HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0284.005 2020-2022 i
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June 11,2021
Chair and Presiding Officer Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder `='
Vice Chair Heather L.Kimball
Committee on Finance,County Council
County of Hawaii
25 Aupuni Street
Hilo,Hawaii 96720 A
Aloha mai a Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder,Vice Chair Kimball,and Members of the Committee on .M1
Finance,
Mahalo for the opportunity to provide testimony in strong support of Resolution 145-21 for the permanent
protection ofMahukotm Hawaiian Islands Land Trust(HILT),Na Mai Wa`a,Mahukona familis and
the Kohala community are working together with the County's Public Access,Open Space,and Natural
Resources Commission process,among others,to raise public and private funding in order to purchase
and permanently protect the lands of Mahukona, located along the Kohala,Hawaii Island coastline,
covering 642 acres and six ahupua`a(from south to north)Kaoma,Hihiu,Mahukona,Kamano,Kou,and
Kapa`anui.
Na Kalai Wa`a provides educational canoe activities and sailing opportunities for the communities of
Hawaii Island. The staff includes our two.Pwo Navigators,our Makah'i Captain,and dedicated
crewmembers who have many years of experience teaching and guiding the wa`a experiences for our
youngest preschool aged children,school aged haumana,families,organizations,and also to the kupuna
of our communities. We utilize our learning halau at Kawaihae South Harbor,our 10-acre canoe garden at
Hawi,and also the warehouse and cultural sites at Mahukona for all of our learning activities. Na Mai
Wa`a has been blessed to share the knowledge that we have been given by those who came before us and
especially the `ike that we have obtained from these wahi pana,or celebrated places.
The following highlights the main reasons Na Kalai Wa`a supports a conservation purchase and
permanent protection of Mahukona:
• Effectively prohibit future subdivision and development ofHawai`i's agricultural lands,while
protecting Kohala's agricultural tradition of the Kohala Field System. With its prime location and
agricultural and resort land use designations,the lands of Mahukona are at risk to be sold to resort
and high-scale residential developers.
• Permanently protect and allow for`ohana and community stewardship of Whukona's prominent
Hawaiian cultural landscape and the hundreds of ancient heiau and cultural sites still cared for by
`ohana and practitioners,while protecting the integrity and continuation of the area's ongoing
cultural and religious practices including but not limited to non-instrumental navigation and
subsistence fishing practices.
• Protect Mahukona's native flora and fauna habitat,including that for the endangered`6pe`ape`a
(Hawaiian Hoary Bat)and Hawaiian monk seal,and other unidentified threatened,endangered or
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at-riskspecies ),while equally providing i tion o ti for otherTER
species.
• Maintain recreational of the area's trails and swimming areas.
• Successfully complete a portion of the conservation corridor, connecting the protection of
Lapakahi State Historical Park to the south to the County's Kapa`a Beach Park to the north,
effectively contributing to the Kohala community's vision for a conservation corridor and
Protection of scenic view planes as outlined in the North Kohala Community Development flan.
• Ensure the integrity and health of ahukona's ocean resources,including endemic and
endangered marine species.
• Use of public funds for the protection ofMahukona is a proactive opportunity for the County and
State to uphold their constitutional obligations to protect Native Hawaiian subsistence,cultural,
and religious practices and Public Trust resources.
Na Ka1ai Wa`a has been blessed to access the historical sites identified at Mahukona.Ko`a Holomoana
Heiau is a navigational heiau located at Mahukona that has become the significant launching site for long
voyages for Makah i and other canoe. It is significant in that it marks the beginning and end of each of 3
our voyages. We gain access to the heiau through our partnership with the Kohala community,especially
the Solomon `ohana who are direct lineal descendants of the area.NaKalai Wa`a is dedicated to our
continued stewardship of the lands at Mahukona together with Halau Kealaonamaupua,N4 Aikane o
Pu`ukohola Heiau,Punana Leo o Waimea and Alo Kehau o ka`Mina Mauna of Waimea who share our
dedication to the traditional practices of open ocean voyaging and to the significant area of Mahukona and
all that it teaches us.
Mahalo for the opportunity to provide testimony in strong support of Resolution 145-21 for the permanent
protection of Mahukona.
Me ke aloha,
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Keomailani Case
Executive Director
Na Kalai Wa`a
65-1206 Mamalahoa Hwy. Suite 1-101
Kamuela,Hi 9674,
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Cell (808)987-8709
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wdkoomailanic@gmail.com
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