Ka`u News Briefs March 18, 2013

Volcano House reopens guest rooms Friday, with other, public spaces scheduled to open in early June.
Photos from aquahospitality.com

THE NEW HERITAGE CENTER OF KA`U site with its 15 acres of native forest received a blessing of rain showers, sun and a supportive group of more than 60 people yesterday. Kumu Keala Ching led the blessing and provided an original chant in Hawaiian for the place, which is located makai of Hwy 11 at Road to the Sea.
      The Peralta family shared their music, and the Hawaiian Civic Club of Ka`u danced to Ka Nani Ao Ka`u. Lehua Lopez-Mau and Wendy Vance, both directors of the new 501C3 organization Ho`omalu Ka`u, introduced other board members Chris Reid and Blossom DeSilva.

Keala Ching blessed the site of Heritage Center of Ka`u yesterday.
Photo by Shalan Crysdale

      The organization’s Heritage Center Committee is comprised of Ho`omalu directors and members of the Hawaiian Civic Club of Ka`u’s Heritage Committee. They are Zachary DiBernardi, Alan and Nancy Stafford, Blossom DeSilva and Felicia Welker.
      After the blessing, biologist Rick Warshauer and naturalist Shalan Crysdale hiked the property and noted that the forest is very much intact with very few invasive plants. They also located and mapped a section of what is possibly an old Hawaiian trail on the property.
      For more information or to help with the project, call 929-8526. Email hoomalukau@gmail.com.

VOLCANO HOUSE REOPENS GUEST ROOMS FRIDAY, offering kama`aina and “Pardon Our Dust” rates of $200 per night through May 31. Renovations are still being completed in public spaces and outlets, including the restaurant with panoramic views of Halema`uma`u Crater, which are scheduled to open in early June.
      The National Park Service recently spent $4 million in retrofitting and safety upgrades, and an additional $2.5 – $3 million are being invested by concessioners, Ortega Family Enterprises, to renovate and refurbish the hotel, according to a statement from the company.

Artist's rendering of remodeled Volcano House lobby shows fireplace in
operation as it has been for decades.

      Volcano House is part of Aqua Hospitality’s Monogram Hotel Collection brand. According the aquahospitality.com, the brand “represents an elite group of stand-alone and independent hotels and resorts providing a highly personalized luxury experience. Each hotel has a distinct name and identity and is unique in personality, environment and design. All the properties offer a boutique experience and promise to be the highlight of any getaway.”
      The restored Volcano House will offer 33 historic guest rooms, a dining room, snack bar, lounge, and gift shop, along with cultural events and demonstrations. Volcano House also manages 10 newly refurbished camper cabins in the nearby Namakanipaio Campground. The rate for a cabin is $55 per night.
      Reservations can be made at 866-536-7972 or aquaresorts.com. Volcano House’s front desk and gift shop are open daily from 7:45 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
 A limited selection of grab-and-go snacks and meals is available for purchase at the gift shop.

Lynn Finnegan

VOLCANO SCHOOL OF ARTS & SCIENCES will be one of the 32 charter schools around Hawai`i with a new contract with the state that sets new performance standards. According to a story in this morning’s Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Karen Street, chair of the Public Charter School Commission, said, “This new contract and performance standards implement the requirements of a much more rigorous state charter law that will ultimately raise the bar for charter schools across our state. We believe these measures will preserve the autonomy of Hawai`i’s charter schools, which is needed to fuel innovation in schools, while ensuring accountability for public dollars.”
      The Star-Advertiser also quoted Lynn Finnegan, executive director of Hawai`i Public Charter School Network: “We have worked, and will continue to work, with the commission to make sure schools understand their responsibilities and that the new accountability system will honor local decision-making in Hawai`i’s charter schools.” See more at www.staradvertiser.com.
      Charter schools are funded by the state Department of Education but operate outside the statewide school board. They manage their campuses with community boards, designing their own curriculums while remaining accountable for academic results.
      The mission of Volcano School is “learning through Volcano’s unique natural and cultural resources today to become creative global citizens tomorrow.” The principle is Dr. Ardith Renteria. She was born and raised in Hawai`i and is a graduate of Kamehameha Schools, University of Hawai`i at Manoa and Hilo, and Capella University in Minnesota. She has worked in both the public and charter school systems. See more at www.volcanoschool.com.

Tomorrow's Life on the Edge talks mark five years of continuous eruptive
activity at Halema`uma`u Crater. Photo from NPS

TO MARK THE FIFTH YEAR of continuous eruptive activity at Kilauea Volcano’s summit within Halema`uma`u Crater, tomorrow rangers at Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park offer Life on the Edge talks at Jaggar Museum observation deck overlooking the fuming, enlarging summit vent. The 20-minute talks at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., noon, 2 p.m., 3:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. encompass the dramatic geological and mythological history of Halema`uma`u Crater.
      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 lava lake deep within the vent was definitively observed by U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists.
      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).
      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 hvo.wr.usgs.gov.

Dick Hershberger portrays Thomas Jaggar tomorrow.
This Sunday, he and Arlene Araki perform in Two by
Tenn with Tea at Pahala Plantation House.

ALSO TAKING PLACE TOMORROW in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park is the living history program A Walk into the Past. Ka`u resident Dick Hershberger brings back to life Dr. Thomas A. Jaggar, founder of Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and a prominent figure in the history of the study of volcanoes. Free performances are at 10 a.m., 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. Meet at Kilauea Visitor Center. Park entrance fees apply.

LITO ARKANGEL OFFERS A FREE CONCERT Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. The singer and songwriter shares his original compositions and other Hawaiian favorites. Park entrance fees apply.

KA`U AGRICULTURAL WATER COOPERATIVE District holds its next meeting this Thursday, March 21 at 4 p.m. at the Royal Hawaiian Orchards Macadamia Field Office. For more information, contact Jeff McCall at 928-6456.

SATURDAY is Kahuku Junior Ranger Day, when participants connect the culture, people and `aina of the Kahuku Unit of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park through art, `oli, GPS, and compass and listen to the mo`olelo of Pupu-hulu-ena, Keo-ua-ku-a-hu`ula and Kamehameha I. The free event takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and includes lunch and cultural craft demonstrations. Pre-registration required at 985-6019.

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 this coming 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, and a potluck dinner follows. 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.

Ka`u News Briefs March 17, 2013

Richard Ha testified that cattle ranching would be displaced from Ka`u lands targeted by AKP. Photo by Julia Neal

FARMER RICHARD HA is a witness in the Public Utilities Commission’s `Aina Koa Pono case. He testified last week on behalf of Hawai`i County, regarding the proposed 20-year contract between `Aina Koa Pono and the electric companies that would allow the purchase of biodiesel at an estimated $200 a barrel. It would be manufactured in Ka`u at a refinery proposed for land along Wood Valley Road. The fuel would be trucked to Hawai`i Electric Light Co.’s power plant near Kona Airport.
      Ha is President of Hamakua Springs Country Farms and is known for reinvigorating the banana industry on the Big Island and growing tomatoes and other truck crops. He is also a supporter of geothermal energy, saying that low electric rates will help the economy and help the poor. He is a member of the state Board of Agriculture.
      Ha testified: “We should not lock ourselves into a $200 (per barrel) subsidy for 20 years.” He pointed to a study, presented to the Association for the Study of Peak Oil 2012 convention by an International Monetary Fund economic research team led by Dr. Michael Kumhof. Wrote Ha, it “shows that a decline rate of only 2% (reduction in oil) a year could result in 20% reduction in world GDP over a 20 year period. We need to proactively allow ourselves flexibility to cope with worst-case possibilities. The AKP biofuel proposal leaves Hawai`i with few options,” charged Ha.

Richard Ha, a successful food farmer, testified for the County regarding AKP.

      He testified that “We should not trade food for fuel. The Ed Olson land that is now proposed for biofuel production is mostly occupied by cattle raising. There isn't enough sun energy to accommodate both cattle raising and energy production on the same parcel of land. If the AKP project is to go forward the cattle must be removed. AKP claims this project will reinvigorate agriculture in the area. It probably will not. When cellulosic biofuel projects were first proposed on the mainland, the projects set a target of $45 per Ion for the feedstock. Because farmers were getting $100/ton for hay, they asked for and received a $45 per ton subsidy.    
      “At a Big Island Community Coalition meeting with the AKP team, I asked the AECOM (AKP’s consulting engineers) representative, how much they expected to pay for biofuel feedstock, here on the Big Island. He said, between $55 and $65/ton. The problem is Big Island farmers were getting $200 per ton for hay. It is doubtful that farmers will accept between $55 and $65 per ton for growing the feedstock when mainland farmers required $100/ton.

      “This does not sound like a good deal for farmers. Manufactured food comes from the mainland using cheap electricity. AKP's $200 per barrel price makes Hawai`i food product manufacturers less competitive. This threatens Hawai`i's food security.
      “I asked Dr. Cari Bonham, the Executive Director of the University of Hawai`i Economic Research Organization, if we on the Big Island use geothermal as our primary base power would we become more competitive to the rest of the world as oil price rose. He said, that was fair to say. Geothermal generated electricity costs half that of oil generated electricity and, because the feedstock is steam, its cost will be stable for as long as the Big Island stays over the "hot spot" which is 500,000 to a million years, according to both Dr. Don Thomas, Geochemist, Director of Center for the Study of Active Volcanoes Ph.D., University of Hawai`i and Dr. Jim Kauahikaua, director of the Hawai`i Volcanos Observatory."

Ha testified that the AKP option threatens food security. Photo by Julia Neal

      Ha was asked, “What have you concluded with respect to the public interest of the Biofuel Supply Contract?” He testified that “Placing the financial burden on the people of Hawai`i to enable an unproven technology, is assuming too much risk. Sometimes, instead of attempting to be first in the world, it may be wiser to be good at copying the first in the world. The Big Island has one of the lowest median family incomes in the state of Hawai`i. Education is the best predictor of family income. Big Island schools have been paying a 25% premium for electricity compared to O`ahu for as long as people can remember. That 25% premium comes right off the education budget.
      “The AKP project of high-priced, subsidized- by-the ratepayer biofuel will not contribute to raising median family incomes. It will do just the opposite! Two thirds of our economy is made up of consumer spending. AKP, because it results in higher rather than lower electricity rates, takes away discretionary income, the basis of consumer spending,” concluded Ha. See all the testimony at www.puc.hawaii.gov. Click on `Aina Koa Pono and on documents.

EAST KA`U STATE SENATOR RUSSELL RUDERMAN joined a parade in Hilo yesterday, along with about a thousand marchers and several Ka`u residents, calling for a ban on food grown from Genetically Modified Organisms, for the legislature to require GMO labeling, and for companies like Monsanto to stop leasing farm land in Hawai`i to grow GMO's. Ruderman said the state needs to be involved because GMO companies have too much influence over the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. He said that Michael Taylor, a former Monsanto attorney and vice-president, is chief of the FDA. He also said that until the recent leadership change in  the state legislature, GMO bills went nowhere. Now, GMO bills are being heard, said Ruderman.  He said House Bill 174, which would require labeling GMO foods, is still alive. Citizens can weigh in by going to www.hawaii.gov, looking up the bill and writing testimony.

Dean Nagasako, at the front of the anti-GMO parade in Hilo yesterday,
 grew up in Pahala.  Photo by Julia Neal

     Ruderman said that GMO companies, worldwide, are gaining control of food production. Locally, he said, they are farming about a fifth of the best agricultural lands in Hawai`i and are looking to control water rights. He said most of GMO plants grown in Hawai`i, like seed corn, are exported. "The fact is, we haven't fed ourselves All of their work doesn't feed us. GMO's use 100 to 1,000 times more poisons than other crops and poisons kill the reefs and poison groundwaters, while taking away farmland from food self-sufficiency," contended Ruderman.

     The senator said that GMO's can also be stopped through buying power. "That's what happened in Europe. When 5 percent of people stopped buying GMO, companies changed the ingredients they used."

     Ruderman said that yesterday's march in Hilo was the biggest he recalls for any issue in recent years. It was followed by a non-GMO potluck and speeches at Mo`oheiau Bandstand, including talks by taro expert Jerry Konanui and anti-GMO activist Walter Ritte from Moloka`i. 

     Among Ka`u residents participating in the march were Democratic Precinct Chair Sara Witt, former KAHU Radio deejay Dean Nagasako,  and Ka`u Specialty, Inc. coffee broker Malian Lahey, who kept rhythm for the walkers on a drum. 

Ruderman said it was the largest protest march in Hilo he could remember.
Photo by Julia Neal

KA`U’S REPRESENTATIVE TO THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Democrat Tulsi Gabbard, joined Candy Crowley’s State of the Union news show on CNN this morning for a discussion on Iraq: Ten Years Later.
      Gabbard said she was serving as a state legislator “going surfing on the weekends, and then all of the sudden found out that this deployment of close to 3,000 Hawai`i troops was happening to Iraq. I was not on that first mandatory deployment roster, but knew very quickly that there was no way that I could stay home in the comfort of my house and in Hawai‘i and watch my brothers and sisters deploy – and recognizing the necessity to stand with them as they went off to combat. The experience completely changed my life and was a very big motivator in recognizing what are the true costs of war.” 

   On lessons in Iraq and the threat from North Korea, Gabbard said: “Our miscalculation there [was] fighting this unconventional threat – these unconventional terrorists who know no allegiance to a specific flag or a country – with very conventional tactics. I think that as we look to the past, and as we look forward to the future, we look to the threats that we are facing today, for example, North Korea…. Countries that have very specific capabilities, that have nuclear weapons, that have missiles that are within range of places like Hawai‘i and Alaska, where the people in my community are very concerned about what kinds of actions we will take.”

Tulsi Gabbard, Ka`u's member in Congress and Republican congressman Tom

Cotton, of Arkansas, on Candy Crowley's State of the Union on CNN this 

morning. Image from CNN

      On serving our veterans and addressing VA backlog, Candy Crowley asked Gabbard,  “Do you think the VA is doing its job?” Gabbard replied, “No, not to serve every single veteran that is coming in, both the new generation of veterans from those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as those who have served in Vietnam, who have served in Korea, and other conflicts in our past. Without a doubt, we need to do better. We need to do better in Congress to make sure that we as a country are fulfilling our responsibilities to these veterans who have sacrificed so much, and to their families, and to get the respect and services that they have earned.” She said it is important that she can work with veterans who are serving in Congress and the U.S. Senate. “It really is going to take all of us having a concerted focus, commitment, and effort to make sure that the resources are there and that the focus and attention does not wane if it is not at the top of the headlines,” said Gabbard.

KA`U RURAL HEALTH COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION’S Board of Directors has announced funding from the HMSA Foundation to support the Ka`u Rural Health Academy Program. The demonstration project focuses on health, education, research opportunities and economic sustainability. Jessie Marques E.D. said the program will: provide and promote health education and prevention with a Health & Wellness education initiative; establish a Youth Mentoring Program that fosters health career pathways, education, training and employment opportunities; and introduce consumers to the use of health information and technology in the healthcare industry.
      Theresa Richardson, Office Manager, and Rochele Gacayan, Program Assistant, were recently hired. More information about the program will be announced at the Ka`u
Rural Health Community Association’s 16th Annual Rural Health Conference on Friday, April 12 at Pahala Community Center.

Ann Fontes is one of the kupuna who built an `ukulele of koa.
Photo by Julia Neal

MORE THAN 30 `UKULELE went home with Ka`u young people and kupuna yesterday. The `ukulele build at Pahala Plantation House was sponsored by KoAloha `Ukulele company, Keoki Kahumoku’s Center for Hawaiian Music Studies, Pahala Plantation Cottages, Queen Liliu`okalani Childrens Center, the Edmund C. Olson Trust and Ka`u Coffee Mill. KoAloha craftsman taught the local students the art of building an `ukulele from native Hawaiian koa wood donated for the project. The build was followed by a concert combining bluegrass and Hawaiian music at Pahala Plantation House. Some of the `ukulele building students played for community members along with Kahumoku and bluegrass musicians on stand up bass, banjo, mandolin, dobro, fiddle and guitar, as well as the new `ukulele.

A SEED EXCHANGE and Garden Talk Story is today until 3 p.m. at Na`ohelelua Historical Church on Kama`oa Road near Discovery Harbor. Call 988-6011.

A ST. PATRICK’S DAY BUFFET is today from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Kilauea Military Camp’s Crater Rim Café. Shepherd’s pie, corned beef and cabbage, beer-boiled potatoes, whiskey carrots, salad bar, ice cream bar and beverage. $17.50 per person.

Ka`u News Briefs March 16, 2013

County of Hawai`i has submitted testimony to the Public Utilities Commission regarding `Aina Koa Pono's proposal to grow biofuel crops and refine biofuel in Ka`u and sell it to HELCO. Photo by Julia Neal

RENEWABLE FUELS EXPERT Peter Y. Matlock weighed in on `Aina Koa Pono this week with testimony submitted to the Public Utilities Commission by Hawai`i County. He analyzed the proposed contract for a 20-year fixed price for `Aina Koa Pono to sell 16 million gallons of biofuel a year to the electric companies. Land for clearing and growing biomass would be  located between Pahala and Na`alehu. The refinery would be off Wood Valley Road.
    In the mid-1990's, Matlock  started several companies applying new technologies to market and social needs, including Viridis, Inc., aiming to make commodity and specialty chemicals from renewable sugars to reduce reliance on petroleum as an industrial feedstock. He  provided assistance to one of the leading bio-product companies making large-volume industrial chemicals in two rounds of financing of $20 million each, product selection and business strategy. He was vice-president of Micromidas, Inc., a California company developing technologies to efficiently utilize waste streams as feedstock to make renewables-based chemicals and fuels. He is an expert in agricultural biotechnology and medical biotechnology. His educational background includes an undergraduate degree with honors in economics from Swarthmore College and two graduate degrees in management science and engineering from Stanford University.
      The following is a sample of Matlock’s testimony:
      “Biofuels and other products made from renewable carbon sources provide great promise for the U.S. and State of Hawai`i. To be sustainable in the long-term, renewable fuels and chemicals must meet product performance requirements and be economically competitive. Although there is policy-level concern that higher priced fuels may be justified to counter the perceived negative externalities of fossil fuels (global warming, price volatility, energy security), there are also policy questions of how high a price should be imposed on individuals and the economy in regions that are relatively early and greater adopters of alternative — and often higher priced — energy sources. This plays out at the national level (will the U.S. suffer a competitive disadvantage under carbon tax or cap-and-trade scenarios compared to China), state level (will California’s AB32 program disadvantage its manufacturing base relative to other states; do Hawai`i’s higher energy prices discourage certain types of economic growth on the Islands), and county level (with an existing higher rate of renewable energy production, what will be the Impact on the County of Hawai`i’s economic growth from higher electricity costs). The Public Utilities Commission’s analysis of the proposed AKP contract places it directly in the middle of these policy questions.

Matlock questions whether it is appropriate to make a
20-year commitment prior to Micro Dee technology
being proven on a large scale. Photo from AKP

      “There are many interesting technical approaches to directly utilizing the complete lignocellulosic material of biomass, and they carry both great promise and demonstrated technical challenges and costs. It is indeed hoped that the Microwave Catalytic Depolymerization technology will prove itself as a commercially viable approach to making biofuels at prices that are not only competitive but provide cost reductions to Hawai`i’s strained ratepayers. There is discussion of a 33 ton per day AKP demonstration facility (installation of the first of many 33 ton per day modules that make up the MicroDee design). The challenge for AKP and the commission is a “chicken and egg” one: whether it is appropriate to make the twenty-year commitment prior to demonstration with a plant of this size, or whether the twenty-year commitment is necessary to enable this demonstration plant to be built.
      “However, current and available evidence indicates the following:
It is simply too early in the development of this technology to commit to a potential twenty-year supply contract;

• The technology has not been sufficiently demonstrated to confidently anticipate a scale-up to commercial production within (redacted) years, especially given the experience of other biofuels companies and evidence that this technology development is at an extremely early stage for the nature of these discussions; 
• System design has not been sufficiently described to confidently understand its operations, costs, inputs and byproducts, including potential waste streams and pollutants; Certain unit operations, such as hydrogen generation, could impose substantial externalities (costs, emissions, truck transport of flammable materials), but have not been adequately characterized to understand their impact; 
• Feedstock for the process has not been identified and sufficiently tested for agronomic production conditions to adequately predict growth and supply impacts in Ka`u; 
• Fuels from this process using Hawai`i-specific feedstocks have not been made or tested for their composition, so it is not yet possible to anticipate potential impacts on HECO/HELCO infrastructure; 
• Impacts on the surrounding communities and local/tourist traffic from truck transport along Route 11 have not been adequately addressed; 
• Economics of the process have not been predicted and analyzed, which would provide the appropriate basis for establishing fuel prices for sales to HELCO; and 
• Demonstration by the technology providers appears to be limited to the South Carolina facility, which is rated at five tons per day but appears to have been operated for one hour runs at lower capacities more appropriate to lab-scale demonstration. 

      “While eagerly encouraging technology providers to offer demonstrations at commercially relevant scale and duration of technologies to convert lignocellulose material to fuels and other valuable products, commission should seek greater clarification of issues identified above before allowing ratepayers to be committed to a twenty-year supply contract at the proposed prices. To do otherwise is to expose individual ratepayers to prices that are high and may not be necessary or justified, and to obligate the state to a project that is not sufficiently demonstrated for this level of economic commitment.”
      See more of Matlock’s testimony as well as other testimony and documents at puc.hawaii.gov. Docket number is 2012-0185.

Atrazine cycling in the environment. Image from USGS

ATRAZINE LEVELS IN KA`U WATER SUPPLIES are low, according to reports from the county Department of Water Supply. In reports from 2011, Pahala water supply showed a level of 0.14 parts per billion, and the Wai`ohinu/Na`alehu water supplies showed no contamination. The maximum contaminant level for atrazine as set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is three parts per billion. No known or expected health risks to humans are proven below these levels, according to the EPA.
      Higher, but still-below EPA levels, were found in Hamakua water supplies. The reports say the source of contamination is “runoff from herbicide used on row crops.”
      Resolutions in the state Legislature call for the director of the state Health Department to establish a task force to study the effects of atrazine on human health. The resolution, introduced by West Ka`u Rep. Denny Coffman and others, says there is evidence that atrazine exposure is associated with low sperm counts and poor motility in exposed adult men and that pre-birth atrazine exposure is associated with low birth weight and abnormal development of the gut wall in infants. It also says the United States Fish and Wildlife Service acknowledges that atrazine may have potential adverse effects on fish, including organ tissue disease, disruption to the endocrine and olfactory systems, and reduced reproductive function.
      “Atrazine has been used for decades in Hawai`i to treat sugarcane, pineapple, and more recently seed corn,” and “rainfall sweeps atrazine into rivers and streams, threatening plant and aquatic life,” the resolution states.
      Another reason for the task force, according to the resolution, is that “the Department of Agriculture does not test for atrazine because of the lack of inspectors, and atrazine users are largely left to police themselves with regard to compliance with atrazine guidelines promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency that limit spraying and require setbacks from water resources.”

DISCOVERY HARBOUR COMMUNITY CENTER’s rummage sale supporting the volunteer fire department continues today to 4 p.m. and tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

THIS EVENING’S CONCERT at Pahala Plantation House featuring piligrass music begins at 7:30 p.m. Suggested donation is $15 to $20 for performances by Aloha Bluegrass Band and Keoki Kahumoku. For more information, call 938-6582.

HAWAI`I VOLCANOES INSTITUTE, part of the Friends of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park, presents Life on Recent Lava Flows with botanist Tim Tunison next Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. According to Tunison, the park, with two active volcanoes, may be one of the world’s best outdoor classrooms for learning about the colonization of new geological surfaces, a process that ecologists label primary succession.
      Program cost is $50 for Friends members and $65 for non-members. Student fees (K-12 and college with valid ID) are $25 for members and $35 for non-members. Non-members are welcome to join the Friends in order to get the member discount. Tuition includes a pictorial species identification handout and a PDF mini-book.
      To register, email institute@fhnvp.org or call 985-7373.

ALSO NEXT SATURDAY is Ka`u `Ohana Day, when participants explore Palm Trail at Kahuku Unit of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park by GPS and compass from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The free event includes lunch and cultural craft demonstrations. Call 985-6019 to pre-register.

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.