Posted on: Friday, April 27, 2001

Eco-tourism demand rises

By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer

The closing of Sacred Falls after a deadly rockslide in 1999 and closing of Manoa Falls Trail this year to commercial guides because of heavy use has not stopped the flow of visitors to Hawai'i seeking a "real experience."

"Instead of sipping mai tais with umbrellas in them in Waikiki," says state trails chief Curt Cottrell, "they're saying, 'Show us a waterfall.'"

As a result, one guide who cannot take tours on Manoa Falls Trail is now offering his waterfall experience on private land whose location he jealously guards.

He and other guides are attempting to negotiate with other private landowners to try to provide paying guests with a quiet moment in the wild.

Meanwhile, the private guides who have been banned from Manoa Falls Trail continue to rail at the "nonprofit" tour operators whom they say are still using Manoa.

Legislation to provide penalties for illegal trail use has passed this year and is awaiting Gov. Ben Cayetano's signature, Cottrell said.

But the state will spend some time figuring out how to enforce the new law, for fear of falling afoul of First Amendment issues like those raised by non-profit organizations who brought T-shirt sales to the sidewalks of Waikiki, the slopes of Diamond Head and the shores of Hanauma Bay.

"The bottom line," Cottrell said, "is the State of Hawai'i needs to develop a policy on how to address eco-tourism."

Hawai'i could well follow the examples of New Zealand and Costa Rica, which have organized access to the outback to protect the resource, serve local residents, and provide an attractive experience for visitors, Cottrell said.

Private guide John Alford of Ohana Adventure Tours Hawai'i said he intends to keep his new piece of paradise secret.

"I wasn't planning on starting up on private property; I was happy using Manoa Falls, but there was just too much use of it," Alford said. "I arrived one day with a party of four and in the background I heard what sounded like a crowded shopping mall. We came around the corner, and there was a guy leading a pack of 30 to 40 people."

Alford said he did not think the numbers of visitors to public trails have damaged them yet, "but they certainly have degraded the experience."

Cottrell said he welcomes the private guides' negotiated entry into private lands as a way to take ease the burden on public trails and make more of Hawai'i's most scenic sites accessible.

If Hawai'i's trails are to broaden the visitor experience here, though, their use must be both regulated and supported, by public and private interests, Cottrell said.