Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 5, Number 12, 1 December 1988 — Many Sites Still Not On Hawaiʻi Register [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Many Sites Still Not On Hawaiʻi Register

Historic Preservation Laws — How Effective?

By Earl Nel!er Cultural Specialist Last month, I and historic preservation advocate, attorney Lani Maa, spoke at the State Capitol auditorium on November 14 as part of a series of island-wide public talks on preserving Hawaii's archaeological and historic heritage. The talks were sponsored by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Historic Hawaii Foundation. While the talks have drawn good attendance and interest on the neighbor islands, unfortunately the turnout was slight on O'ahu. Our discussion centered on examples of where historic preservation laws in Hawai'i are working, as well as cases where they do not seem to be working as well as they ought to. The Hawai'i Register of Historic Places is an example of a process that may not be fulfilling its intended purpose. In the past two years, not a single new Hawaiian archaeological site has been added to the Hawai'i Register of Historic Places. The Hawai'i Register is a key planning tool, designed to encourage the identification and preservation of Hawaii's historic and cultural resources. Patsy Mink, former Chair of the City Council, onee told me that if a site was significant, theState would have placed it on the Register. . .Yet, today only one site on the entire island of Lana'i is on the Hawai'i Register, and that site is on inaccessible state land that is never going to be developed. What about the rest? Ms. Ma'a recently authored the first comprehensive report on historic preservation laws in Hawaii, a booklet entitled Kanawai Mau Mo'olelo: Laws of Historic Preservation in Hawai'i. Her talk explained these laws at the federal, state, and county levels. Single copies of this booklet are available . from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, whieh partially funded the project. She pointed out that, "By law, the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) must be notified by the landowner whenever registered sites are likely to be affected by development plans. This gives the State a ehanee to take action before it's too late, and it allows the State to concentrate its efforts on sites in immediate danger. An environmental impact statement (EIS) may be required, as well,

when sites are on the Hawaii Register." In the last eight years, our SHPO has returned only 116 sites to the register, and almost all of those sites are on state lands not likely to be developed. At the same time, 43 new sites have been added to the Hawai'i Register, but most of those sites were nominated by the developer of the Kawela Lands on Moloka'i. Former State Senator Wadsworth Yee set a precedent that should have been followed by other developers, but wasn't. Some 374 previously identified, highly significant Hawaiian sites on private property have still not been returned to the register, and numerous sites are destroyed every year that should have been placed on the Hawaii Register and preserved. However, too many people, archaeologists included, think that if a site's not on the register, it doesn't need to be preserved. In 1980 the review board stripped the register of 490 Hawaiian sites leaving only 19 prehistoric Hawaiian sites still on

the list. Ma'a said that "developers who demonstrated respectful sensitivity to the rich archaeology of Kohala are now enjoying the fruits of their foresight." We need to first become familiar with our various laws and how they are implemented. Then we ean take full advantage of the protection these laws provide for our historic and cultural resources. A major flaw is an emphasis on preserving data instead of the historic property itself. By encouraging the removal of archaeological resources for the informational value, the ideal of preserving them at the original site is lost." Phyllis Fox, president of the Historic Hawaii Foundation, complemented Ms. Ma'a for providing Hawai'i with a valuable reference for planners and others interested in historic preservation. "We need to work together," said Fox. "Successful preservation comes from eooperation, not confrontation."

The Kukaniloko royal birthstones near Wahiawa, O'ahu were placed on the Hawai'i Register of Historic Places in 1971, then removed in 1980.

This ko'a (fishing shrine) at Shipwreck Beach on the north coast of Lana'i was placed on the register in 1974, then removed in 1980. Photos by Earl Neller