Ka'u News Briefs March 1, 2012

Kapapala cowboy Paul Chow not only rounds up cattle. He helps to replace 300 miles of metal fencing with composite materials that stand up to vog. Photo by Julia Neal

STUDY AND COMMENTS for the new Ka`u District Gym and Disaster Shelter were urged by County Council member Brittany Smart last night at an interagency meeting on vog. State, county and health care officials met at Pahala Community Center to listen to the experience of residents in dealing with vog, their health and their businesses. Smart suggested that members of the vog task force read the EA and comment. See plans at http://oeqc.doh.hawaii.gov/Shared%20Documents/Environmental_Notice/current_issue.pdfat. Deadline to comment is March 23.
     The plans show a clean air shelter for 120 people and suggest that a second room at the new sports and shelter complex could be equipped with air cleaning. However, the main shelter, which will also serve as a gymnasium for the school and community, would not be equipped with air cleaning equipment, according to the current plan. The shelter would also be equipped with a generator to provide power in case of a disaster, but no photovoltaic backup is planned to date.

KAPAPALA RANCH MANAGER Lani Cran talked about the extra cost vog lays on her cattle and goat operation between Pahala and Volcano. “You can’t do it the way it was done before,” she said. No longer can a rancher use barbed wire to control animals. Metal fencing that usually lasts 15 years disintegrates in the voggy air. Her ranch crew is replacing more than 300 miles of fencing with composite posts, fiberglass wiring and electric fencing. The new fencing costs $1500 a mile, she said. Cran said she also worries about the safety of ranch vehicles. Tire rims and structural components of ranch trucks waste away in the vog. She says she brings in outside trucks to move her cattle on the public highway. One silver lining, Petrie said, is that non-native plants, such as Christmas berry and guava, which can take over pastures, are dying back. Some of the eucalyptus, which was planted in tree farms, are also dying, she said.

Pahala Volunteer Fire Captain Ron Ebert asked the
Interagency Task Force on Vog for monitors to be
placed in Wood Valley. Photo by Julia Neal

REP. BOB HERKES, who authored Act 229, which set up the volunteer vog task force, said he wants to push for scientific mapping of disaster risks, including vog. He suggested that perhaps with scientific proof that vog harms people’s health, the state could come up with a tax credit for those who purchase air cleaning equipment for homes and businesses.
      Jessie Marques, founder of the Ka`u Rural Health Community Association, said she hopes that people at risk could receive air filtering systems for their homes through health insurance.
      Ka`u Hospital Administrator Merlyn Harris said that it is difficult to get hard data on vog’s effects on health, including pulmonary and cardiac damage with Ka`u’s small population and the effort it takes to tease out other risks, such as a lifetime of smoking and other factors. However, she pointed to several researchers conducting studies.

New Civil Defense Director Ben Fuata and
Ka`u Hospital Administrator Merilyn Harris (right)
Photo by Julia Neal

NEW COUNTY CIVIL DEFENSE DIRECTOR Benedict Fuata said he is looking forward to more community education, research and understanding of the effects of living with sustained vog and acute vog events. He said that those running vog monitors could come together to make sure they are using the same measuring and calibrating methods to get good data. Those attending talked about residents without internet and cell phones who are unable to monitor vog levels. Volunteer Pahala Fire Captain Ron Ebert suggested a vog monitor be established in Wood Valley where there is apparently more vog than in Pahala.

IMAGES FROM THE EDGE Photo Contest, sponsored by Friends of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park, begins today. Competitors are invited to submit up to three original photographs, taken in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park, for a fee of $25. All finalists’ photographs will be exhibited June 9 - 17 at Volcano Art Center Gallery. Photos must be submitted as digital images online between today and April 2 at 5 p.m. For full contest rules and to enter, visit www.fhvnp.org.

DINNER & THEATER NIGHT, hosted at Kilauea Military Camp’s Crater Rim Café in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park, is tonight, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Open to authorized patrons and sponsored guests. Park entrance fees apply.

ISLAND OF HAWAI`I In Myth, Chant, Dance And Song is the theme of several classes offered by Maile Yamanaka at Volcano Art Center tomorrow. For adults, she offers Introduction To All Things Hawaiian, 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., and Hula: Art of Hawaiian Dance, 1 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.; donations welcome. For keiki, Yamanaka offers Keiki Hula, 3 p.m. – 4 p.m., for $10 a class. Keiki of eight years, in 2nd grade, and younger must be accompanied by parent or tutu. Call 937-4249 or maileyamanaka@gmail.com.

KA`U FOREST RESERVE management is the topic of a community meeting tomorrow, 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, endangered Hawaiian crow, and opportunities for hiking and camping in this pristine forest.

VOLCANO ART CENTER GALLERY hosts a reception this Saturday, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., for the exhibit Honoring Ipu. The show will be daily, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., featuring decorated gourds by Jelena Clay and hula instruments by Kalim Smith. 967-7565 or volcanoartcenter.org.

MAKE YOUR OWN PAPER with Lisa Louise Adams, this Saturday, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m, at Volcano Art Center. Attendees learn to prepare a paper pulp vat, dip a mould and deckle, drain, couch, and dry sheets. No experience necessary. VAC members pay $58.50 and non-members pay $65 for the class, plus $15 for materials. 967-8222.

SHIZUNO NASU offers a class on expressive dance movements based on Hara Tanden chi energy, Dancing on the Earth, Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Volcano Art Center. Open to all levels. Advanced registration advised. 967-8222 or julie@volcanoartcenter.org.

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, 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.

A RUMMAGE SALE on Saturday and Sunday, 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.

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.