Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 14, Number 8, 1 August 1997 — Hahai Pono: Kaʻupulehu Nei [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hahai Pono: Kaʻupulehu Nei

Miehael Matsukawa and John Powell presented opening arguments in an appeal of a State Land Use Commission decision to reclassify 1,000 acres at Kalaemanō, Ka'upulehu from conservation to urban. And so, Ka Pa'a Kai o Ka 'Āina and our eolleagues continued on a course set in the winter, 1994. Ka Pa'a Kai o Ka 'Āina is a coalition comprised of, in alphabetical order, Ka Lāhui Hawai'i, Kona Hawaiian Civic Club, and Protect Kohanaiki

'Ohana. Nay sayers doubted the radical, conservative and malihini groups could eooperate. To be sure, we focused on the task at hand, not indulging in digressions. The focus was supported by our kūpuna who gifted us with both the name, Ka Pa'a Kai o Ka 'Āina, and the kaona of it. It was the pa'a kai that my family, kama'āina of Ka'ūpūlehu, had for generations visited Kalaemanō to gather. This salt is "wild" compared to salt cultured in pans of packed earth or cement. The Kalaemanō salt is cast up in spray and wash from the deep oeean waters immediately off shore. Low sea cliffs, scoured clear by

winter swells, provide fine growing medium. There the salt deposits grow, thick and clear. We look forward to spring or summer harvests. Our children's first trek to Kalaemanō was duly noted on their developmental charts. The salt is used at our families' tables. The salt is given as a gift to our teachers. The salt is used as a purifying agent in our cere-

monies. The salt is a renowned thing of this land. So it caught our collective attention when the Environmental Impact Statement, prepared to disclose the condition of the land, its people and the effects upon them by the proposal to reclassify the land, failed to properly note the salt as a natural and cultural resource and that salt gathering continues as an on-going cultural practice. I eame forward to testify as an individual, a Kama maoli nō of Ka'ūpūlehu. The three organizations eame forward compelled by citizens and members, respectively, who also know this plaee and its resources. At our first meeting with the State Land Use Commission we were not yet named. When we explained our intentions to our kūpuna, they shared their mana'o and 'ike with us. One of our teachers, a mana leo, gave the name, "Ka Pa'a Kai o Ka 'Āina", "The Salt of the Land." Another kupuna supported the name with respect to the salt's long use by ka po'e Hawai'i to purify and to preserve. The name further describes a thing fluid, the kai, become firm, pa'a. Our eoaliūon is like many individual crys-

tals of salt coalescing to form a rich deposit. We welcomed the name and levels of kaona whieh supported us through months of deliberation with the Land Use Commission. During these deliberations we were clear in following propriety, Hahai Pono. We did not pursue it voraciously as the 'ulua, the mullet off Kalaemanō. We followed it as rain will the forest as noted by the po'e kahiko, "Hahai nō ka ua i ka ulu lā'au." We followed propriety through weekly study sessions and monthly Land Use Commission meetings over 22 months. We followed propriety through our rapport with both opponents

and proponents of the proposal to reclassify the land and through our rapport with the Land Use Commission itself. We follow it still as we enter what may be a lengthy appeal. The telling of our mo'olelo is lengthy as well, but shall be continued in next month's Ka Wai Ola. No laila a hui hou aku no kakou. E malama kakou i ka pono. E hahai kakou i ka pono.

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HahhaA yp>«H$e? Trustee-elect, HawaLi