By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser KauaÎi Bureau
LIHU‘E, Kaua‘i — A vast swatch of old sugarcane land and forested gullies, formerly leased to Lihu‘e Plantation, will be farmed and ranched by 13 individuals and families under a plan approved by the state Board of Land and Natural Resources.
Some folks, including a group of pig hunters who had hoped to convert the uppermost 1,000 acres into hunting land, are unhappy with the process.
But land board officials say they strictly followed state procedures in their attempt to get people onto the land as soon as the plantation gave it up. And while they have heard some complaints, they note that none of those opposing the process submitted applications for use of the land. The plan was approved last week.
The 13 people who now have month-to-month permits to use the land were the first to submit complete, qualified applications. They are working together as a cooperative to resolve state issues regarding access, water, fencing and other concerns.
Hunters Larry Saito of Wailua Homesteads and Jeffrey Bryant of Waimea, both members of the Kaua‘i Hunting Association, said the state’s management scheme for the 6,500 acres blocks traditional hunting access to mauka lands.
"The state seems really not on the ball about public access," Bryant said.
The state’s deputy land agent for Kaua‘i, Michael Laureta, said those lands have been under plantation control for decades, and there has been no public right-of-access through them.
He said the Department of Land and Natural Resources is discussing with the state Department of Transportation and the Division of Forestry and Wildlife the requirements for access that might be met. One concern is that if a tsunami or other problem closes the Wailua River bridges, the only access to the east and north sides of the island would be through dirt roads on the former cane lands.
"Even then, in high water, they’re not passable" because stream crossings are not bridges, but low culvert crossings that flood, Laureta said.
Saito said the uppermost portion of the 6,500 acres borders state land and should be used to expand the island’s shrinking supply of hunting lands. The area offers good pig hunting, he said.
Laureta said hunters were provided with applications to qualify for state leases, but never submitted them. Even so, it is questionable whether a hunting reserve is a qualified use of this state agriculture-zoned land, he said.
Agency lacks resources
Ed Petteys, who manages state hunting lands on Kaua‘i as head of the Division of Forestry and Wild-
life, said he has not asked for the land because budget cuts have limited his agency’s ability to manage additional properties.
"We’re going flat out right now," he said.
Petteys also questioned the area’s appropriateness for hunting with rifles, since it is a short distance across a narrow Wailua River valley to the Wailua Homesteads residential area. Houses are visible from the upper portion of the land.
But Laureta said the land department has included provisions to include portions of the upper land in state hunting lands — withdrawing them from pasture leases — in the event state hunting lands are reduced in size by the withdrawal of hunting lands for critical habitat for endangered species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, under a federal court order, has proposed setting aside more than 66,000 acres on Kaua‘i for critical habitat for endangered plants. Most of that land is state forest land where hunting is allowed.
The 6,500 acres of former cane land form a chunk that is roughly rectangular, with the Kalepa Mountain Range to the east, the forest reserve below Mount Wai‘ale‘ale to the west, the Wailua River to the north and Amfac-owned lands to the south. The southern Amfac boundary forms a straight line from the southern third of the Kalepa Range toward Mount Kawaikini.
While the entire acreage would be leased, roughly half the land is unuseable gulleys and streams. Laureta said users would need to fence off those portions to prevent cattle from entering them, and would need to prepare archaeological surveys before being allowed to use any such lands.
Future use discussed
Kaua‘i state land agent Sam Lee said the state’s discussions with potential users of the Lihu‘e Plantation mauka lands started late last year at a well-attended public meeting called by the Kaua‘i Farm Bureau. More than 100 people, many of them farmers and ranchers, attended.
Laureta said those who submitted their qualifications, indicating both an interest and experience or education in agriculture or ranching, were allowed to participate in discussions about the future of the land. The discussions followed the pattern the state established for its former sugar lands at Kekaha, where another Amfac plantation, Kekaha Sugar Co., also gave up thousands of acres of former state land.
At a meeting on Monday, the Board of Land and Natural Resources approved the issuance of revocable permits to the 13.
The members of the coalition are Godwin Esaki, who plans to grow bananas; Lara Butler, for cattle and horseback riding; GE Farms, a general partnership, cattle pasture; Leslie Milnes, cattle pasture and horses; Rodolfo and Aurora Bunao, intensive agriculture; Elesther Calipjo, cattle pasture and truck farming; Michael J. Fernandes, cattle pasture; William and Alison Sanchez, cattle pasture; Saiva Siddhanta Church, pasture, truck farming and forestry; Manuel Andrade Sr., cattle pasture; Gerald Sanchez, cattle pasture; Kenneth Bray, cultural uses, cattle pasture and truck crops; and Robert Ferreira, cattle pasture.
A few small pieces are being made available to various government agencies.
No water guarantee
Laureta said the users are aware there is no guarantee of water being available. The old plantation irrigation system does not flow directly onto most of the 6,500 acres, but runs from state land onto Amfac-owned former sugar land and then onto the state agricultural land in question.
"A collective effort by the group would be needed to address the irrigation water issue," the land board staff report said. If the old irrigation system is not made available, the group may have to drill wells or haul water.
The group, which calls itself the Kalepa Koalition, after the name of the neighboring mountain range, has no guarantee of its access to long-term leases, but plans to apply for them. Laureta said that while public auction of leases of state land is the standard, there are conditions under which direct negotiation with potential lessees is permitted. Among those parcels that could allow direction negotiation instead of public auction are properties on which agricultural processing occurs.
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