Ka`u News Briefs Nov. 16, 2010

KAHU Radio manager Demetrius Oliveira gives Hawai`i Island teachers
a tour of the station.

BELOVED KAHU RADIO manager, musician and composer Demetrius Oliveira hosted school teachers from around the island on a tour of historic buildings in Pahala. Big D's Ohana and the Edmund C. Olson Trust  are challenging the community to help raise $20,000 for surgery for Demetrius that is critical to restore his health. Olson will match up to $5,000 in donations raised by December 7. Donations can be made at the Ka`u Federal Credit Union.

Landowners and farmers are looking at easements and other methods
of protecting agriculture in Ka`u.

METHODS FOR PRESERVING LAND for agriculture and nature were explored last night at the monthly meeting of The Ka`u Chamber of Commerce. John Henshaw, of The Nature Conservancy, and Doug Sensenig, of Hawai`i Island Land Trust, explained that buying or donating development rights can make properties more affordable for farming and conservation, as their land value and taxes go down. They said conservation easements have been used in other places to take the pressure off subdividing precious farmlands. The two are working on 8,000 acres in Ka`u to be preserved by the Olson Trust for farming and nature.
     Several people attending the meeting said they are concerned about native rights of access to conserved lands and keeping hunting trails open. Cheryl Torres, of Pahala, said that local people need to be assured that they can hunt and gather in the forests of Ka`u as this is part of their livelihood. Trini Marques, of Pahala, said that she appreciates such efforts to conserve land but wants to make sure that Hawaiian rights are recognized. John Henshaw, of The Nature Conservancy, said they try to achieve a balance of preserving native species while respecting the traditions of people to hunt and use the forest for recreation and food gathering.

The Nature Conservancy preserve at Kaiholena.

     Placing conservation easements, donated by owners of small lots in Volcano, could help preserve the rainforest within in the neighborhoods between Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park and state forest preserves. The idea is to keep the trees on the land and place the homes within the forest, instead of clear-cutting the houselots. This gives the birds an overstory - a bridge between the two forest preserves. Caroline Garrett, of Volcano, said she is looking into such easement ideas for her own property. Both The Nature Conservancy and The Hawai`i Island Land Trust are working on the project.

INCOMING COUNTY COUNCILWOMAN Brittany Smart said she supports the conservation easement movement and hopes it becomes contagious around the island.

SEVERAL KA`U COFFEE FARMERS are scheduled to fly to O`ahu tomorrow to oppose putting Ka`u in a quarantine area with Kona to fend off the coffee borer pest. Lorie Obra and Bull Kailiawa, both farmers of award-winning coffee above Pahala, said they hope that one farm in Ka`u that has been infested with the coffee borer will be cleared so that Ka`u coffee farms can have a clean bill of health. It is suspected that the coffee borer pest was brought to Kona by importing cheap green coffee beans from Latin America to blend with Kona coffee.

KA`U COFFEE GROWERS don't mix their beans with foreign coffee and don’t want to be included in the quarantined area. The quarantine would prevent shipping untreated greens beans from here to other islands. Kailiawa is organizing a group of volunteers to help any farmer in Ka`u with coffee borers to clean their orchards. Call 895-6099.

THE COUNTY COUNCIL IS scheduled to vote on borrowing $56 million for projects around the island during its meeting tomorrow at Keauhou. Among the projects are a recycling and waste transfer station at Wai`ohinu which is budgeted for more than $8 million. Mayor Billy Kenoi said the funding will help stimulate the economy and improve the quality of life on this island. Current Council Chair J Yoshimoto and incoming Council chair Dominic Yagong oppose the measure, saying it will increase burden the county with too much debt, costing the county $4.26 million a year for 20 years. Outgoing Ka`u Council member Guy Enriques has supported the measure.

GOVERNOR ELECT NEIL ABERCROMBIE told state Senators yesterday that he plans to help out the Kupuna Care and Healthy Start programs by releasing rainy day funds that have been held up by outgoing governor Linda Lingle. Healthy Start helps many low-income mothers and mothers-to-be in Ka`u. Kupuna Care reaches out to seniors in their homes.

A NEW BOOK ON VOLCANOES will be unveiled tonight at After Dark in the Park at 7 p.m. in the Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park Visitor Center Theater. The title is Volcanoes – Global Perspectives. It was written by Volcano resident and volcanologist Jack Lockwood and professor and former Volcanoes park Ranger Rick Hazlett.

THE HAWAIIAN CIVIC CLUB will have its regular third Thursday of the month meeting at Na`alehu Methodist Church at 6:30 p.m. on November 18. Native Hawaiians and non-natives are invited to join. Call President Blossom DeSilva 929-9731 or 936-7262.

Kahuku artwork by Dietrich Varez

THE KAHUKU UNIT of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park is hosting more programs to celebrate the history of Kahuku. A guided hike called People and Land of Kahuku is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday and again Dec. 18. The Kahuku gate on the mountain side of Highway 11 near mile marker 70 in Ka'u will be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Participants should meet inside the gate by 9:30 a.m. for this hike. Advanced registration is not required, and four-wheel-drive vehicles are not needed. The 2.5-mile hike explores ways people have lived on the vast Kahuku lands from the earliest Hawaiian settlements through the park's current and future projects. For more information, call 985-6011.