Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 27, Number 8, 1 August 2010 — Kūkulu Ke Ea A Kanaloa [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Kūkulu Ke Ea A Kanaloa

Thi.s month's eolumn features an update from Miehael Naho 'opi.'i. , Executive Director of the Kaho' olawe Island Reserve Commission. n February 2010, the Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Commission (KIRC) preliminarily approved a cultural plan for the island of Kaho'olawe titled Kūkulu Ke EaA Kanaloa: The Cultural Planfor Kanaloa Kaho 'olawe. The KIRC contracted with the

Edith Kanaka'ole Foundation to develop the cultural plan to provide a foundation for the deeper understanding of Kaho'olawe in a physical, cultural and spiritual sense. For many years, volunteers have been coming to Kaho'olawe to help heal its years of physical abuse. The island is finally making headway in recovering its natural beauty, after being used as a former military bombing range and suffering years of environmental deg-

radation. The eradication of goats in the 1990s, the U.S. Navy's unexploded ordnance eleanup, and today's reforestation work performed by the KIRC collectively contributed to the island's healing. Cultural practitioners have also returned to the island to re-establish lineal traditions reconnecting Native Hawaiians' cultural beliefs and to begin the spiritual healing of the island. Kūkulu Ke Ea A Kanaloa

establishes the framework in whieh the physical work of restoring the island, the intellectual study of the island's resources, and the re-establishment of Native Hawaiian ceremonies are fused into a cohesive methodology that seeks to develop and elevate Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners for Kaho'olawe. The plan reaches out to those who are passionate in their relationship to the island, those who have involved themselves in the physical labor for the

betterment of the island, or those who have participated in its Native Hawaiian cultural ceremonies. The lead author of this plan, Dr. Pualani Kanaka'ole Kanahele, provides a methodology wherein practitioners are able to follow, build upon, learn from and apply to the life of the island. The three tenets of 'Aha Ho'ohanohano (Need for ceremony and protocol), Lololo (Intellect) and Hana Kaulike (Justified Labor) form the core of the plan's methodology. In relationship to the KIRC's own restoration and environmental protection programs, Kūkulu Ke EaA Kanaloa is the glue that binds all facets of our current work and connects our programs, through culture, to the future of Kaho'olawe. The KIRC, by statute, serves as the temporary caretaker of the island until such time a sovereign Native Hawaiian entity is recognized. We, at the KIRC, are at the forefront of transforming the way we perform our work to follow a culturally evolutionary path that will eventually lead to a greater future for Kaho'olawe and the future sovereign entity. ■

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