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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, July 7, 2003

Paid tours returning to Manoa Falls

By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer

More than two years after the Manoa Falls Trail was closed to commercial hiking tours, the state is ready to allow limited access to small groups with paying customers to visit the popular 100-foot waterfall.

Despite a warning sign, the pond at the bottom of the Manoa Falls waterfall attracts many people. An official says 50 to 100 people use the trail on an average weekday.

Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

Peter Young, director of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, told the Manoa Neighborhood Board last week about the plans and said he will give a more in-depth presentation as plans are finalized.

"We believe that commercial operations under certain circumstances will not have a negative impact," Young said.

All commercial permits in Manoa were revoked in February 2001 because the state could not enforce its regulations to keep out illegal tour operators and the trail began suffering from overuse.

Young said the state's priority list for natural areas is first to protect the resource, followed by allowing access for the general public and, finally, for commercial operators.

The state continues to allow commercial groups to use six of O'ahu's public hiking trails. The operators pay the state $5 per person to use the trails, and the number of groups per day is limited.

Young said he has met with several small tour groups interested in using the Manoa trail and the tentative plan is to allow four or five groups into the area on non-holiday weekdays with a maximum of 12 people per group.

Curt Cottrell, manager of the DLNR's Na Ala Hele trails program, said 50 to 100 people use the trail on an average weekday and up to 200 people a day on weekends.

Cottrell said the trail is popular because it is one of the few waterfalls accessible to the public. Sacred Falls State Park was closed after a 1999 rockslide killed eight people, and since then activity at Manoa Falls has increased, he said.

Young said the state's efforts to lure tourists to enjoy the state's natural beauty must be weighed against preserving the environment and resources enjoyed by visitors and Hawai'i residents.

"Manoa Falls Trail is close to the urban core and the concentration of visitors in Waikiki, and it is a wilderness experience as well as a waterfall," Young said. "It gets people out into nature minutes away from their hotel room. People want to see a waterfall and the rainforest."

Kyle Ono, of Aloha Aina Eco-Tours, said he plans to use the trail once it is reopened but worries that the state will not be able to stop illegal operators and the trail will be closed again.

"Illegals don't have permits and they will put 20 to 30 people on to one guide," Ono said. "They don't offer quality tours, which hurts Hawai'i's reputation. Some make up stuff along the way and pose as nonprofits."

From left, Karen Clarke, Shakati Folger, Kari Clarke, Ken Clarke and Anna Mallon take in the beauty of Manoa Falls.

Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

A typical half-day narrated hiking tour with a knowledgeable guide runs about $40, Ono said, and he doesn't mind paying the $5 per person fee if the money is used to protect and improve the trail system.

Cottrell said the money collected from commercial groups will likely be used to pay for enforcement officers on the trail and to provide public restrooms and parking at the trail head.

"There are still outlaw renegade commercial operators that go up there," Cottrell said. "We want to re-establish regulated guys to finance better management up there, including the elimination of the illegals."

The state developed rules for commercial use of trails in 1998 and began enforcing them the next year, Cottrell said. There were 13 operators the first year and now there are 27 statewide. The program collected $57,000 in fees last year. Twenty percent is given to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs for use of ceded lands, and $15,000 to $20,000 a year is spent on managing the system.

"We are not making a lot of money but are making something that is being put back into trails," Cottrell said.

Jeff Mikulina, Sierra Club Hawai'i Chapter director, said the group supports better management of the trail system but he is opposed to the increased commercialization of sensitive environmental areas.

"This action portends something greater that the administration is moving toward," Mikulina said. "It makes some folks in the environmental community nervous. Putting a price tag on resources and making it available for commercial use when a lot of these areas are very important culturally or biologically will definitely get some scrutiny from the Sierra Club."

Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.