Thursday, January 19, 2012

Musings: A Truly New Day

Driving to the beach for sunrise, I'm starstruck not by the stars, which were disappearing, but all the mountains — Kalalea, Makaleha, Waialeale, Kawaikini — standing perfectly clear against a backdrop the color of pink ginger. At the shore, the drama continues, with a strategically placed cloud blocking the top half of a fiery red sun, causing five broad shafts of rose and silver light to beam from sea to sky.

The water, smoothed by a faint offshore wind that carries the musky-sweet scent of white hinano hanging in coastal hala trees, is a color somewhere between blue and brown, and conditions are perfect for the guys who pulled into the parking lot right behind me, driving a truck with a window decal of a diver preparing to spear a tako.

I think of the conversation I had the day before with fisherman/surfer Greg Holzman, who expressed concern about the possible loss of shoreline and ocean access that he and others fear could accompany critical habitat designations for the monk seal and the creation of marine life sanctuaries.

I think also of comments he made about how access to the island's mauka areas has been lost with the closing of sugar plantations, development, landowner worries about liability. As a result, he said, the areas that are open, like Kokee, get overused, creating conflicts between hunters and hikers/tourists, and the pig population has exploded in the places where guys can't get in to hunt anymore.

And that makes me think of DLNR's new plan to protect our watersheds — provided the Legislature kicks down $11 million per year. Perhaps that's why the agency is taking its case to the public in the opening days of the Lege with a television special, “The Rain Follows the Forest,” set to air on KGMB at 6:30 tonight, and again at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday.

The plan, which is part of Abercrombie's “New day in Hawaii,” and so includes language about public-private partnerships, sounds a serious alarm:

Immediate action is needed to secure Hawaii’s water supply. Hotter, drier conditions and damaged watersheds are escalating the costs and conflicts over water.

Fresh, clean water is an irreplaceable resource. It is fundamental to our well-being. It fuels agriculture, tourism, and sustainable development. In turn, our water supply depends on the health of our mauka native forests, which capture and absorb rain. With over half of the original forest lost, and the remainder threatened by exploding populations of invasive species, the forest now relies on us for its survival.


The proposal identifies fencing key watersheds and removing all hooved animals from those enclosures as “the first step towards protection” — a concept that is essentially a repeat of what plantation owners did in the early 1900s. But it's likely to meet strong resistance from hunters, who have long had tremendous influence on public land management in Hawaii. Though the plan calls for using hunters to remove the animals wherever it's safe to do so, hunters have consistently opposed efforts to fence public lands.

When the state talks about partnerships, perhaps it could push harder for improved mauka and makai access, so that people, especially those who secure food through hunting and fishing, don't continue to feel so squeezed, which feeds conflicts with other humans, as well as wildlife. Witness the recent attacks on the monk seals, which are viewed as fishing competitors.

I was also interested in the proposal's acknowledgement that:

Additionally, resorts are the most water-intensive land use, using over three times more water per acre than industrial and commercial, and five times more water per acre than agriculture. Because of this, water-intensive resort development and expansion can be restricted by limited water supplies.

But mightn't that be a good thing? Especially since the proposal also recognizes:

[T]he unique cultural and natural resources that attract visitors to Hawai`i are declining. Native species sacred to the Hawaiian culture are disappearing at the highest extinction rate in the nation because of development, introductions of invasive species, and other threats.

Once again we're confronted with this ongoing disconnect between conservation and development. We keep acting like we can have both, and we keep getting knocked up side the head by proof that we can't.

If we're going to spend millions to protect the native forests, why not also get sensible about determining the carrying capacity of these islands when it comes to tourism? We've already heard Richard Lim, director of the state Department of Economic Development and Tourism admit:

[T]ourism has essentially remained stagnant for the last 20 years and can no longer be relied on to move the economy into a prosperous future.

So why keep pretending like it will? Instead of spending money to lure more and more tourists to the Islands, and jumping through hoops to ensure they're entertained, why not channel a big chunk of dough into supporting local ag? That way we'd save water, increase our self-sufficiency and keep our hard-earned cash in Hawaii, rather than sending it out to the places that grow our imported food.

It's good to see DLNR pushing its ambitious plan to protect watersheds, and hopefully it's not too late. But if the Guv truly wants to usher in "a new day in Hawaii," he needs to start steering the Islands away from their dependence on tourism and the military, neither of which will ever be sustainable, and into practices that are.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ding ding ding! OMG Joan, this is a home run. Excellent! We need to get off the dependence of tourism and increase our food production. Well done! Aloha.

irk said...

cash cows like tourism and military bases are not going to go away because they are still being milked.
we see with the sugar plantations that when the cow dries, there is still the carcass of land to be cut up.
to paraphrase "cupcake" marie antionette: "if they have no water, then let them drink milk"

Anonymous said...

If the movie Descendants wins the Oscar (already won the Golden Globe), Kauai (North Shore) will see a big, but short lived boom, in tourism. Monkey see Monkey do.

Anonymous said...

Where is your follow up on that access report?

Anonymous said...

This is a little off topic but I went to the legislature this week and lo and behold if Alan Smith wasnʻt already snug as a bug in Ron Kouchi office.

Just thought everyone should be aware of this.

Used to be he was slithering around the planning departmentʻs back rooms where only employees are allowed...now heʻs leaving the trail of slime at the capital.
Guess Kouchi REALLY doesnʻt know what heʻs doing. Whew, some kind of guidance.

I think this should be brought to the attention of the Legislature because Alan Smith has no business in there.
Alan Smith was not elected and put in that seat. To fanagle his interests and special favors he needs to go through the same channels as we do.

I think Kouchi needs to be called out on this shit.

Anonymous said...

And where do you think the money for this new watershed initiative is going to come from? The proposal is that it come from barrel tax revenews which now supports renewable energy and ag water projects. We all want healthy watersheds but we need to be careful the we don't end up with another do nothing buracracy paying high wages to a select few.
Tend you gardens folks.

Scott Foster said...

Very well said. Governor Ariyoshi talked about limiting growth and new-residemnt immigration to Hawai`i when he was still Governor but it's against the US Constitution. More recently he told an intimate audience that "the limit to growth is water." I had heard him say that perhaps 7 years ago. It's the rapacious mainland international developers and their paid minions and complicit politicians in Hawai`i that have us in this mess. Mahalo Joan for this fine article.

Anonymous said...

I heard someone got shot in the head and killed in princeville. WTF is going on here on Kauai? BOYCOTT The Garden Island Newspaper!!!

Anonymous said...

We had 2 beach access to "Secret Beach", then the "rich and famous" moved in and cut access.

We were promised (during the hearings for Kealia Kai 4 beach access points, and we only have 2 to the area and "Donkey Beach"

I am not afraid of the DNLR creating beach sanctuaries for the monk seals, as I do of the Planning commission "in bed" with the developers on this island. They have brought more destruction and devastation than foot traffic by hippies and tourists. Koloa town is a festering sore without those trees....the Spirit gone.

Dr Shibai

Anonymous said...

We had 2 beach access to "Secret Beach", then the "rich and famous" moved in and cut access.

Nice large developments (of vacation rentals on ag) over there in Kilauea.

How much development does it take to trigger public access requirements - like whatever happened to the access to the beach below Na Aina Kai? No more.

Somewhere in 16 U.S.C.?

http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/16/2/II/544f

Anonymous said...

"How much development does it take to trigger public access?"

The developers promise access (and a lot more)but they do not deliver on their promises and the County
"Ainokea"

Dr Shibai

Anonymous said...

"Promises"...merely verbal or written into the permits?

If it's not in the contract (permit) it doesn't exist.

Anonymous said...

Should be required to submit recordation of permit conditions at bureau of conveyances, before finalizing zoning and building permitS!