HomeMy WebLinkAboutComm No 0021.136 - Testimony - CA-7 - PONC fund and Maintenance fundAbigail Jensen
7th Grade Student
Volcano School of Arts and Sciences
Volcano, Hawai'i, 96785
February 7, 2019
Charter Commission
Hilo, Hawaii
Dear Commissioners,
Regarding: 2% Land Fund Program
My name is Abigail Jensen, my parents are Erica and Dan Jensen and we live
in Kurtistown. I am honored to go to Kawa because it is so beautiful and I get to
Team about the native plants and the ancient Hawaiians who once lived there.
Kawa is important to the community, to myself, to the ancient Hawaiians, to the
tourists, and the world because it is a place of great importance that holds a place
in all of our hearts. It is a place where we learn the history of old Hawai'i, the
science of the native plants and discover its beauty.
We go to Kawa about once or twice a month. When we go down to Kawa, we
clip away invasive plants, water native plants, pick up trash, and dig up eroded
springs so that Kawa will be a nicer place to visit in the future. This shows our
malama and aloha to the aina. When we first came to Kawa, there was a lot of
overgrown invasive plants, trash everywhere, and the beach looked eroded. Now
thanks to the efforts that we and our supervisors Kumu James Akau, Uncle Duane
Clarissa Pua, and Uncle Kauai Felder, there are a lot of native plants, barely any to
no garbage, much less invasive plants, and the beach looks better than ever. I hope
that if we continue our efforts it will continue to improve. Places like Kawa, wild,
untouched places, are not just important to us and our families, but the visitors and
tourists. When tourists see these beautiful undisturbed places, they don't
experience what hotels make out Hawai'i to be. They see what Hawai'i truly is, or
was.
Comm. No. 21.136
The Land Fund is needed to preserve places like Kawa. Even though half the
island is under conservation, it is zoned conservation, which means you can still
build stuff on the land, which doesn't preserve it. 63% of voters were in favor of
the land fund, three times in a row. Other counties, like Kauai, do not have as
much money for a land fund. This is because Kauai doesn't have as much land,
and other counties, such as O'ahu, have a much higher population. Also, most of
the land on Kauai is crazy expensive, not even locals can afford, and if we have the
Land Fund, we can prevent the Big Island from becoming like that. There is a
2,000 acre plot of untouched land in Ka'u named Waiakapuna. If we continue the
Land Fund, we can buy it and help preserve it. If we don't, it might be bought for
commercial use and the pure land will go to waste.
At Kawa, there are many native plants, such as the alahe'e, wiliwili, niu,
naupaka, kou and kukui, some even being endangered or endemic. We are
planting these plants to make an area where these plants will be safe to grow and
we are able to take care of them through the funding of the Land Fund. These
plants are environmentally and culturally important to the land. There are also
native, endemic, and endangered plants in Waikapuna and all around the island. If
these important pieces of land are bought by big businesses, they might bulldoze
the plants, which is disrespectful and bad for the environment. This is another
reason to keep the Land Fund, to help protect these rare, one of a kind species.
In conclusion, the Land Fund Program is important, not just because it gives us
a place to swim and play, because the next generation will have a place to go to see
what Hawai'i was, not what it has become. I hope you vote to keep the program so
we can help preserve it for the future.
Mahalo, Abby Jensen