By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
VOLCANO, Hawai‘i — A proposal to add historic Kahuku Ranch to Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park will include a series of public meetings starting today.
The addition of the 117,000-acre ranch, appraised at about $35 million, would increase the size of the park by more than half. The decision to seek the parcel came after its longtime owner, the Damon Estate, put the land up for sale last year.
Although Kahuku Ranch is several miles south of the main park center in Volcano, it connects to the Mauna Loa section of the park that extends mauka to near the summit of the active volcano.
Volcanoes National Park Superintendent Jim Martin called the ranch property "a land of opportunity" and said the park service first viewed the site as "a nationally significant resource" 56 years ago.
Opponents have characterized the proposed acquisition as a federal "land grab" that could harm future ranching on the island as well as game hunting. There also are concerns about fire risk — based on management of national parks on the Mainland that created runaway fires last summer — and loss of county tax revenue. And opponents such as Gordon Cran, who runs Kapapala Ranch, sandwiched between the national park and Kahuku Ranch lands, are disturbed by the idea of expanding federal control of the Big Island.
"The property preserves outstanding, world-class geological, biological and cultural resources unique to Hawai‘i," Martin said.
Although Congress has authorized the National Park Service to pursue the purchase, money has not yet been provided. Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, founded in 1916, comprises 217,000 acres.
Public meetings on the proposal will be held at 6 p.m. today in Hilo Medical Center conference rooms, Tuesday at the Na‘alehu Community Center in Ka‘u and Wednesday at the Yano Memorial Hall in Captain Cook in South Kona. Written testimony may be sent to: P.O. Box 52, Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park HI 96718.
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