Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 16, Number 9, 1 September 1999 — Mauna Kea [ARTICLE]

Mauna Kea

I would like to compliment you

on a generally accurate and wellbalanced story about Mauna Kea in yotu" July issue. We are grateful to your puhlieahon for succinctly summarizing the complex issues involved. I would like to correct and elaiify two aspects of the article, if I may. First,the title and text imply the UH Board of Regents has placed a long-term moratorium on Mauna Kea development; such is not the case. The regents did decide at their June 18 meeting that no new development would be approved unhl the management structure proposed in the new Master Plan has been established. Second, we are unaware of any major observatory where the host organization charges significant monetary rent for use of the site. In all of the cases with whieh we are familiar, the guest observatories contribute to the support and development of the loeal astronomy program, primarily through sharing the use of the telescope and helping to pay eommon observatory expenses. Your readers may be interested to know OHA Trustees Hannah Springer and Mililani Trask, are on the 23member Mauna Kea Advisory Committee. We would be pleased to give your staff a tour of our facilities in Mānoa, on Mauna Kea or on Haleakalā. RobertA. McLaren lnterim Director lnstitute forAstronomy University of Hawai'i at Mānoa