OPINION
Kaho'olawe isn't yet ready for prime time
With 45-mph winds whipping up red dirt and kiawe scrub, it's hard to imagine Kaho'olawe as a forested sanctuary. After more than a century of cattle grazing followed by 50 years of Navy bombing, this seared, uninhabited island won't be verdant for at least 200 years.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Advertiser
But it will heal, one plant at a time. And if you think about it, there's really no rush.
Kalei Tsuha, cultural coordinator for the Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Commission, hopes to see the island grow green in her lifetime.
"It doesn't look like much now. But I hope before I die I see the beginnings of a forest," says Kalei Tsuha, culture and education coordinator for the Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Commission, a state agency created to oversee the island six miles southwest of Maui.
Yesterday, the Navy officially returned control of Kaho'olawe to the state. Today, a celebration to mark this momentous milestone takes place at 'Iolani Palace.
And no doubt there are all sorts of expectations for the island that has become a blank slate upon which entrepreneurs and visionaries can project their fantasies. Sure, there are folks who see Kaho'olawe as the perfect setting for a prison, casino or resort. But we frankly believe Kaho'olawe deserves better after all it's been through.
Access still limited
Thankfully the state has designated the 45-square-mile island as a natural and cultural reserve. For a while, at least, access will be strictly limited.
Eventually, there'll be trails, campsites, education and cultural centers. Plus, there's talk of building a floating pier to give better and less expensive access by water.
And why not open it to the public, within limits? Kaho'olawe has enormous potential as a learning hub for youths interested in botany, archaeology, astronomy, geology, Hawaiian culture and history and more. In the meantime, the restoration of the island could become the focal effort of a youth conservation corps.
If a sovereign Hawaiian government is ever created, it presumably would determine the fate of Kaho'olawe. Whoever ends up in charge, we hope the island is exploited for educational purposes rather than for profit.
In ancient times, the channel between Kaho'olawe and Lana'i was known as the pathway to Tahiti. It was from there that voyaging canoes left on their perilous journeys to the South Pacific. Kaho'olawe even housed a school for learning to navigate by the stars.
After World War II, the island was turned over to the Navy, which used it for training activities, live-fire naval shelling, practice bombing runs and combined air, sea and amphibious operations.
During the 1970s, protesters occupied the island, and the Protect Kaho'olawe 'Ohana was formed. In 1990, the senior President Bush ordered a halt to the bombing and the gradual transition to local control.
A 1994 memorandum of understanding between the Navy and the state called for 100 percent surface clearance and 30 percent subsurface clearance.
Today, unexploded bombs remain a hazard. At least one-quarter of the island has not been cleared. And while it is the Navy's perpetual responsibility to remove unexploded ordnance, the commission is now in charge of tracking it down. That's no easy task. It's hard to use metal detectors because there's so much iron in the soil.
More money needed
As for money, some $30 million is left from the $460 million Congress appropriated for the cleanup. That's the trust fund. The commission will be looking for more money to meet its goals, including state and federal grants. We imagine the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, which was created to support the perpetuation of native culture, among other things, could chip in.
Meanwhile, the U.S. government has committed at least $87 billion in military cleanup and rebuilding aid for Iraq and Afghanistan. Surely, it can commit a few million dollars more for the Kaho'olawe cleanup, which is, after all, on home turf.
For now, members of the Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Commission ask us to be patient and allow the island to recover at its own pace. After everything it's been through, it deserves a long and restful rehabilitation.
