HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0427.001 2022-2024P/W&
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COMM, 41
Testimony of
LEILA KEALOHA,
Owner/EO Ke Aloha `Aina Foundation, LLC
Before the
Hawaii County Council
COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATIVE APPROVALS AND ACQUISITIONSFri
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West Hawaii Civic Center
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74- 5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway, Building A
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
September 19, 2023.
1: 00 P. M.
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In consideration of
Res. 241-23: AWARDS A PUBLIC ACCESS, OPEN SPACE, AND NATURAL
RESOURCES PRESERVATION MAINTENANCE FUND STEWARDSHIP GRANT TO
MALAMA O PUNA
Aloha Kakou,
My name is Leila Kealoha, I am submitting written testimony in support of Resolution
214-23. Malama O Puna (MOP) has a longstanding commitment to protecting the
natural heritage of Puna, which is in complete alignment with stewardship of Wai'ele.
These funds will be used to support a steering committee that will:
engage active participation of descendants with ancestral ties, community residents,
students from the broader community, and the public working together to foster and
maintain respectful public use, sustainable, traditional harvest of renewable resources,
and, most importantly, an ethic of responsible stewardship of this precious place. Our
vision includes preserving the area, largely unchanged, in perpetuity, and developing a
model for establishing a steering committee to assist with initial stewardship activities
and to guide the development of a long-term management plan.
We have seen the vast majority of the lower Puna population grow in insurmountable
numbers. We have also seen the changed landscape of the historic 2018 Kilauea
eruption which covered many wahi pana. It is imperative that we protect, preserve and
perpetuate the natural and cultural resources that we still have left. In the coming years,
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we will see a major influx of resident and visitor traffic. Now is the time to ensure we are
stewarding our areas along our coastline with the input from lineal and cultural
descendants of these areas.
I am also in full support for the other objectives outlined in the grant ask:
Stewardship efforts will focus on the following aspects of caring for the land
directed at preserving the cultural and natural features of the area including: 1)
archaeology 2) botanical survey of Hawaiian cultural plants and incipient invasive plant
species; 3) forest health, including control of invasive plants and little fire ants; 4)
removal of marine and other debris polluting the beach areas; 5) maintenance of the
access trail, half of which is ancient, and erection of signage; and 6) development of a
steering committee of ancestral descendants with ties to the Wai'ele who can assist in
the stewardship activities and direct this preservation process by assisting in the
creation of a long term management plan.
I appreciate your time and consideration and hope you will support Resolution 241-23
for PONC Stewardship grant for Malama o Puna. Please feel free to contact me if you
have any questions.
Me ke aloha pumehana,
Leila Kealoha