Group News: Hawaiʻi Island & Maui
Hawaiʻi Island Group
Holoholo (outing) at Kahaluʻu
By Rob Culbertson | Reading Time: 3 minutes
The visitor experience is alive and well at one of Hawai'i’s premiere beach parks within walking distance of downtown Kona. Sooner or later, it seems, everyone coming to our island for holoholo will find their way to this ever so popular county beach park - and for good reason. The facilities and the patient kindness of the volunteers there play a big part in making this convenient but amazing place such a draw.
Members of our Hawaiʻi Island Group were back too. It was our first formal outing since COVID began over a year and half ago. About ten of us were pleased to take in the experience every visitor is accorded when meeting "Aunty" Cindi Punihaole, as she is known. Since 2006 she and her dedicated team of volunteers, supported by the non-profit Kohala Center, have been working hard to mālama the impressive biodiversity within this little park and bay.
We first gathered around her to learn about the pressures and problems of keeping the health of marine organisms front and center of their mission, as she welcomed and informed guests how to enjoy, yet protect, this special place.
A natural born educator and conservationist, Aunty Cindi lives and breathes aloha…And she will be the first to tell you where and how to enter into the water of this sacred aquarium! We also learned about evolving cooperative management plans and better ways to facilitate coral spawning during the year.
Kahaluʻu is famed as a resting place and feeding grounds for Hawaiian green sea turtles (most of them were apparently out to sea just then). Their specially reserved rocky "VIP" lounges were roped off from human intrusion. "Reef friendly" mineral sunscreen dispensers were a new feature and now available for use; all part of a statewide initiative and laws Cindi pushed for, to clean up our chemical act, and eliminate long term impacts on the coral.
Getting our snorkel gear on at the edge of the sand, we could hear snippets of languages from continents away. Mostly, they just translated as squeals of delight.
I was soon floating along with Maki, her husband Geoff, and their son Kenzo, all of ten years old now. All were happy and relaxed by the festive family-friendly atmosphere going on.
Over coral gardens, we were presented with the spectacle of marine life in all its radiant glory. In colors that would make a rainbow blush. Large parrotfish sporting splashes of pastels across their backs paraded around or swung with the animation of each gentle swell. The luminescent yellow tang, once the most abundant of all herbivorous surgeonfish around the island, danced in circles at every turn of view. Strings of awesome black durgons and prison striped convict tang were grunging about as usual. The comically painted wrasses such as the Picasso triggerfish (humuhumu nukunuku a puaʻa) were fun to see and even more fun to try to say aloud. I spotted new baby bits of cauliflower coral beginning again on rocks that had previously suffered through intense coral bleaching. A yellow and brown snowflake moray eel darted in and out of holes beneath me. Time to move on up!
Above the surface, motorcyclists could be heard gunning their engines along Aliʻi Drive. Quite a juxtaposition, I thought. I tucked my head back under, and the water dispelled any notions of crazy human activities above. "Just another tropical Hawaiian day", the Ka’u Crater Boyz sang in my mind.
The water was healing and the fish finally shepherded us all back to the safety of land and the rest of our own special memories of this beautiful day at Kahaluʻu!
For other spectacular ocean events check out our Hawai'i Island Group Outings Page and future editions of the Mālama Monthly.
Maui Group
Maui Land Use Victory: Wailea Developments Cannot Segment Impacts
By Lucienne de Naie | Reading time: 2 minutes
In July, the Maui Group and allies Hoʻoponopono o Makena and Maui Tomorrow challenged a 23-acre luxury development proposed for the steep slopes of a culturally important location in Paeahu (aka “Wailea Resort”). The Maui Planning Commission had accepted the project’s Final Environmental Assessment in June of 2021, although several commissioners did vote against the acceptance, because they believed the project needed to include other Wailea area developments being proposed by the same landowner in a full Environmental Impact Statement.
Maui kanaka spoke against the destruction of this important boundary wall on the 23-acre proposed development site in Paeahu (“Wailea Resort”). Maui Group ExCom Member Clare Apana is pictured by the wall that follows what many believe is an old ahupua’a boundary.
On December, 16 the Maui Environmental Court ruled that the three groups were correct: Canadian investment firm Ledcor cannot purchase an option to develop the last 135-acres of the upscale Wailea Resort planning area and market the seven lot buildout as the “Wailea Hills Collection” and not do a comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment on the collected and cumulative impacts of the entire 135-acre project.
“This case was a poster child for why the state revised and clarified its definition of segmentation in its 2019 Environmental Review rules update,” said Maui Group Conservation Committee member Clare Apana. “This was not a stand alone project - it is part of an effort to wipe the remaining Hawaiian history of Paeahu right off the map to make more room for multi-million dollar second homes. That impact shouldn’t be overlooked.”
Environmental Court Judge Kirstin M. Hamman also enjoined the Maui Planning Commission from issuing additional permits for the project that would be premised on the invalidated environmental review documents.
“The judge understood the grave consequences that could result if projects like this were allowed to separately evaluate impacts on our ʻāina,” said Carol Lee Kamekona of Hoʻoponopono o Mākena, a recognized cultural descendant of Honuaʻula. “Her ruling supports evaluation of impacts to the entire traditional cultural property of Paeahu, including the waters and fishing grounds, which extends far beyond the boundaries of this particular parcel. This ruling will help us to do better for our ʻāina and our lāhui.”
The Maui Group is grateful for the dedicated work done by all three community groups, our attorneys, Bianca Isaki and Christina Lizzi, and our summer law intern from UH Richardson Law School, Diego Rivera. Mahalo to all those who donated to help fund this important case.