Big Island map work lays open vast areas

By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

It's getting harder to hide in even the most secluded areas of the Big Island, and a computer mapping project is going to make it even harder.

The Hawai'i Forestry & Community Initiatives secured a $30,000 federal grant for the project and is using volunteers and the satellite global positioning system to spot homes along the Hamakua Coast.

The high-tech mapping effort is about to go islandwide, reaching into lower Puna and Ka'u, where housing often is developed without public water and power service and doesn't show up on government tax records or maps.

Big Island Mayor Harry Kim, former head of the county civil defense office, recalled researching county records years ago to learn who lived in areas that might be affected by lava flows, fires or other emergencies.

"We found out very, very fast that in some places even the majority of homes were not registered," Kim said. "People did not get a building permit."

While the area's underground image may persist, Puna community activist Jon Olson said the reality has been changing in recent years as Puna's population doubled to 31,300 in the '90s, according to the census.

The mapping project grew in part out of concerns about the risk of fires on former sugar lands. So far, about 600,000 acres along the northeast coast of the island have been plotted, and 668 homes located outside well-mapped urban areas.

Olson and others said they expect most people in isolated areas of the island will be happy to participate in the mapping project because they understand the need for it, but they also expect to hear a few objections.

"There's going to be a few people who say it's none of your damn business and stay off my lot and leave me alone," Olson said, "but experience shows it's a pretty small group."