Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 10, Number 11, 1 November 1999 — KIRC completes Kahoʻolawe restoration plan [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

KIRC completes Kahoʻolawe restoration plan

By Jayson Harper ON OCT. 1 the Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Commission (KIRC) released its environmental restoration plan for Kaho'olawe. KIRC is the state agency coordinating the restoration efforts on the island. Kaho'olawe was first used as a military target in the 1930s and was taken over by the U.S. Navy prior to the start of World War II. In 1993 Congress mandated the Navy return the island to the state and conduct a eleanup of unexploded ordnance and scrap on the island. The environmental plan comes at a time when the U.S. Navy is currently clearing Kaho'olawe as part of its ten-year elean-up obligation. Noa Emmett Aluli, KIRC chairperson. called the restoration olan. "a

greenprint that lays out a strategy for bringing plants, animals and natural water systems back to life," He added, "It acknowledges our need for humility and intuition in a process that's as mueh about spiritual renewal as it is about the environment." The plan uses reforestation techniques that rely on

the natural regrowth of native plants to combat soil erosion. "The regrowth process should take 100 years, and with continued efforts, could reforest the island," according to Paul Higashino, KIRC Restoration Ecologist. The top one-third of the island is severely eroded

due to 200 years of overgrazing by animals, and strong northeast tradewinds. The soil erosion costs Kaho'olawe close to two million tons of soil eaeh year. To combat the erosion, KIRC's restoration plan identifies eight different types of landscapes currently found on the island and recommends several native species such as, 'a'ali'i, 'āweoweo, pili, and pā'ūohi'iaka, that will help control soil erosion. The restoration plan represents the collaborative efforts of more than 90 scientists, naturalists and Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners, who contributed two years of their time and expertise to complete the restoration plan. In addition to proved reforestation models as well as the advice of experts, the architects of the plan also used techniques not grounded

in Western science. "The plan invoked the concepts of listening to the land, spiritual insight and traditional ecological knowledge. These concepts becanje the guiding principles emphasizing Native Hawaiian cultural factors," said Higoshino. ■

PHOTO: COURTESY OF KIRC Unexploded ordnance still litters the dry landscape of Kaho'olawe.