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<br /> Murashige, Laura <br /> From: PBELCHER@hawaii.rr.com <br /> <br /> Sent: Saturday, June 02, 2007 5:08 PM <br /> <br /> To: counciltestimony@co. hawaii. hi. us <br /> Cc: danny@kaupreservation.org <br /> Subject: PUNALUU <br /> 2 will not be able to attend the hearing regarding the K. Hanoa Resolution. I would like <br /> to offer my testimony regarding this area, in support of Resolution #169-07, the K. Hanoa <br /> Resolution. <br /> My perspective comes as the result of being raised in Hawaii in the 1950's. Additionally, <br /> 2 am presently the owner (steward) of some land in Ka'u mauka. I would like to <br /> respectfully ask that you preserve Punaluu from development. The vistas of my youth are <br /> such a precious resource. I reflect with such fondness on time in Kalapana and Milolii, <br /> places which are gone or changing. If we do not save Punaluu from development, future <br /> generations will not know the serenity of old Hawaii. <br /> There are some important cultural and biological reasonsto save Punaluu. The adjacent <br /> beach is the home of the "ili ili hanau o Koloa" as mentioned in the book "Majestic <br /> Ka'u" by Marion Kelly (Bishop Museum Press). A biological survey in the 1990's by Dan <br /> Polhemus, again of Bishop Museum, found the threatened Hawaiian damselfly in the pond at <br /> <br /> Ninole, a native species that is almost eradicated on Oahu (Bishop Museum Occasional <br /> Papers). <br /> Fortunately, I have seen lots of literature that pinpoints the central role Punaluu played <br /> in post-contact Hawaii. In the late 1800's, Punaluu was one access route to the Volcano, <br /> the other route coming out of Hilo. Boat passengers frequently disembarked at Punaluu to <br /> begin the hike to see Pele at Halemaumau. <br /> I apologize for lack of specific citations in this communication. I will be happy to <br /> <br /> provide more documentation when I return from my trip to the mainland. <br /> I have seen all kinds of literature that spoke of beautiful places, now gone. Who knows <br /> that Salt Lake on Oahu was once a white bottomed lake, like clean snow, with an <br /> exceedingly high salt content? Or that the Alenaio Pond once stood where the flood of <br /> November 2001 in Hilo filled the Bayfront Soccer Field with water? Who remembers the time <br /> when people would drop a gourd in the sea at Puna with a message for folks at Ka'alu'alu, <br /> where the marine trash now collects? These ideas are lost to us now. But we do have the <br /> chance to save this one place, and I ask you to please do it. <br /> Thank you. Sincerely, <br /> Patrice Lei Belcher <br /> ~'7 -~.W <br /> - c_ <br /> c'- <br /> - c,? <br /> Comet, Ha ~ ~.4 0 <br /> Ref. To: <br /> Ref. Dote ,~U~_~ ZDD1' <br /> i <br /> <br />