2014-03-20 Leeward Exh A (SPP 14-157)

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“Why are you going to clean them up? Just let it burn.” But what the other issue, or the reason why I don’t think that would be something we would encourage, we would look at composting and taking care of the hāli‘i afterwards in appropriate manners, one, because of the ethno-botanical gardens there and a need to produce healthy composting. And so rather than creating an additional fire hazard as well, which for us in Kohala is an issue because of the drought that we are going through, we would be looking at taking care of our hāli‘i in a better way where we would look at composting it or, as you were saying, burning it on site and not letting it smolder for days and days and days and days. MOORE: This is also certified. GIFFIN: Yeah, I was just going to -. DIRCKS AH SAM: It is also a certified imu which -. GIFFIN: I was just going to get into that. For the record -. BEAUDET: Could you explain what -. GIFFIN: For the record, you are Lehua, right? DIRCKS AH SAM: Yes, I am. Sorry. GIFFIN: Okay. Brandi. BEAUDET: Can you describe a certified imu? I don’t -. DIRCKS AH SAM: Certified imus typically are not made of dirt. They are not typically made of dirt; they are normally concreted in because of the health issues related with exposure to the dirt area. You do still have the option to do pōhaku ‘eho, or the imu stones, with the hāli‘i inside of it, and so the concrete just creates the air seal around it. So, and I don’t think we’d be looking at doing propane for the imu because we like the smoky smell, which makes kālua what it is. But the concerns of taking care of the hāli‘i, the vegetation that is used to steam the food and keep the rocks from burning our food, definitely we are taking into consideration his testimony, as well as our practices for the area, because, he is right, in Kohala with all the gulches that we have there, the prevailing trade winds come from the northeast and they will be blowing across our property. We are hoping, we are planning on putting the imu on the downwind area of our portion to avoid smoke issues with other closer residents, but seeing where he is, he will have the potential of smoke coming into his area because of the gulch and being right downwind of us. But just so you know that it’s not good practice to smolder for days and days and days, and so I don’t, you know, like, we want to do pono by our community. GIFFIN: Thank you. Director. KANUHA: Lehua, how often are you folks going to be doing the imu? DIRCKS AH SAM: Probably not very often. Program-wise, we do an imu once a year, maybe twice. It could be something that, if the gardens get further developed, that we would build into 10 EXHIBIT A