Musings: Bridge at Hanakapiai

In an action that seems inconsident with a wilderness park, the state is proposing to build a bridge across Hanakapiai Stream.

According to a notice in the Office of Environmental Quality Control bulletin:

The Department of Land and Natural Resources, through the Division of State Parks and the Engineering Division, proposes to install a 4-foot wide, 82-foot long aluminum truss pedestrian bridge across Hanakāpīʻai Stream and construct approximately 50 feet of new trail approximately 50 feet long and 4 feet wide, to be created along the hillside to connect the bridge to the existing Kalalau Trail in the Nāpali Coast State Wilderness Park, on Kauaʻi Island, Hawai‘i. Approximately 200 square feet of vegetation would need to be removed, including one native hala tree.

The estimated total project cost is $506,000, including abutments, micropiles, trail improvements, helicopter installation, construction and $106,500 for the bridge itself. Work is projected to begin in early 2018 and would 10 weeks or 50 working days.

In a letter to OEQC Director Scott Glenn, state parks Administrator Curt Cottrell submitted the draft Environmental Assessment with an anticipated finding of no significant impact. The EA offers this rationale:

State Parks has identified a need to reduce the risk posed by flash flooding of Hanakāpīʻai Stream to hikers on the Kalalau Trail and to the County and State personnel who respond to hikers needing emergency assistance. The purpose of the project is to reduce this risk and the need for emergency missions to rescue stranded hikers.

In recent years, the number of hikers becoming stranded by Hanakāpīʻai Stream flooding has increased, as has the number of air and ground rescue missions.

Yeah, that's because there are way too many ill-prepared, ill-informed people hiking out there. According to the DEA, “Visitation to Hanakāpīʻai Beach and the Kalalau Trail has increased from 1,000 to 2,000 visitors daily.” That's insane, and the proliferation of pedestrian traffic is degrading both the environment and the experience.

The state has created a free-for-all along the Kalalau Trail, with its lack of education and enforcement. But rather than deal decisively with the overuse, it wants to start making it even easier for people to get back there. Why not continue to close the trail during flash flood and heavy rain events? Hapless hikers are still going to run into problems walking on the trail during torrential rains, with the bridge giving them a false sense of security that it's OK to be out in such conditions.

The DEA notes:

Additionally, KFD observes that stranded hikers are less likely to remain on the far side of a flooded river if rescuers are not going to retrieve them immediately, and instead attempt to ford the flooded stream. Previously, responders would immediately attend to stranded persons who were injured or in imminent danger, then wait for the flooding to recede to help the hikers out of the valley. Recently, however, an increasing number of hikers do not wait for the water to subside and have attempted to cross the flooded stream. These unassisted crossings puts the hikers in great danger and increase the number of ground and air rescues mounted by KFD to safely assist the stranded hikers.

Uh, this is a wilderness park. It doesn't include on-call rescues. No rescue personnel should be risking their own lives to pluck non-injured people out of the valley just because the stream is high. If people decide to stupidly risk their lives crossing a flooded stream, that's their choice. What's next? Paving the path so their white tennies don't get dirty?

According to the DEA, “The pedestrian bridge … is not expected to increase the current usage and visitation of the park.” Yet it offers nothing to back up that assertion. We all know the easier it is to get somewhere, the more people are gonna go.

The DEA continues:

In the case that the proposed bridge causes an increase in the number of visitors, the issue of managing park visitation is already being addressed by the Division of State Parks through the Hā‘ena State Park proposed MP and associated Draft Environmental Impact Statement submitted in July 2015. In the MP, Division of State Parks cites an increasing number of visitors over the past 30 years which could have detrimental effects on the natural and cultural resources in the area (see Table 3-1). In response, Hā‘ena State Park proposes for the first time to impose limits on the number of visitors allowed to enter the park to 900 people per day. Because hikers have to pass through Hā‘ena State Park to reach the Kalalau Trailhead, access to the trail and Hanakāpīʻai would be limited to 900 daily visitors as well. (DLNR Division of State Parks 2015). Because the timeframe of getting the MP approved and then implemented is longer than that of this bridge approval and construction, there would likely be a period during which the bridge exists but the limitations do not. 

But persons who participated in the Haena master plan process said the state never mentioned it intended to build a bridge at Hanakapiai. If it had, some of them would have withheld their approval of the plan. Instead, the first anyone heard of it was the OEQC notice.

[Clarification: Apparently some people who worked on the Haena State Park master plan were also working on a master plan for Na Pali State Park, so they were aware of the Hanakapiai bridge proposal. But the issue was not brought up as part of the Haena plan.]

The DEA continues:

Additionally, the twomile hike from the Kalalau trailhead to Hanakāpīʻai is rigorous, and unprepared and inexperienced hikers are likely to be deterred and limited by the difficulty of the trail as opposed to being attracted by a bridge.

Huh? The difficulty of the trail certainly hasn't deterred anyone, hence the need to rescue more people who don't know WTF they're doing.

The DEA acknowledges that there will be a visual impact. But don't worry, they're gonna make it look like it belongs:

Dark brown powder coating will be applied to the aluminum bridge structure to better assimilate the

structure with the natural landscape. Plastic wood composite decking will be laid on the walkway of the bridge to better match the natural aesthetic of the site.

Yes, plastic wood and aluminum should fit right in.

The state needs to start reducing the numbers of people going into Hanakapiai through education, a permitting system, rangers — whatever it takes, and right away. Even with a bridge across the stream, the fragile valley can't handle that many people tromping around. Once again, we're seeing what was once an exceptional wilderness experience dumbed down to the lowest common denominator in a never-ending effort to please the almighty tourist.

Enough already.