Kaua'i farmers fear loss of lo'i
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau
HANALEI, Kaua'i — Native ducks flutter out of the ditches along the Hanalei taro fields, quacking as they level off over the green lo'i.
Jan TenBruggencate • The Honolulu Advertiser
Stately Hawaiian stilts, black and white bodies balanced on long pink legs, chirp an alarm when humans approach. They create a wake in the muddy water as they walk, feeding among newly planted taro stalks.
Farmers replant a field in the Hanalei National Wildfire Refuge. When the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service bought 917 acres in Hanalei Valley for a bird refuge in 1972, the agency said it had no plans to supplant taro.
This rich array of wetland wildlife is the reason the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service bought 917 acres of central Hanalei Valley for a bird refuge in 1972. At the time, the agency assured North Shore farmers using 120 of those acres that it had no plans to supplant taro.
Hanalei Valley, including refuge lands and private lands, represents the largest taro-growing region in the state. It's also one of the most photographed scenes in Hawai'i: the patchwork of taro fields in various stages of development, viewed from the Princeville bluff.
However, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service believes its permanent open-pond system is better habitat for Hawai'i's endangered waterbirds than the taro fields that have supported them for centuries — and that worries taro farmers.
Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge manager Tom Alexander said he is convinced the agency's 80 acres of specially designed ponds provide optimum habitat for the endangered birds of the refuge: the ae'o (Hawaiian stilt), 'alae ke'oke'o (Hawaiian coot), 'alae 'ula (Hawaiian gallinule or mudhen), and koloa (Hawaiian duck).
Others don't want to mess with a system that works.
"Taro lo'i has been successful habitat for the native birds for 1,000 years that we know about," said Makaala Kaaumoana of the Hanalei Heritage River Hui.
Jan TenBruggencate • The Honolulu Advertiser
Alexander said his agency is tapping various sources to put together a study on the specific requirements for native wetland birds that are met by various habitats and "how we can manipulate" the environment to improve it.
Hanalei Valley, including refuge lands and private lands, represents the largest taro-growing region in the state.
Members of the community who are part of the Hanalei Heritage River Hui want taro acreage within the refuge expanded.
Contributing to the conflict are taro farmers' feelings about Alexander. Kaaumoana lauded him for being active in the community, but people who know Alexander say he can be very blunt.
For example, if a farmer disturbs a nest during harvesting, watch out.
"It's in the plan," Alexander said. "If there's a nest, they have to leave plants around it ... We've always told them, if you don't like it, you can go somewhere else."
Alexander said he comes from a farming family and understands farmers' concerns. If they are able to live within the Fish and Wildlife Service's requirements, they should have no problems, he said.
"The ponds are better habitat, but I cannot imagine a time when we would not be working with taro farmers," said Alexander.
But some cite the Hule'ia National Wildlife Refuge in the Lihu'e district, where there is no taro cultivation. A farmer who was reared in the area had leased fields from the refuge and restored them. But he was evicted after using heavy equipment to reopen a historic ditch, or 'auwai, to provide water to his taro.
"Once my uncle got his lo'i open, the birds started coming around. You could see them all the time in the lo'i right next to you," said James Itamura, spokesman for the family. With the farmer gone, the weeds came back.
Alexander concedes that weeds are not good waterbird habitat. He said he would prefer to move cautiously in any future activity on the Hule'ia refuge to avoid further problems. Alexander said the Fish and Wildlife Service at this time has no money to improve the habitat there.
But others say they fear the Hule'ia scenario could be played out in Hanalei as well.
"I have heard it. Some of it is concerned with what's happening in Hule'ia," Kaaumoana said. "There's an example right in front of them. There is no taro left."
