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| Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park ranger Dean Gallagher presents Life on the Edge. The fifth anniversary of continuous eruption at Halema`uma`u Crater is next Tuesday, March 19. Photo from NPS |
KA`U FARM BUREAU is hoping that legislation will pass to help with agricultural irrigation and the coffee berry borer battle. Ka`u Farm Bureau president Chris Manfredi said at this week’s meeting that HB1263 crossed over to the Senate and would provide more funds for fixing up the old Ka`u sugar water system that was originally used to transport sugar cane to the mill but would be used in the future for irrigation for diversified agriculture. He said this morning that coffee berry borer measures passed the Senate agriculture committee yesterday, with $3000,000 for the CBB Task Force and $500,000 for CBB research.
During Monday's Ka`u Farm Bureau meeting, Manfredi said the Farm Bureau also supports allowing farmers to construct small agricultural buildings without going through the permitting process. Another bill would prevent state agricultural leases from being priced at the “highest and best use” rather than for farming. The Farm Bureau is concerned about House Bill 903 that would consider soil a possible pollutant when it runs off into waterways, he reported.
During Monday's Ka`u Farm Bureau meeting, Manfredi said the Farm Bureau also supports allowing farmers to construct small agricultural buildings without going through the permitting process. Another bill would prevent state agricultural leases from being priced at the “highest and best use” rather than for farming. The Farm Bureau is concerned about House Bill 903 that would consider soil a possible pollutant when it runs off into waterways, he reported.
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| Ka`u Farm Bureau is hoping that legislation to help fight the coffee berry borer will pass. |
Statewide Hawai`i Farm Bureau initiatives alive at the 2013 Hawai`i Legislature:
- HB486, HD1 would appropriate funds to the Department of Education and the University of Hawai`i to operate and implement the Future Farmers of America and 4-H programs.
- HB487 HD2 and SB593 SD2 would expand livestock feed subsidy to include feed for goats, sheep, lambs, fish and crustaceans. It would create a subsidy for qualified feed developers.
- HB488 HD1 would require valuation of public agricultural or aquacultural land to be based on the land’s agricultural or aquacultural use, economic considerations, relevant risk factors and societal benefits.
- HB489 HD1 and SB 586 SD1 would provide, under certain circumstances, an exemption from building code and permit requirements for nonresidential buildings or structures on farms.
- HB1263 HD2 provides, under certain circumstances, an exemption from building code and permit requirements for nonresidential buildings or structures on farms.
- SB5 SD1 would provide several means of compensation in addition to rent reductions when the state withdraws, condemns, or takes public land leased for intensive agricultural or pastoral uses and renders the land unusable for the original purposes of the lease.
- SB974 SD2 would assist agricultural enterprises in the state by authorizing the state to issue special purpose revenue bonds for their benefit.
- HB747 HD1 would exempt from the general excise tax amounts received for the slaughter and processing of poultry and livestock.
- HB857 HD2 would reallocate the Barrel Tax. It would repeal the sunset date of the Barrel Tax and provide appropriations for the anticipated additional revenues.
- SB991 SD2 HD2 would exempt the purchase of fresh meats and produce and animals and plants by any governmental body from the Hawai`i Public Procurement Code.
- SB992 SD2 would allow for agricultural loans to be administered for livestock biosecurity projects.
- SB993 SD2 would modify the new farmer loan program of the Department of Agriculture to promote development of innovative technologies and to assist new farm enterprises.
- SB995 would allow for an engineering program administrator to oversee the responsibilities mandated by chapter 167, Hawai`i Revised Statutes, for irrigation water development.
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| One month after the vent within Halema`uma`u Crater opened in 2008, it was about 115 feet in diameter. Photos from USGS |
Kilauea’s summit vent opened at 2:58 a.m., HST, on March 19, 2008, when an explosive eruption created a gaping hole about 115 feet wide on the south wall of Halema`uma`u Crater. Nighttime glow from this hole suggested the presence of molten lava, but it wasn’t until six months later that a lake of roiling lava deep within the vent was definitively observed by U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists.
With the opening of Halema`uma`u vent, already high summit sulfur dioxide gas emission rates increased even more, resulting in increased vog downwind. Although the summit SO2 emissions have declined since 2008, they are still averaging 800-1,200 tons per day, creating hazardous conditions along closed sections of the park’s Crater Rim Drive and intermittent poor air quality farther downwind of the vent.
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| As of this month, the vent is more than 500 feet across. |
Since 2008, rock collapses within the vent have enlarged its opening on the floor of Halema`uma`u Crater. The vent is now about 520 feet by 700 feet (the area of about 21 Olympic-sized pools), and, according to HVO scientist-in-charge Jim Kauahikaua, is likely to continue growing through further collapses of overhung sections of the vent rim.
Kauahikaua described the lava within the vent as a continuously circulating gas-rich “foam” that rises and falls depending on changes in Kilauea’s subsurface magma pressure. The lava lake reached its highest level to date on Oct. 26, 2012, when the lava surface rose to within 72 feet of the vent rim.
While the actual lava lake is not visible from safe viewing areas, its glow — the diffusion of incandescent lava light within the gas plume rising from the vent — is easily observed from Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park overlooks on clear nights. When the lava lake level is especially high, park visitors can sometimes hear sharp sounds as rocks in the vent wall expand and crack due to increased heat.
“The amazing beauty of this eruption, and the ease of viewing opportunities within Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park, provide both visitors and residents with unforgettable experiences,” said park superintendent Cindy Orlando. “Where else in the world can you park your car and walk just a few feet to behold the spectacle of one of the world’s most active volcanoes?”
Jaggar Museum and the overlook are wheelchair- and stroller-accessible. Other vantage points for viewing Halema`uma`u within the park include Kilauea Overlook, Kilauea Iki Overlook and Keanakako`i Overlook.
The summit eruption, Kilauea’s second longest since the early 1900s, can also be experienced through photos, videos, and webcam images posted on HVO’s website at http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov.
Kauahikaua described the lava within the vent as a continuously circulating gas-rich “foam” that rises and falls depending on changes in Kilauea’s subsurface magma pressure. The lava lake reached its highest level to date on Oct. 26, 2012, when the lava surface rose to within 72 feet of the vent rim.
While the actual lava lake is not visible from safe viewing areas, its glow — the diffusion of incandescent lava light within the gas plume rising from the vent — is easily observed from Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park overlooks on clear nights. When the lava lake level is especially high, park visitors can sometimes hear sharp sounds as rocks in the vent wall expand and crack due to increased heat.
“The amazing beauty of this eruption, and the ease of viewing opportunities within Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park, provide both visitors and residents with unforgettable experiences,” said park superintendent Cindy Orlando. “Where else in the world can you park your car and walk just a few feet to behold the spectacle of one of the world’s most active volcanoes?”
Jaggar Museum and the overlook are wheelchair- and stroller-accessible. Other vantage points for viewing Halema`uma`u within the park include Kilauea Overlook, Kilauea Iki Overlook and Keanakako`i Overlook.
The summit eruption, Kilauea’s second longest since the early 1900s, can also be experienced through photos, videos, and webcam images posted on HVO’s website at http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov.
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| Funds raised at this weekend's rummage sale will be used to purchase equipment for volunteer firefighters. |
DONATIONS ARE BEING TAKEN today and Thursday for Discovery Harbour Community Center’s rummage sale this Friday through Sunday that raises money to support the local volunteer fire department.
HAWAI`I WILDLIFE FUND holds another Ka`u Coast Cleanup this Saturday. Sign up with Megan Lamson at kahakai.cleanups@gmail.com or 769-7629.
ALOHA BLUEGRASS BAND and Keoki Kahumoku present a piligrass concert Saturday at Pahala Plantation House. Bluegrass meets Hawaiian music at 7:30 p.m. Suggested donation is $15 - $20. For more information, call 938-6582.
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| Julie Dobbs presents two one-act plays by Tennessee Williams at Pahala Plantation House Sunday, March 24. |
TWO BY TENN WITH TEA, an afternoon performance of two rarely performed one-act plays written by Tennessee Williams, takes place at Pahala Plantation House Sunday, March 24 at 3 p.m. In what director Julie Dobbs describes as a “fragile mood piece” entitled Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen, Arlene Araki and Dick Hershberger, of Ocean View, portray a man and woman rooted hopelessly in an unchanging present. I Can’t Imagine Tomorrow, the second play, also features Araki and Hershberger in what Dobbs calls “a variation on the theme of the passage toward death; of endured, but unendurable, pain.”
Tea and cookies will be served. Suggested donation is $5 per person.
SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.
Tea and cookies will be served. Suggested donation is $5 per person.
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.