Fate of Sacred Falls park hinges on risk study
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer
KALUANUI — Camping, picnicking and hiking are among the alternatives being considered for Sacred Falls, a 1,376-acre park that was closed after a 1999 Mother's Day landslide that killed eight people and injured 50 others.
• What: Kaluanui State Park information meeting • When: 6 p.m. Wednesday • Where: Queen Lili'uokalani Children's Center, 53-516 Kamehameha Highway, Punalu'u.
As planning for the possible reopening of parts of the area proceeds, the state also is looking for a way to allow visitors to view the falls without going into the rockfall zone, said Lauren Tanaka, state park planner. Officials went up by helicopter but saw no easy access, Tanaka said.
Public meeting
"But we haven't really closed that door yet," she said.
Community residents have said they would like the state to open the park, and the state and the Kaluanui Advisory Group, established in 2001, have been working to develop a comprehensive plan for the area, now called Kaluanui State Park.
The park is located in the Kaluanui Ahupua'a, which is between Punalu'u and Hau'ula.
What is ultimately decided will depend on a risk assessment that is under way, Tanaka said.
"We don't even know if we're going to be opening the park again or at what point in time," she said.
In the meantime the state is working to complete a master plan based on the assessment and taking into consideration residents' wishes.
Three possible levels of park use — active, moderately active and passive — will be discussed at a community meeting next week.
The active park would have a manned visitor center, picnicking in the valley bowl and near the entrance, wilderness camping, walking trails that cross the stream and 55 spaces for parking in the current lot, Tanaka said.
A moderately active park would have the same thing except no camping and an information kiosk instead of a visitor center.
The passive park would have picnic and stream trails but no bridging the stream. It also would have a kiosk and parking, Tanaka said.
The state also is considering making the upper portions of the falls a Natural Area Reserve, which has greater restrictions to protect the natural environment.
Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.
