Ka`u News Briefs Nov. 7, 2011

Michael Smith, inventer of the Green Power House, chosen for the U.S. booth at APEC this week.

ALGAE AQUA-CULTURE TECHNOLOGY will be represented by Volcano residents David Howard Donald and Anne Lee at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s CEO Summit in Honolulu this week. Lee and Donald are proposing AACT’s Green Power House energy solution in their bid to operate Volcano House. The Green Power House will be one of five innovations displayed in the booth sponsored by the United States at APEC’s Medium Enterprise Innovation Exhibit. Other companies chosen for the U.S. booth are Kai Medical; Oceanit; Open Entry; and Planned Systems Alternative. The companies were chosen after a nationwide search for enterprises in the fields of education and training, health, information and communications, green/clean technology and food and agriculture. 

David Howard Donald

Anne Lee

     AACT’s inventor, Michael Smith, will also be on hand. He described the Green Power House as “three billion years of renewable energy engineering experience at work.” He was referring to the algae, one of the planet’s most ancient and evolved plants. “Algae efficiently converts solar energy into bioenergy. Algae grows faster than most other plants around,” Smith said. 

     The Volcano Project team proposes to meet electrical needs at Volcano House with a Green Power House. “This is an ideal answer for the National Park Service’s need to reduce its carbon footprint,” Donald said.
     Lee said that “the Volcano Project has proposed AACT’s Green Power House as a safe and eco-friendly self-sustaining, self-managing greenhouse using cutting-edge technology and nature’s own processes to generate green electricity, consume invasive species, and provide endemics for reforestation of the Park.”

Mufi Hannemann
Photo by Julia Neal

MUFI HANNEMANN, WHO HELPED BRING APEC TO HAWAI`I when he was mayor of the City & County of Honolulu, traveled through Ka`u over the weekend. Hannemann is running for Congress and hopes to take the seat of Rep. Mazie Hirono, who is running for the Senate. 

     Hannemann helped break ground for the Bay Clinic’s new Ka`u Family Health & Dental Center on Saturday and said he will work for more federal funding for the new facility. The Bay Clinic location is nearly across the street from Hannemann’s former house, which is now Punalu`u Bake Shop. He also lived in Papaikou and was vice-president of Corporate Development and Marketing for C. Brewer, which owned the sugar plantation here and developed Punalu`u Bake Shop.
     Hannemann said he believes he has an understanding of rural Hawai`i and the huge Second Congressional District, which includes four counties and six islands that cannot be neglected.
     He said that one of the best skills he has to offer is the ability to network and pointed to his background in business and government. In addition to being Honolulu’s mayor, he was state director of Business & Economic Development and is currently president and CEO of the Hawai`i Hotel & Lodging Association. He said the organization is now more inclusive. He said tourism is “not an old industry, it is an evolving industry – more green, sustainable and maintaining a sense of place.”
     Hannemann said tourism can help Ka`u Coffee, and he talked about ag-tourism, environmental tourism and health tourism. Hannemann also talked about Hawai`i becoming a showcase for alternative energy, with geothermal, wind, hydroelectric and other alternatives being developed.

Hau trees are members of the hibuscus family.
Photo from University of Hawai`i

THE BIGGEST TREES IN HAWAI`I are the subject of a public search encouraged by the state Department of Land & Natural Resources. 

     DLNR chair William Aila said there are no trees currently on the national register of Big Trees. “We hope that including Hawai`i on the national Big Trees register will help educate and encourage conservation of our native and culturally important trees. It is our goal to eventually create our own State of Hawai`i Big Trees Program,” said Aila.
     The DLNR asks for species and location by GPS, as well as the height, width and size of the tree’s crown. The state is looking for the following species: wauke (Broussonetia papyrifera), coconut (Cocos nucifera), hau (Hibiscus tiliaceus), manele (Sapindus saponaria) and `a`ali`i (Dononaea viscosa). 

`A`ali`i is usually a small tree, but some of the
largest may be in Ka`u.  Photo by
A. Tsuneyoshi

     Candidates for biggest tree can be emailed to Sheri.S.Mann@hawaii.gov. Visit the American Forests website for measuring tips and more on the nationwide contest at www.americanforests.org/our-programs/bigtree/big-tree-measuring-guidelines/.

SPEAKING OF TREES, the proposed Ka`u Forest Reserve Management Plan Environmental Assessment will be the topic of discussion at the Ka`u Chamber of Commerce meeting on Friday, Nov. 18 at 4 p.m. at Punalu`u Bake Shop. The speaker will be Ron Terry, of Geometrician Associates.

INDIGENOUS HEALTH is a new master’s degree planned by the University of Hawai`i School of Medicine. The two-year program will begin in the fall of 2012. It will focus on health care for Pacific Islanders, Native Americans and Maori.

HAWAIIAN AIRLINES is flying 85 percent full, with 16.4 percent more passengers and 20 percent more capacity over October of last year, according to a report in RTT Global Financial Newsletter.

THE KA`U COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN steering committee will meet tomorrow at Ocean View Community Center at 5:30 p.m. The public is invited and can read updates and history of the development plan at hawaiicountycdp.info/kau-cdp.

HAWAI`I’S FIRST VOLCANO HOUSE is the topic at After Dark in the Park tomorrow. William Chapman, of UH-Manoa’s historic preservation program, discusses the history of Volcano House beginning at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Park entrance fees apply.

Ka`u News Briefs Nov. 6, 2011

Miss Aloha Hawai`i Brandy Shibuya (left), with Miss Kona Coffee Corinne Quinajon and
first runner-up Kapuahi`ilani Lapera.  Photo by Nalani Parlin 

MISS KA`U COFFEE BRANDY SHIBUYA is the new Miss Aloha Hawai`i, winning the islandwide pageant last night at the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort & Spa. Next step for the Hawai`i Community College West Hawai`i student is the Miss Hawai`i Pageant to be held next year in Honolulu. The winner of Miss Hawai`i goes to Miss America. Shibuya, the daughter of Terry-Lee and Dane Shibuya, danced hula for talent and won Miss Congeniality. Kapuahi`ilani Lapera won first runner-up. A 2007 graduate of Ka`u High, she is the daughter of Hi`ilani and Thomas Lapera, Jr. Corinne Quinajon, a senior at St. Joseph's High School in Hilo, was crowned Miss Kona Coffee last night. Quinajon also has relatives from Ka`u. 

O`o bars with ti leaves broke ground for the new
Bay Clinic facility in Na`alehu yesterday.
Photo by Youlsau Bells

BAY CLINIC BROKE GROUND yesterday for its new Ka`u Family Health & Dental Center in Na`alehu. Kahu Kauila Clark, a practitioner of Native Hawaiian healing, culture and prayer, gave the blessing, with participants using the o`o adorned with ti leaf to move the first earth for the project. 

     Council member Brittany Smart said that transportation will be vital for people to come to the new facility which will be able to handle thousands more appointments than the older building. Kudos went to `O Ka`u Kakou and the Hawaiian Civil Club of Ka`u for their help in raising funds for the project.
     A letter from Sen. Dan Inouye said the new facility will encourage more residents, even those without health insurance, “to get the care they sorely need.” A message from Sen. Dan Akaka called the project “another step toward expanding access to critical, preventable and primary care.” A message from Rep. Mazie Hirono pointed to the Affordable Health Care Act which, she said, will help the clinic.
     A statement from Gov. Neil Abercrombie said he and the state Legislature are committed to securing an additional $800,000 to complete the project.
     A letter from Mayor Billy Kenoi said, “The Ka`u Family Health Center will be a vital lifeline for the residents of Ka`u.” Bay Clinic board member Raylene Moses said that Ka`u residents “value quality health care for all,” and that families shouldn’t have to wonder whether they can afford to take a sick child to the doctor. She called the clinic an example of the “growth and prosperity we all long for.”

Pohue Bay is adjacent to the 16,000 acres owned by
developers who want to build a resort.
Photo by Megan Lamson

THE SURFRIDER FOUNDATION and Hawai`i Wildlife Fund have joined together to submit testimony for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Nani Kahuku `Aina resort project proposed for land between South Point and Ocean View along the ocean. The testimony opposes the current plan for the resort. It says: “Although sustainable growth can be a very good thing, we do not believe this large-scale development (two resorts, 18-hole golf course, developer-created cultural center, commercial areas, etc.) is appropriate as planned at this particular site.” 

     Hawai`i Wildlife Fund and Surfriders contend that the Environmental Impact Statement “glosses over sensitive environmental issues and is misaligned with several sound conservation principles.”
     The testimony contends that there are “insufficient coastal setbacks in the current plan. Imposing appropriate setbacks on coastal development allows for a necessary buffer zone to decrease the amount of negative impacts to nearshore coastal and marine resources.
     The EIS “alleges that a ‘shoreline conservation zone’ will exist. It references a coastal setback of at least of 300-feet inland with most habitable structures at least 20 feet above sea level. Surfriders and Hawai`i Wildlife Fund contend that “300 feet is much too close to the shoreline to insure necessary environmental precautions for the fragile coral reef and anchialine pond ecosystems nearby.
     “Moreover, this project location is in the midst of 80 miles of mostly undeveloped coastline in South Hawai`i (from Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park to Miloli`i). Currently, the Ka`u District has the largest stretch of natural and undeveloped shoreline in the state of Hawai`i. The Kahuku Village development would sever this contiguous open space irrevocably,” the testimony states.
     The developers have said that they will create Hawaiian cultural and education programs and protect the wildlife, including Pohue Bay, where endangered hawksbill turtles nest.
     The Draft EIS can be read on the state Department of Health’s Office of Environmental Quality Control website. Click on online library or use the following link: http://oeqc.doh.hawaii.gov/Shared%20Documents/EA_and_EIS_Online_Library/Hawaii/2010s/2011-09-23-DEIS-Kahuku-Village-Vol1.pdf.

Kamaki Fujikawa shows the 218-lb boar he caught with
Glenn Moses and team at yesterday's pig hunting
tournament weigh-in at Honu`apo.
Photo by Nalani Parlin

PIG HUNTING CHECK-IN WAS AT HONU`APO yesterday, with some large boars landing on the scales. Glenn Moses’ team won and was the first team to weigh in, with a boar of 218 pounds in the Jungle Express Hunting Tournament. Teammate Kamaki Fujikawa said they found their catch at 7:45 a.m. in the mountains nearby. It took them three hours to pack out the large pig. 

     Congressional candidate Mufi Hannemann, who used to live in Na`alehu, stopped by the tournament after visiting the Bay Clinic groundbreaking, Na`alehu Farmers Market, the Fall Fling sponsored by the Ka`u School of the Arts, and lunch with supporters at Hana Hou restaurant.

THE KA`U COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN Steering Committee will host its next meeting this coming Tuesday, Nov. 8 at Ocean View Community Center beginning at 5:30 p.m. The public is invited and can read updates and history of the development plan at hawaiicountycdp.info/kau-cdp.

HAWAI`I’S FIRST VOLCANO HOUSE is the topic at After Dark in the Park on Tuesday. William Chapman, of UH-Manoa’s historic preservation program, discusses its history beginning at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Park entrance fees apply.

Ka`u News Briefs Nov. 5, 2011

Pohue Bay petroglyphs.  Photo by Andrew Zenk from azenk.org

DAMAGED PETROGLYPHS on the Nani Kahuku `Aina property have been found by Sierra Club hikers, according to Nancy Cook Lauer’s report in this morning’s Hawai`i Tribune Herald. The story said hikers “discovered bulldozer damage to petroglyphs they fear will only increase with the development of the proposed Kahuku Village project.” 

Tomorrow is the deadline for public comments on
the Kahuku Village draft EIS.

     Diane Ware, who leads hikes for the environmental group, told the Tribune Herald that the Big Island chapter of the Sierra Club will respond to the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the resort by submitting comments and photos showing damage. 

     The 16,000 acres owned by the hui is located between Kalae, the South Point bluffs, and Hawaiian Ocean View Ranchos. It is across the street from the Kahuku Unit of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park, extends from Hwy 11 to the ocean, and borders the turtle nesting shoreline at Pohue Bay.
     Nani Kahuku `Aina partner Katherine Peroff, according to the Tribune Herald, said that no roadwork has been done and no bulldozers have been on property since her hui purchased the land. She said she has seen damage to petroglyphs herself and that the development would help to protect them. “Each petroglyph would be photographed and marked and such for protection,” she told the Tribune Herald.
    The Draft EIS points to numerous petroglyph fields and other cultural sites, as well as Pohue Bay, where endangered hawksbill turtles make their nests. The Draft EIS points to creation of a cultural center and environmental programs in tandem with resort development. 

Petroglyph at Pohue Bay. Photo by
Andrew Zenk from azenk.org

     Sierra Club’s Ware said she first saw bulldozer tracks and petroglyph damage in 1998, and can’t say the damage was done by current developers. “You have to suspect with development, with petroglyphs down there that they want to give access to, you’re going to see more…. If they widen that road or pave it, you know that they’re going to be doing more damage,” Ware said.
     The resort plan calls for reclassification of conservation property near the ocean for urban development and rezoning for resort and commercial use. Two hotels, condominiums, estates, a golf course and commercial centers are planned. The developers plan to use about 1,600 acres of the 16,000 acres of property they own.
     Developers say they would bring 400 construction jobs to Ka`u for the $1.1 billion project that would take more than a decade to build out. More than 1,500 permanent jobs would be created, the developers contend.
     The Tribune Herald story points out that “other developers have previously tried to develop the land as Hawaiian Riviera Resort in the 1980s. But that effort to build five hotels, 1,000 residential units, an airport and a marina was scuttled after an eight-year battle before the state Land Use Commission.”

     The deadline for public response to the Draft EIS is tomorrow, Nov. 6. The draft EIS is available at the Hawai`i Department of Health Office of Environmental Quality Control website. Comments can be emailed to oeqc@doh.hawaii.gov.

The 68.6 square mile Kahuku Watershed. Kahuku means
projection.  Image from www.hawaiiwatershedatlas.com

THE KAHUKU WATERSHED is one of the watersheds around the state being studied for preservation under an initiative launched by Gov. Neil Abercrombie this week at the national convention of the Society of American Foresters. Kahuku watershed is 68.6 square miles and extends from the ocean to an altitude of 6,886 feet. It is one of six watersheds in Ka`u District. Abercrombie is proposing a budget of $11 million a year to protect watersheds throughout the state. Much of the money would be used to eliminate invasive species from watershed areas. See more at www.hawaiiwatershedatlas.com. 

IT’S GROUNDBREAKING DAY for the new Bay Clinic building which is going to help bring back a closer connection between patients and health care providers, according to Paul Strauss, Bay Clinic CEO. “Gone are the days when a patient of Bay Clinic does not know who his or her provider is. We want to go back to the days of the old style ‘family doctor’ where we have a relationship with each of our patients, and we know them and their extended families. It’s the personal relationship that people have with their health care provider that helps in the healing and health promotion process, and more importantly, building mutual trust,” he said. The new facilities, which will be constructed on the land in front of the current Bay Clinic makai of Hwy 11 in Na`alehu, will be large enough to significantly increase patient appointments for medical and dental care as well as counseling.

FALL FLING brings music, arts, crafts and activities for the family to the grounds of Punalu`u Bake Shop today. Sponsored by the Ka`u School of the Arts, it is free and open to the public from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

BRANDY SHIBUYA graces the stage of the Miss Aloha and Miss Kona Coffee pageant this evening at the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort & Spa. The 2011 Miss Ka`u Coffee is aiming to represent the Big Island in the upcoming Miss Hawai`i competition. Tickets are still available for tonight's pageant.

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS with scholarships to study at the annual Kahumoku `Ohana Hawaiian Music & Lifestyle Workshop are coming to Pahala today. The weeklong workshop at Pahala Plantation House features instructors like Keoki, Moses and George Kahumoku; John and Hope Keawe; Herb Ohta, Jr.; Dennis and David Kamakahi and James Hill. A free Veterans Day concert will be held this Friday, Nov. 11 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Pahala Plantation House.

The Ka`u `Ohana Band will participate in the Veterans Day
celebration at Na`alehu Park on Friday.

A VETERANS DAY CELEBRATION will be held also in Na`alehu Park, sponsored by the Ka`u Multicultural Society. The Ka`u `Ohana Band will provide several marches to set a tone for the event, said band spokesman Robert Domingos. Speakers will include County Council member Brittany Smart. The event will include games for kids, displays of veteran photos and memorabilia. It begins with a blessing at 9 a.m., with entertainment to follow from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

THE KA`U COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN STEERING COMMITTEE will host another meeting this coming Tuesday, Nov. 8 at Ocean View Community Center beginning at 5:30 p.m.