Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 22, Number 10, 1 October 2005 — Can we keep Molokaʻi Molokaʻi? [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Can we keep Molokaʻi Molokaʻi?

Cūlette Y. Machadū TrustEE, Mūlūka'i and Lāna'i

At a time when Hawaiian legacy lands are being eroded by challenges to the beneficiaries for whom the lands have been held in trust, the people of Moloka'i have a unique opportunity to receive back lands that were alienated to offshore owners. But this opportunity comes with challenges and risks for our subsistence resources. And so, it is the community - especially the subsistence practitioners - who need to decide if these risks are acceptable and manageable. (Since I am not a subsistence practitioner, I abstained on the vote). In the land use planning process, most everyone did not support the proposal to develop 200 luxury homes at Lā'au Point. Instead, everyone supported (1) the extraordinary gifting of 26,000 acres with an ineome of $250,000; (2) the permanent protection of another 29,000 acres by Moloka'i Properties Limited (MPL) to a Moloka'i Land Trust; (3) management of the legacy lands of Nā'iwa and Kā'ana by cultural practitioners; (4) reopening of Kaluako'i Hotel; (5) protecting the jobs of the MPL employees; (5) no additional allocation of potable water; and (6) improvements to

the MIS Water System. Since the Lā'au Point development was the condition to achieve all of this, the majority of those involved in the planning process reluctantly agreed to take a risk and include the Lā'au development in the Master Land Use Plan. But to minimize the risk, there were a lot of conditions, restrictions and covenants for the design and development of the Lā'au subdivision. The key issue is the protection of the subsistence and cultural resources of Lā'au. We learned from Hale o Lono that onee an area is opened up, the subsistence resources are exploited and depleted. A lot of attention was given to regulating access to the Lā'au shoreline and managing and monitoring the marine resources for subsistence. The key question is: are these conditions and restrictions adequate to protect our subsistence resources? I hope that the community will carefully review these and make suggestions. And, the process is not over. The Enterprise Community (EC) is funding the development of an alternative to the Lā'au development by Clark Stevens of New West Land Company and Ian Robertson. This alternative will be eompleted in time for the EC to make its decision on the eompleted Master Land Use Plan. The community ean be involved with the alternative and with the EC decision. Ultimately, the proposed development will need permits from the county and the state and the community ean give meaningful input at that point too. S

LEO 'ELELE • TRUSTEE MESSAGES

Editor's note: This month, Trustee Colette Maehaāo shares her eolumn space with

Hawaiian community member Davianna Pōmaika'i McGregor.