Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 22, Number 10, 1 October 2005 — Waiāhole land transfer rescinded [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Waiāhole land transfer rescinded

The members of the Waiāhole community have staved off another round of controversial evictions, the latest series eoming 30 years after protests in the valley helped define the antidevelopment movement of the 1970s. In August, the state Housing and Conununity Development Corporation (HCDC) rescinded its transfer of 750 acres in Waiāhole Valley to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL). The transfer was part of an ambitious effort to develop 3,500 homes for Native Hawaiians of at least 50 percent blood quantum. The multiagency initiative transferred properties on O'ahu, Maui and Hawai'i island - 1,800 acres in all - to DHHL. The controversy started when the HCDC mailed eviction notices to residential and agricultural lessees in Waiāhole.

The eviction notices triggered an outcry from the Waiāhole and Waikāne connnunities, and the HCDC board subsequently voted not to force anyone off their property. The state Legislature seemed to seal the fate of the transfer when lawmakers unanimously passed a resolution in opposition to it during the last legislative session. Finally, on Aug. 18, HCDC Executive Director Stephanie Aveiro apologized for the transfer, whieh she said was the result of the agency not understanding the Waiāhole community's history. During the development boom of the 1970s, the landowner of Waiāhole and Waikane valleys attempted to evict the farmers and families of the area in order to build a housing development. The two communities banded together and fought a long battle to maintain the rural complexion of their valleys. The state eventually bought the valley and residents signed leases with the state in 1995.

Conservation group named curator of Kawainui site The cultural and environmental conservation group 'Ahahui Mālama i ka Lōkahi has been named cultural curator of the Nā Pōhaku o Hauwahine site in Kawainui Marsh. The group's president, Chuck Burrows, told The Honolulu Advertiser that action follows seven years of stewardship of the site by 'Ahahui Mālama i ka Lōkahi, whieh has invested more than $170,000 worth of community volunteer labor and $200,000 in grants. The group, whieh also tends several other sites in Kawainui, sought the designation after the state Land Division proposed a $2,000-a-month fee for the group to continue its activities there, including preserving the site, restoring it to its natural condition and conducting guided tours, Burrows told The

Advertiser. "Under the curatorship agreement, it's doing what we were doing in the past but not paying the money for it," he said. The Nā Pōhaku o Hauwahine site consists of massive basalt boulders formed long ago by ponded lava in the heart of the Ko'olau volcano. Since no ancient name survives for the 12-acre site, the volunteers who have been restoring native dryland forest there have taken to calling them after Kawainui's guardian mo'o, Hauwahine, who is said to have sunned herself with her companions on just such rocks. 'Ahahui Mālama i ka Lōkahi will sign a five-year contract defining the scope of its responsibilities as curator, including restoration efforts, educational programs and developing a long-term management strategy. Burrows said the group was started to help bridge the gap that has often existed between Hawaiian cultural people and environmentalists. "It's important especially that Hawaiians heeome involved in these efforts," Burrows says. "Not only to practice our traditions, but because, as the host culture, it's important that we educate others about caring for the 'āina." Hawaiian professionals honored ot CNHA conference A number of Hawaiian professionals and organiza-

tions received awards at the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement's 2005 Native Hawaiian Conference, held Aug. 30-Sept. 2. This year's conference drew more than 1,100 people, the largest crowd to attend the conference since it was started four years ago to focus on the development of the Native Hawaiian eommunity. The theme was Na Wai ke Kuleana? Na Kākou! - Whose is Responsible? We All Are! Topics discussed included Native Hawaiian health, education, housing, cultural preservation, arts and eeonomie development. The Native Hawaiian Business Award was won by Nā Mea Hawai'i/Native Books. Nā Mea Hawai'i is a spin-off of Native Books and Beautiful Things, whieh Maile Meyer started more than ten years ago. The stores focus on selling products that not only relate to Hawai'i, but are also sensitive to Hawaiian culture. Nā Mea Hawai'i currently has two locations, at Ward Warehouse and the Hilton Hawaiian Village, and a website, nativebooks.revacommsb.com. Other award winners were: • Native Hawaiian Education Award: Aliee Kawakami, president of the Institute for Native Pacific Education And Culture (INPEACE); Kathryn Au, secretary of INPEACE; Sherlyn Franklin Goo, executive director of INPEACE; • Native Hawaiian Health Award: Benjamin Young, director of the Native Hawaiian Center of Excellence at the John A. Burns School of Medicine; • Native Hawaiian Nonproilt Award: Alu Like Ine., 30-year-old Native Hawaiian service organization; and • Native Hawaiian Advocate Award: Adelaide "Frenchy" DeSoto and Kina'u Boyd Kamali'i, two longtime Hawaiian activists. See BRIEFS on page 13

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'Ahahui Mūlama i ka Lōkahi President Chuck Burrows at the Nū Pōhaku site. Pholo: Detek Ferrar

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Cūntinued fram page 9 Kava Festival While bottled kava is becoming increasingly eonunon in drug stores around the world, the plant still plays a central role in Hawaiian and Pacific Island culture, both as a medieine and as an integral element in traditional religious protocols. To help increase awareness about this plant and to celebrate its benefits, the 'Awa Development Council will be holding its annual kava festival, this time at the University of Hawai'i-Mānoa on Oct. 8. Learn about kava ceremonies, drink a range of different kava varieties and enjoy loeal music from Hapa, Kupa'āina, Makana, Vaihi, Weldon Kekauoha and Nola Nahulu's Kawaiolaonāpūkanileo ehoral ensemble. There will also be hōlua sledding and kapa beating demonstrations, and Hawaiian arts, crafts, plant

and informational booths. The event will also feature two professors of phannaeology from the University of California, Davis. Event will be held at the "mall" fronting Snyder Hall on the UH Mānoa campus, and will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. Kippen named to NAGPRA Colin Kippen, executive director of the Native Hawaiian Education Council, has been appointed to the advisory eommittee that reviews and assists with the implementation of the federal law governing the protection of native burials. Kippen, a Native Hawaiian, has worked extensively with America's native people. He previously served as senior counsel to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, chief tribal judge of the Suquamish tribe in Washington and deputy administrator of the See BRIEFS on page 21

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Cūntinued fram page 13 Office of Hawaiian Affairs. He joins six others on the Review Committee for the Native American Graves Repatriation Act, whieh was enacted in 1990 to provide a process for museums to repatriate Native American human remains, and funerary and sacred objects to native groups, tribes and organizations. 'Ōlelo makuahine conference The Hawaiian Historical Society will hold a Hawaiian language resources conference on Oct. 22 at the windward campus of Hawai'i Pacific University. The conference will highlight newly available Hawaiian language resources, including publications, reprints,

translations and online services, as well as new interpretations of history, literature and mele. The event will also feature a presentation by Hawaiian historian Klhei de Silva on the poetry and symbolic imagery in the songs from Buke Mele Lāhui/Book of Naūonal Songs. In addition, the conference will also have discussion panels featuring such Hawaiian language experts as Puakea Nogelmeier, Kalena Silva, Leimomi Akana, Davianna McGregor, Noenoe Silva, Betty Kam, Amy Ku'uleialoha Stillman and more. The conference is supported by grants from the Samuel N. and Mary Castle Foundation and the Hawai'i Council for the Humanities. The event runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and costs $25. Registration forms are due by Oct. 11. Limited scholarships are available. For more information, eall the Hawaiian Historical Society at 537-6271 or email

bedunn@lava.net. Millions in education grants InAugust,theU.S.Department of Education announced the approval millions of dollars in education grants for Hawaiians through its Education of Native Hawaiians Grant Awards and the Native Hawaiian Education Program. An estimated $14 million in federal funds is now earmarked expressly to benefit Native Hawaiians. Among the dozens of recipients statewide are public school programs, charter schools, heahh care programs, University of Hawai'iprograms, preschools and more. Grants were awarded for such purposes as literacy, technology, Hawaiian language immersion, cultural education, tutoring and more. While a number of new initiatives have been approved for first-time funding, some previ-

ous recipients - including the Native Hawaiian Leadership Project that had awarded millions in Native Hawaiian higher education scholarships — did not receive funding this year. Young scientist In September, Kamehameha Schools freshman Melissa Pōmaika'i Luga was selected as one of 40 finalists in the Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge for her research on the medicinal properties of the paperbark tree. Luga was one of four Hawai'i students out of a pool of 400 semifinalists that made the cut to the finals, whieh will be held in October in Washington, D.C. The finalists have a ehanee to win a share of more than $40,000 in scholarships and prizes. Luga's research on the paperbark tree started in 2004, when she was just a seventh grader. Her work has already captured

the Native Hawaiian heahh care organization Papa Ola Lōkahi's highest award for cancer prevention and control in the statewide Academy of Science fair, junior research division.

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Melissa Luga is ū finolist in the Discovery ehannel Young Scientist Challenge. Photo: Courtesv of the Luna 'Ohana