Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 20, Number 11, 1 November 2003 — Kahoʻolawe transfer [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Kahoʻolawe transfer

On Nov. 12, a noon observance will be held at 'Iolani Palaee to mark the historic transfer of control over Kaho'olawe from the U.S. Navy to the State of Hawai'i's Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Commission (KIRC). The puhlie is weleome to attend. The return of Kaho'olawe represents a homecoming of the sacred island to the Hawaiian people after three decades of struggle. While the transfer of control "marks a major milestone," said KIRC Acting Executive Director Stanton Enomoto, it is "not the final ehapter... We're looking at a number of ways that the remainder of the island ean continue to be cleaned up in the future." After a decade of work, the Navy's $400 million eleanup of unexploded ordnance left over from decades of bombing practice has cleared the surface of less than 70 percent of Kaho'olawe's 29,000 acres, and buried ordnance has been removed from only about nine percent of the island. The Navy will

completely demobilize from the island by March 12, 2004.

Nū Hnn

Photo: Gerald Honda Networking for nationhood At a recent ho'olaule'a in Las Vegas, OHA Trustee Rowena Akana met with Democratic Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, who has signed on as a co-sponsor of the Hawaiian federal recognition bill. For more, see Akana's trustee eolumn on page 14.