Posted on: Tuesday, July 8, 2003

Hanalei project to enhance refuge view

By Christie Wilson
Advertiser Neighbor Island Editor

An estimated half-million visitors annually stop to take in the view at the Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge on Kaua'i's north shore.

The 917-acre refuge in picturesque Hanalei Valley provides habitat for endangered Hawaiian waterbirds and is where farmers continue the centuries-old practice of growing taro.

To get a good look, motorists must pull into the Hanalei Valley Overlook off Kuhio Highway, across from the Princeville Shopping Center, where there's room for only about a half-dozen vehicles, and where backing out into traffic can be tricky.

Federal and state highway agencies are working with the refuge to provide a new scenic stop about a half-mile up the road, with parking, a bookstore, public restrooms, new lookouts and pavilion for educational programs and exhibits.

So far, the project, estimated at $3 million to $4 million, has received money for only planning and design. Construction money has not been identified, said Scott Ishikawa, state Department of Transportation spokes-man. The state and the Federal Highways Administration are expected to provide additional money, with construction tentatively set for 2005, he said.

Meetings to collect public comments on the project were held in 2000, and smaller group meetings were held the next year with county officials, business groups and community associations.

The six-acre site is being donated by Princeville Corp., and will be owned and operated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service when complete.

Three acres will be developed into a 60-stall parking lot and a visitor information center that would welcome tourists and school groups. The center will include a bookstore whose profits will be used to operate and maintain the facility.

"It's a high-use area. (The visitor center) will provide a real chance to get the environmental message across to the half-million visitors a year who stop there," said refuge manager Mike Hawkes.

He said the new lookouts will offer a more panoramic view of the valley and its waterfall-draped mountains than the existing stop provides. The view also will encompass Hanalei Bay.

Plus, it will be safer than the current overlook. "It's kind of dangerous, especially with the buses backing out onto the highway," Hawkes said.

Princeville Corp. used the six-acre site as a nursery until the early 1990s. The area is vacant and overgrown, with no historic properties or endangered plants, according to a notice from the state Office of Environmental Quality Control. An environmental assessment has determined there would be no significant impact.

Forty-nine species of birds use the Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge, including the Hawaiian stilt (ae'o), coot ('alae ke'oke'o), moorhen ('alae 'ula) and duck (koloa).