserve is bordered by lands of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park, Kamehameha Schools, The Nature Conservancy and private property owners, as well as state land leased to farmers and ranchers.
      Managing the reserve is not new. DOFAW maintains roads for public access, removes wild cattle from the forest, surveys birds and other wildlife, re-introduces native plants into the reserve and removes weeds. One of the options in the Draft EA is to re-introduce the native Hawaiian Crow, the `Alala, into the wild within the Ka`u Forest Reserve.
      To read the Draft EA, see http://oeqc.doh.hawaii.gov/Shared%20Documents/EA_and_EIS_Online_Library/Hawaii/2010s/2012-05-23-DEA-Kau-Forest-Reserve-Management-Plan.pdf.

Blueberries grow well in Hawai`i.
 Photo by Randall Hamasaki/UH

Tea grown at Volcano Winery.
Photo from Volcano Winery

A BLUEBERRY & TEA FIELD DAY on Friday, June 8 is open to coffee farmers enrolled in the University of Hawai`i’s Risk Management School on Saturday, June 9. Blueberry & Tea will be held at the UH Volcano Research station and Volcano Winery from noon to 4:30 p.m. with hosts Andrew Kawabata, Randy T. Hamasaki, Andrea Kawabata and Dr. Stuart T. Nakamoto. Participants will see blueberry trials studying effects of pot size on yield, blueberry varieties and pruning methods. They will also visit tea plantings and be introduced to tea research being conducted at CTAHR.

      At Volcano Winery, see how local ingredients such as tea are used in winemaking. There will be a chance for tasting and to walk through their tea fields. To make reservations, call Perci at 887-6183 or email proque@hawaii.edu. Enrollment is on a first-come, first-served basis with wait list after reaching maximum enrollment.
      Enrollment in the Risk Management School at Old Pahala Clubhouse on Saturday, June 9 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. is available to coffee farmers by registering by May 31. Call Perci at 887-6183.

Toku Nakano (left) and Iwao Yonemitsu celebrated before going to
to Washington, D.C. to receive their Congressional Gold Medals.
Photo by Julia Neal

CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL recipients of Hawai`i Island, including Iwao Yonemitsu, Toku Nakano and Tsuneki Omija , from Ka`u, will be honored at Kilauea Military Camp’s Memorial Day ceremony and buffet on Monday. Yonemitsu and Nakano will attend the ceremony that begins at 3 p.m. on KMC’s front lawn. Keynote speaker is state Rep. Jerry Chang, and guest speaker is Major Darrin Cox, executive officer of the 1st Squadron, 299th Calvary. The Memorial Day Buffet is 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. in Crater Rim Café - $14.25 for adults and $8 for children. 

HAWAI`I WILDLIFE FUND sponsors its third annual beach cleanup at Manuka Natural Area Reserve next Saturday. Volunteers should be able hikers wearing sturdy shoes and bring bag lunches, water bottle, snacks and sun and wind protection. Sign up with Megan Lamson at kahakai.cleanups@gmail.com or 769-7629.

SUMMER CREATIONS takes place on the grounds and lanai of Pahala Plantation House at the corner of Maile and Pikake Streets this coming King Kamehameha Day. The June 11 public art event is from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Lunch is included. Local artists will guide attendees through processes to
create their own art pieces in diverse media such as batik, quilting, weaving, macrame, painting and drawing. All ages are welcome. This event is free, although some classes may have a modest materials fee. Secondary goals are to introduce and practice Aloha, `Ohana, Ho`olaulima, Lokahi, Malama and Kokua in an active art setting and to provide a safe, encouraging environment for creativity within community. Ka`u School of the Arts is a nonprofit charity organization 501(c)(3) that sponsors this and a rainbow of other art opportunities for the people of Ka`u. See more at www.kauarts.org.
      For more information, contact Theresa Lyon 938-9767.

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT WWW.PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND WWW.KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM.

Ka`u News Briefs May 25, 2012

Axis deer hunting is popular on Maui. Hunters say they help reduce the size of the herds that ravage nature and agriculture. Bringing the deer to the Big Island, however, is illegal.     Photo from mauideerhunting.com

SPECULATION ON HOW AXIS DEER made it to Ka`u and other places on the Big Island is spreading internationally, along with the issue of balancing hunting with wildlife conservation. 

      The Associated Press released a story this week, reporting “tracks along the southern coast indicate deer were pushed into the ocean from a boat and forced to paddle ashore” – to Ka`u. The story also repeats speculation that someone lifted axis deer to North Kohala by helicopter. It notes that Maui, where deer have been a plentiful pest for years, is only 30 miles away from the north end of Big Island. However, “deer can swim, but not very far.”
      “Whether they arrived by air or sea, wildlife managers want to eradicate them to avoid a repeat of the destruction seen on other islands where they ate through vineyards, avocado farms and forests where endangered species live,” says the story by AP reporter Audrey Macavoy.
      She writes that “officials estimate that there are 100 deer on the northern and southern ends of the Big Island,” and “deer population is growing 20 per cent to 30 per cent per year in Hawai`i because there aren’t any natural predators — except for humans.”  

      The story reviews deer history, interviewing Steven Hess, wildlife biologist with U.S. Geological Survey. The AP reports that deer “first came to Hawai`i in the 1860s as a gift from Hong Kong to the monarch who ruled at the time, King Kamehameha V. They were first taken to Moloka`i Island. In the 1950s, some deer were taken to Maui as part of post-World War II efforts to introduce mammals to different places and increase hunting opportunities for veterans…. Biologists believed they could improve the environment by introducing species that didn’t naturally exist.” However, “the experiment has had devastating, unforeseen consequences in Hawai`i, where plants and animals evolved in isolation over millions of years and lack natural defenses against introduced species.”

In April, a Big Island Invasive Species Committee hunter killed its first
axis deer on Big Island - above South Point. Photo from BIISC

      Macavoy also interviewed Palikapu Dedman, president of Pele Defense Fund, and says the group “led a successful legal fight in the 1990s to win Native Hawaiians access to private land for hunting.” The story says the Pele Defense Fund “is now rallying hunters together for a class action lawsuit against the state to stop its efforts to eradicate game animals and fence off land.” It quotes Dedman: “They go in and kill all the pigs and everything else. Then you eliminated the hunter. I think the hunter has been ignored, and it’s the state’s responsibility to look out for them, too.”
      The Nature Conservancy, which has large tracts of land in Ka`u, has a different view. The AP interviewed Sam Ohu Gon III, TNC’s senior scientist and cultural adviser in Hawai`i. The story says, “Deer could threaten Big Island plants that are important for the environment and Hawaiian culture. Among those are the uhiuhi tree, which has a hard wood ancient Hawaiians favored for making weapons and tools, and the ohelo berry, which is used to make jam and is sacred to Pele, the goddess of volcanoes.”
      Macavoy writes: “The threat to the Big Island’s native ecosystems is particularly serious as half the island still has native vegetation — a high ratio compared with other Hawaiian islands.”
       She quotes TNC’s Gon saying, “It cannot be a free-for-all of hunting everywhere you want and the hell with everything else. Because what would that result in? That just spirals us down into less and less of what makes Hawai`i unique.”

Hawaiian Airlines predicts increased tourism this summer.

INCREASED TOURISM this summer is predicted by Hawaiian Airlines. Hawaiian is upping the number of Neighbor Island flights from 179 to 184 per day. Total seating available across the airline’s schedule will increase by 28 percent over last summer’s scheduling. 

      Direct flights on Hawaiian from New York begin June 4. United Airlines launches direct flights from Washington, D.C. to Hawai`i on June 8.

KUMU LEILEHUA YUEN and Manu Josiah present a narrated demonstration of the preparation, protocol and offering of traditional hula and chant at the hula platform in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. Hands-on cultural demonstrations take place at Volcano Art Center Gallery from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Donations are welcome, and park entrance fees apply.

FREE SQUARE DANCING lessons are given tomorrow and every Saturday at 7 p.m. at Ocean View Community Center. Open to all ages. Call Lucy at 895-4212 for more information.

Jerry Chang

KILAUEA MILITARY CAMP will host a Memorial Day ceremony and buffet on Monday. The ceremony will honor all Congressional Gold Medal recipients of Hawai`i, including Iwao Yonemitsu and Toku Nakano from Ka`u. It begins at 3 p.m. on KMC’s front lawn. Keynote speaker is state Rep. Jerry Chang. Guest speaker is Major Darin Cox, executive officer of the 1st Squadron, 299th Calvary. The Memorial Day Buffet is 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. in Crater Rim Café - $14.25 for adults and $8 for children. 

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT WWW.PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND WWW.KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM.

Ka`u News Briefs May 24, 2012

Ka`u Forest Reserve will be managed under a new plan. Photo by Rob Shallenberger

TWENTY PERCENT of the 61,641 acre state-owned Ka`u Forest Reserve could be fenced under a draft Ka`u Forest Reserve Management Plan. However, public access would be protected with walkovers and gates. A fencing alternative proposed for the upper elevation central portion of the Reserve would help protect the endangered Hawaiian crow, the `Alala, which could be reintroduced into the wild there, while respecting the cultural practice of hunting and hiking in the Reserve, says the Draft Environmental Assessment for the Reserve.

     The state Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Forestry and Wildlife “seeks to balance providing public hunting opportunities in the Reserve with the protection of native ecosystems and watersheds, and the Plan includes actions to substantially facilitate public hunting in the Reserve,” states the Draft EA posted yesterday on the state Department of Health’s Office of Environmental Quality Control website. It says the plan “responds to a need to maintain and restore key watershed, preserve a unique ecosystem with critically endangered plants and animals, perpetuate natural resources vital to Hawaiian culture and practices, find a suitable site to reintroduce ‘Alala or Hawaiian Crow into the wild, and provide for continued and expanded public use.”

Walkover Fencing to allow
hunters and hikers access
to the managed forest.
Photo by The Nature Conservancy

     The fence would surround 12,000 acres where pigs, sheep and other ungulates would be removed and native forest protected. According to the EA, “Field surveys would be conducted to identify locations for the planned fence alignments, and final fence alignments would be sited to avoid any impacts to botanical, faunal, and archaeological resources. Fences would include walkovers and gates to ensure public access into management units.

Baby `Alala

Other actions include weed monitoring and control, trail and access improvements for hunters and hikers, outplanting of rare plant species, cooperation with water source users, and actions to foster reintroduction and survival of the `Alala. 

Impacts to pig hunting, which are considered by many to be a cultural practice, would occur but be less than significant because of the proposed locations of management areas.” 

      A public meeting will be held to gather input on the draft assessment for the plan on Saturday, June 2, from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Na`alehu Community Center. Food and childcare will be provided. For more, call Ron Terry at (808) 969-7090 or email rterry@hawaii.rr.com. 

    To download the Ka`u Forest Reserve Management Plan EA, http://oeqc.doh.hawaii.gov/Shared%20Documents/EA_and_EIS_Online_Library/Hawaii/2010s/2012-05-23-DEA-Kau-Forest-Reserve-Management-Plan.pdf. 

HEALTH INSURANCE PREMIUMS for small businesses using Hawai`i Medical Services Association will go up 2.6 percent on July 1. The state of Hawai`i this week gave HMSA, the largest health insurer in the Islands, permission to raise its rates for approximately 9,500 small businesses with fewer than 200 employees. Before giving its approval, the Hawai`i Insurance Division reduced the proposed hike from 3.9 percent requested by HMSA to 2.6 percent. The insurance policies suffering the rate hike cover about 110,000 employees of small businesses in Hawai`i, which have less than six weeks notice to plan for the additional expense.

ANOTHER SIGN OF ECONOMIC RECOVERY is an increase of Young Brothers cargo volume in the first quarter of this year, compared to the first quarter of 2011. Cargo volume between Honolulu and Hilo increased 4.3 percent, going from 7,230.6 container platform equivalents in 2011 to 7,542.1 units this year. Kawaihae received a 2.4 percent increase in Young Brothers cargo.
     Glenn Hong, President of Young Brothers said, however: “The first quarter volume gain is modest, so it is still a little early to tell whether Neighbor Island economies collectively have begun to climb out of the bottom of the recession.” 

 Brandy Shibuya, Miss Ka`u Coffee 2011
 and Miss Aloha Hawai`i 2012 is up for
Miss Hawai`i in the June pageant.
Photo by Head Shots Hawai`i

BRANDY SHIBUYA, who won Miss Ka`u Coffee 2011 and Miss Aloha Hawai`i 2012, is a candidate for the official Miss America - Miss Hawai`i title on Saturday, June 9 in Waikiki at the Hawai`i Convention Center Kalakaua Ball Room, 4th Floor, at 5:30 p.m. A live telecast will begin at 7:20 p.m. on OC16.
     The Ka`u native, daughter of police officer Dane Shibuya and Terry Shibuya, graduated from Kamehameha School in Keaau and has been going to college locally. Shibuya said she also hopes that Ka`u residents will visit Children’s Miracle network online at MissAmerica4kids.org. "Search for contestant Brandy Shibuya and join me in making miracles happen by securing a thoughtful donation for our sick and injured children here in Hawai’i," she urged.
     Voting for Miss Photogenic is open for the Miss Hawai`i pageant at toplevelstudio.com/misshawaii/.

KA`U COFFEE FARMERS are encouraged to register for UH Manoa College of Tropical Ag & Human Resources’ Risk Management School class titled Understanding Risk Issues for Ka`u Coffee Producers. The class, which starts at 9 a.m. on Saturday, June 9, at the Old Pahala Clubhouse on Maile Street, includes a free lunch for all who RSVP by May 31. The full day class focuses on five risk factors in agriculture: production, financial, labor/human, market, and legal/institutional. Speakers touch on understanding and managing ag risks, identifying high risk areas in Ka`u, using the most of crop insurance, transportation reimbursements, marketing, value adding and ag tourism. The day includes a trade show with agricultural chemical companies, government agencies, and various CTAHR extension programs. Reservations are free and required by May 31. To save your seat, call Perci at 887-6183.

OCEAN VIEW COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORP. meets tonight, 5:30 p.m., at Ocean View Community Center. For more, call 929-9910.

AARP DRIVER SAFETY TRAINING is available Friday. Mike Last teaches this four-hour class that has no driving, tests or exams. Current members pay $12 and non-members by $14. The class is open to everyone. For more, call 929-8422.

`IKE HANA N`EAU: KAPA BEATING & TOOL CREATION is hosted Saturday at Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park’s Kilauea Visitor Center from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Joni Mae Makuakane-Jarrell teaches participants to create one-foot pieces of kapa. $20 materials fee. Kauhane Heloca helps participants design and create four kapa implements. $300 materials fee. Park entrance fees apply. Pre-register at 985-6020.

Kumu Leilehua Yuen and Manu Josiah demonstrate
Hula Kahiko on Saturday. Photo by Kenji Kuroshima

HULA KAHIKO INFORMANCE, Kumu Leilehua Yuen and Manu Josiah present a narrated demonstration of the preparation, protocol and offering of traditional hula and chant at the hula platform in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Saturday. Hands-on demonstrations are from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Volcano Art Center Gallery porch. Donations are welcome; park entrance fees apply.

THE FREE YOUTH ARTS FESTIVAL at Volcano Art Center’s Niaulani Campus takes place Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Activities include hands-on drumming, painting on silk, drawing and a musical petting zoo. The event begins with a Taiko drum performance at 10 a.m., followed by Hip Hop dance with Zulu Nation, Hula and Oli with Meleana, Qigong with Priya, a free concert by Brittni Paiva and Youth Poetry Open Mic. No experience in the arts is necessary, and everyone is welcome. Seating for Paiva’s concert is limited. Call 967-8222 for reservations.

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT WWW.PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND WWW.KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM.