State to ask for Hamakua wetland study
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer
KAILUA — There is a movement under way to improve the wetland habitat of Hamakua Marsh and surrounding ecosystems.
The state will resubmit a request to the Army Corps of Engineers for a feasibility study, the first step in the process to improve the Windward habitat. Most of the cost of the project, if it comes to pass, would be paid by the federal government.
Improvements to Hamakua Marsh could result in benefits to surrounding ecosystems including Kawainui Marsh, the Oneawa Canal running along the flood-control levee in Kawainui Marsh, and waterways beyond the two wetlands, said David Smith, O'ahu wildlife manager for the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
"This project will have a fairly narrow focus but will have broader-reaching benefits," Smith said.
Benefits include water quality improvement, educational possibilities and recreation options, Smith said.
The two marshes are connected to each other by the Oneawa Canal.
Smith and officials from the city and federal government met with state Sen. Bob Hogue last week to discuss the feasibility of allowing water to flow through the Kawainui Marsh levee to improve the circulation in Kailua streams, including the Oneawa Canal. The decision was reached to restart the Hamakua study with the intent of looking into improving its water so the bird habitat could be expanded.
Hogue, R-24th (Kailua, Kane'ohe), who called the meeting to address water quality issues, said he was satisfied with the decision to move ahead with the request to improve Hamakua.
Studies show that that Kailua waters lack oxygen because of the poor circulation, Hogue said. Historically, Kailua had year-round flowing streams but that's not the case anymore, he said. "The levee has cut that off and we want to find a way to return it to the way it was while still making the community around it safe."
The proposed work falls under the Corps Environmental Restoration authority because it is adjacent to the Kawainui Flood Control Project and was affected when the levee was modified in 1997 to protect the Coconut Grove subdivision. The Army corps was the lead agency in the levee project.
The state had submitted a request for a Hamakua study in 1996 but that was declined because a study for Kawainui Marsh was under way and there was no money for the study, said Paul Mizue, chief of the civil and public works branch of the Army corps.
Mizue said the corps would not condone breaching the levee and would probably consider pumping water over it to let it flow in the canal and through Hamakua.
The state has not been idle in Hamakua, which has undergone considerable improvements in the past 10 years, including clearing vegetation and creating a bird sanctuary. Schoolchildren have been involved there and have created a Web site about the marsh at kalaheocomplex.k12.hi.us/hamakua.
Once the project is completed, someone must maintain it — but at this point, the ownership of the area is split between the city and the state. For the past 13 years, the city has been in the process of turning Kawainui Marsh over to the state.
The city would keep jurisdiction over the canal and levee for now, but that is an issue that must be addressed, people at the meeting agreed.
The Army corps can spend up to $5 million for a project and the sponsoring agency would pick up 25 percent of the cost.
Kathy Bryant-Hunter, Kailua Neighborhood Board chairwoman, said the board will continue to encourage the city to turn Kawainui Marsh over to the state and will make sure any project doesn't compromise flood control. "Our role as a board is to balance the flood control needs and the ecological needs," Bryant-Hunter said.
Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com. or 234-5266.
