HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0284.025 2020-2022 June 14, 2021
To:
Chair and Presiding Officer Matt Kdneali'i-Kleinfelder COUNTY CLERK
Vice Chair Heather L. Kimball COUNTY OF HAWAII
Committee on Finance, County Council _RECEIVED
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County of Hawaii Time iI— 1AIM. W— -
25 Aupuni Street Date JUN 1 4 2021
Hilo, Hawaii 96720
Aloha mai e Chair Kaneali'i-Kleinfelder, Vice Chair Kimball, and Members of the Committee
on Finance,
Mahalo for the opportunity to provide testimony in strong support of Resolution 145-21 for the
permanent protection of Mahukona. We understand that Hawaiian Islands Land Trust(HILT),
Na Kalai Wa'a, Mdhukona 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 Mdhukona, 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.
My name is Kristen Lehua Dircks Ah Sam and I am a crew member of Makali'i Voyaging
Canoe, and married to the Ah Sam family from Kohala. Our grandfather's uncle Kaaihue
Kupuka'a, was a resident of M5hukona until his death.
The following highlights the main reasons our family support a conservation purchase and
permanent protection of Mahukona:
• Effectively prohibit future subdivision and development of Hawai'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 Mdhukona
are at risk to be sold to resort and high-scale residential developers.
• Permanently protect and allow for 'ohana and community stewardship of Mahukona'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 Mdhukona'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 at-risk species (TER), while equally providing habitat
restoration opportunities for other TER species.
• Maintain recreational use 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
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Comm. No. 1/j-0q
Ref. To: PIF&
Ref. Date— JUN 1 5 2021
corridor and protection of scenic view planes as outlined in the North Kohala Community
Development Plan.
• Ensure the integrity and health of Mahukona's ocean resources, including endemic and
endangered marine species.
• Use of public funds for the protection of Mdhukona 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.
Our practices of voyaging, fishing, and gathering herbal medicinal resources in this area for
generations depends on our ability to preserve our access to and ability to maintain our cultural
and natural resources of this area.
Mahalo for the opportunity to provide testimony in strong support of Resolution 145-21 for the
permanent protection of Mahukona.
Kristen Lehua Dircks Ah Sam
Kapa'au, HI 96755