HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0377.167 2024-2026From: Kieran Gibson
Sent: Sunday, August 17, 2025 4:08 PM o
To: Council Testimony oC.)
Subject: Testimony: Strong Support of Resolution,234-25 iCD
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Aloha Chair Villegas and members of the Policy Committee on Environmental and Natural Resource�
Management, r-.
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Mahalo for the opportunity to testify in strong support of Resolution 234-25, which urges the state twensure the
health and safety of Hawai'i Island residents by requesting that the military cease all bombing and desecration
activities at Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA), reject land swaps and lease renewals without strict stipulations, and
conduct a full Ka Pa`akai Analysis of the area.
O wan `o Kieran. I was raised my entire life on the slopes of Mauna Kea and frequented saddle road, camping,
hunting, hiking, and perpetuating cultural practices in the areas surrounding Pohakuloa Training Area.
The life in the land of Pohakuloa is vibrant and vivid. Critically endangered species such as Pal la, native snails, `Oha
Wai, and several others call these lands their home. These beautiful species will probably cease to exist in my
lifetime. I encouraged any one of you to take a walk through these lands and pay attention to the water, wind,
animals, and plants surrounding you. This isn't just a feeling some of us have, as of 2022 the American Bird
Conservancy estimated that 678 remaining Palila birds remain in the wild, most of which call Pohakuloa their home.
Some of the last remaining native forests surround this area with countless endangered species. It is well known in
several conservation circles that Hawaii is considered "the extinction capital ofthe world'. There is a reason for this...
The continued destruction and profit oriented state departments have rendered our lands pillaged, stripped,
outcompeted, and cleared for centuries. Is this the end of our native ecosystem? If nodiing is changed about how
we approach our islands, this will be the end of them as we know it. All it takes is a drive by Pohakuloa Training
Area to witness some of the overwhelming destruction that has taken place in the area. Sheep run free, demolishing
Mamane, fountain grass slowly taking its place, air ports, runways, bunkers, smoke, light and sound pollution,
bombs, diesel, and more pollute the land and water. Naio plants making up to 50% of the biomass of these forests
are dying by the tens of thousands due to introduced disease. Even taking a drive over saddle road one is greeted by
proverial sea of gray dead, and dying, Naio.
Have you ever worked on a piece of machinery? Fired a gun? Built a house? Driven a tank through endangered
forest? Shot depleted uranium rounds into the earth?.All of these actions do one thousand fold every week for the
past sixty odd years. This is what the lands of Pohakuloa have been polluted by... and all of this just so happens to
be sitting on the largest aquifer of Hawaii island. Where does that water go? It goes to us, the ocean, the animals,
and crops, and everything around us we call home. It is sad that we have to submit testimony to convince the state
that it is bad to bomb and threaten sacred and critically endangered grounds.
Furthermore, Pohakuloa is considered `Wao Akua`, or the realm of the gods, an entire ecological sector of the
Hawaiian people for more than a thousand years. When in Wao Akua one is required to adhere to the proper
protocols of place, and remain conscious of our place, as kanaka, in the realm of the gods. Simply put Pohakuloa is
a sacred place and eligible to be designated a Traditional Cultural Property (TCP) by the National Register of
Historic Places (NRHP), part of the National Parks Service (NPS). This eligibility is based on Pohakuloa`s
associations with the cultural practices, traditions, beliefs, lifeways, arts, crafts, or social institutions of the living
community. comm. 31 Wi—
Ref. To:
t Ref. Date ,AUG 2025
Please let me know any questions and I urge you, as protectors of land and ecosystems, to do your job. Stand for
the little culture, sacred grounds, species, and water we have left.
Malama pono and mahalo na akua,
Kieran Wiese Gibson
(808) 494-7775
44-2820 Kalopa Mauka Rd.
Honokaa Hi, 96727
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