Posted on: Friday, January 17, 2003

Parched trees will get water

By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Staff Writer

Rear Adm. Robert T. Conway has come to the rescue of 40 mature trees at the former Barbers Point Naval Air Station that were nearly dead from lack of watering since the base shut down almost four years ago.

The condition of the 60- to 80-year-old trees got The Outdoor Circle involved and prompted concerned residents to send The Advertiser letters to the editor in recent weeks. The Circle said appeals to the Navy, city and state dating back 18 months had gone unsatisfied until recently.

The Navy said it had neither the manpower nor the money to maintain the trees and surrounding area once the base closed.

But after a meeting this month with the Navy, The Outdoor Circle enlisted the support of U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye and a solution was found, said Mary Steiner, the Circle's chief executive officer.

"Sen. Inouye's office intervened on behalf of the trees and worked out an agreement with the Navy," Steiner said.

Inouye's office said the Commander, Navy Region Hawai'i, arranged an interim solution after the Jan. 7 meeting.

Conway will have firefighting crews water the trees as part of their training, said Alexis Lum, Inouye's executive assistant. As such, there will be no cost for the water use, Lum said in a letter to Steiner.

Conway devised a unique solution, asking the fire chief to conduct "live fire hose drills" in the vicinity of the trees, said Agnes Tauyan, Navy Region Hawai'i spokeswoman.

"So this is a win-win because we can water the trees, conduct training and not have to use additional taxpayers' dollars," she said.

The monkeypod and tulip trees and royal palms are clustered on two blocks in the area of Philippine Sea Drive of the former base, providing shade and an atmosphere of stately elegance and calm.

The Navy is in the process of turning the property over to a developer.

Jackie Ralya, a horticulturist, said she first noticed the drought-stressed trees about six months ago.

Upon closer inspection, Ralya said she discovered four dead monkeypod trees of the 32 there. Six more are on their last leg, she said.

"That's a real crime because it takes so long for a tree to mature and become majestic," she said, adding that she called the Navy but no one responded.

Steiner said The Outdoor Circle started receiving complaints about the dying trees about a year and a half ago. At that time she said she had appealed to the state, the city and the Navy, but no one would care for the trees.

After a November news report about the condition of the trees, the Navy agreed to meet with The Outdoor Circle and after several postponements was finally able to set the Jan. 7 meeting, she said.

The meeting with a Navy Public Works official was unsatisfactory, said Steiner. The Navy agreed to allow The Outdoor Circle access to the trees and would place a water meter on a fire hydrant so volunteers could water the trees, she said.

But even if the Circle could afford the water, putting together a group of volunteers to water the trees would take a month, said Steiner. The Navy refused to water the trees in the meantime until volunteers could be organized, she said.

"The trees would have probably died by the time we got everybody working on it," Steiner said, adding that she sent out appeals to Hawai'i's congressional delegates.

"Our thanks to Sen. Inouye and concerned residents who wrote letters to the editor to put pressure on the appropriate parties to obtain assistance for the trees," she said.

Steiner said that if the trees are watered immediately, most of them should survive, although bugs have invaded some of the trees, causing further damage.

"We'll continue to work to get those trees healthy," she said. "And we'll work with the new developer."

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.