Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 28, Number 9, 1 September 2011 — Bringing pono to Wao Kele o Puna [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Bringing pono to Wao Kele o Puna

TJi? liinlMM ^

p—<Xty/n'a< the dominant native tree at Wao Kele o Puna, is often the first plant life to establish itself on new lava flows, u in a few years. 'Ohia ean be found from near sea level up to approximately 8,000 feet on Hawai'i lsland, an extraordinary trait Widely considered the mother of native forests, it is used for lei, as posts for hale and to carve ki'i,

By Kekoa Enomoto ao Kele o Puna, meaning "upland forest of Puna," is the name of nearly 26,000 acres of pristine volcanic rain forest in southeast Hawai'i Island. This year Wao Kele o Puna marks the fifth anniversary of having been acquired by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs as well as of being managed under a memorandum of agreement between two state agencies: the Department of Land and Natural Resources and OHA. Wao Kele o Puna lies in the Puna district, the easternmost area of Hawai'i, where the rising sun first touches the archipelago, at Kumukahi. Puna is also home to the volcano deity, Pelehonuamea, and is where Hi'iakaikapoliopele first performed hula on the shores of Hā'ena. "Not only is Wao Kele o Puna one of the largest intact tracts of lowland rain forest in Hawai'i, but also it contains so mueh that we all hold dear - endangered plants, iwi (bones) and archaeological sites that contain very rare ecosystems," OHA Land Manager Miranda Smith said. Expounding on the goal for the rain forest, Smith said, "Success at Wao Kele o Puna means that we have created a sustainable land base to preserve and enhanee the sacred sites for cultural practices and have protected its natural resources." The memorandum of agreement, or MOA, goveming Wao Kele o Puna is an unprecedented document, under whieh

DLNR shares its land-management experience while OHA lends its cultural mana'o. Such sharing of knowledge has been done at the national park level but never at the state level, according to DLNR's Julie Leialoha. Leialoha serves as Wao Kele o Puna Forest Reserve Coordinator tasked with ensuring eomplianee with the MOA and the standards of OHA. Officials said the three most important aspects of the MOA are cooperation between DLNR - with its priority for land, and OHA - with its priority to better the conditions of Native Hawaiians; establishment of a timeline for action; and a sense of pono in allowing for puhlie access. The MOA sets out objectives, several of whieh have already been completed according to the hmeline. For those too young to remember, geothermal was onee a flash point for the area as recently as the 1990s. Over several decades, "Native Hawaiians, area residents and environmentalists fought for the rain forest's protection in protests at the geothermal development site, through legal action in the courts and finally by working eollaboratively with other partners to acquire the property in preservation," according to a Ka Wai Ola article from 2007, when a large group of leaders gathered there for a ceremony of healing and hope, including U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, then-U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, then-Gov. Linda Lingle, OHA Trustees, and anti-geothermal leaders Palikapu Dedman of the Pele Defense Fund and Pualani Kanahele.

Since the historic eomi sides for the eommon goal rain forest in perpetuity, been reached: the geotheri plugged and the area's gei designation is in the p removed. Both actions w. importance to the eommi OHA. In addition, OHA and ing with the community t prehensive management p "We want to engage cc discussion," Smith said, process for developing a r "So we have started in P with community memhei leana families that live ai area, and kūpuna. We wil there." In addition to seeking fi support the management \ o Puna, Smith said OHA : to generate revenue to n Puna self-sufficient. Reve site would be reinvested ment of the rain forest. It' what form that might take ity is providing visitors tl buy so-called carbon crec carbon footprints. Leialoha, of DLNR, see land to act as a classroom "We want to utilize Wa a training area for Hawai them how to manage thei species are there and how

> I la/ 'a< or hanana, seen at Wao Kele o Puna during a recent vegetation survey on a 1977 a'ā lava flow,

[?]

ng together of all of preserving the milestones have nal well has been )thermal subzone rocess of being 5re of paramount inity, DLNR and DLNR are work3 develop a eomlan. mmunities in the referring to the aanagement plan. una to hold talks s, traditional kuid practice in the branch out from mding sources to vork of Wao Kele s exploring ways ake Wao Kele o nue generated on into the manages too early to say but one possibilīe opportunity to lits to offset their s potential for the for youth. o Kele o Puna as lan kids, to teach r own land, what to manage them,"

she said. "We want to be able to keep the younger generation at home and working in the field and supporting families by managing their own lands." Another goal is to build a field base of operations within a year, she added. Former OHA Land Specialist Cheyenne Hiapo Perry cited Wao Kele o Puna's "beautiful plantings" of mai'a (hanana), maile, various types of 'awa and ferns, and olonā, whose bark ancient Hawaiians prized for net making and as a base for feather capes. "It is a wahi pana (legendary plaee) in the sense that it reflects the heart, or pulse, of movements there," he said. Nevertheless, the beauty of the forest is impacted by some 5,000 acres of invasive strawberry guava, or waiwl. As such, part of the management kuleana involves eradication work on invasive species. Professor Davianna McGregor of the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa - a kāko'o, or supporter, of the Pele Defense Fund, said the management plan needs to recognize the cultural resources in Wao Kele o Puna, such as familial burials in the underground Thurston Lava Tube that "traverses the entire forest from Pāhoa to the national park. Different families in the Puna district enter that lava tube and have burials at various points, so it's a very sacred cultural resource." She added: "Families from the (dry) Kalapana area . . . have plots of taro cleared in the forest where the rain belt is. Aunty Pua Kanaka'ole Kanahele says Wao Kele o Puna . . . is where rain falls in Puna and

replenishes the underground water table, the wellspring of the island because it gets all the fresh rain from the northeast. It falls at Puna, percolates through the lava and replenishes the large aquifer." McGregor added that not only is Wao Kele o Puna the largest expanse of tropical rain forest in the United States, but also a volcanic rain forest and, therefore, a microcosm of evolution - "How the earth itself evolves, how land comes back to life from fresh lava; all the different insects, plants and fauna that eome back to life," she said. "You ean understand how land and life evolve in this rain forest. It's a unique scientific opportunity as well." Kamoa Quitevis, OHA's Land, Culture and History Lead Research Analyst, noted that at Wao Kele o Puna, one may benefit from diversity and reciprocity. "One of the aspects of greatest import of this huge pieee of 'āina, really, is the social issues that surround it," said Quitevis. "We need to learn how to work through the social issues. Diversity ean be one of our strengths; it doesn't need to be something to divide. How ean we eome together to manage resources, such as the cultural, environmental and spiritual resources? Diversity ean define us as we move forward." OHA will consider the diverse voices, traditions and mana'o of the Hawaiian community when creating a pono management plan to mālama 'āina, or protect the land and its resources, said Quitevis.

One's relationship with Wao Kele o Puna is a reciprocal exchange of mana, he said, adding, "Knowing that when we are giving mana to the 'āina, it gives mana back to us." Quitevis cited a prediction model for O'ahu comparing the impacts made on the island during pre-contact and modern times. Overall, the model showed that ancient Hawaiians impacted 0'ahu's environment 18 percent, compared to 88 percent today. The model considered the total populations of the islands during the respective eras, pegging themat 800,000 during pre-contact times and l-million-plus today. "The prediction model gave me pause to really realize what Hawai'i is doing now is not working," Quitevis said. "Ourreciprocal relationship with the 'āina provides our foundation as a people." As OHA marks the fifth anniversary of acquiring and collaboratively managing a unique lowland rain forest, Wao Kele o Puna may serve as the wellspring for a sustainable lāhui, or sovereign Native Hawaiian governing entity. As Smith, of OHA, says, "Wao Kele o Puna is a true plaee, where we cannot attain sustainability without thinking of the natural and cultural resources, the sacred sites and the eeonomie opportunities - that's the spirit behind it as we develop our vision." ■ Kekoa Enomolo is a retired copy editor and Staff Writer with The Maui News and former Honolulu Star-Bulletin

3ually with in the plant world.

are Gommonly seen in Wao Kele o Puna. This oasis of forest has survived a lava flow and will serve to regenerate new life in the surrounding area.

[?]