It's one way Native Hawaiians, other residents and state officials are trying to protect the Islands' cultural resources as more tourists are drawn to them.

Curators of the Ulupo Heiau say tourists are respectful and the signs and guided tours have kept the site from being damaged.

"Right now it's not a (large enough) problem where you would want to tell them not to come," said Chuck Burrows, president of 'Ahahui Malama i ka Lokahi, one of the groups that cares for the heiau. But, "there should be limitations if the site becomes overcrowded, overused."

At public meetings this year held by the Hawai'i Tourism Authority on Moloka'i, Maui, the Big Island and O'ahu, some community members expressed a desire to prevent access to sacred Hawaiian cultural sites while others suggested identifying Hawaiian cultural sites that can be visited and those that are kapu.

The Hawaiian word kapu can mean forbidden or just "very strict rules and behaviors for a place," said Lance Foster, director of native rights, land and culture at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

At the tourism authority meetings, the comments focused on "the idea that ... there might be areas that are so sensitive or so valuable that they might need protection, and that maybe in some cases you don't even want to tell people that those things are there, that you need to keep all visitors away," said Robbie Kane, product development coordinator at the Hawai'i Tourism Authority. "It was a discussion item that perhaps this was something to look at in the future."

Kane said the responsibility to look at such issues would probably lie with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

To designate a site kapu, "I don't know what legal basis you can make, but there's plenty cultural and moral bases that you might want to look at," Foster said.

Protecting Hawaiian cultural sites is "an old issue before us" said Nalani Brun, tourism specialist for Kaua'i County.

But now, with growing interest in health and wellness tourism and cultural and historical tours that stray away from resort areas such as Waikiki, "it's a hot topic and we want to make sure we do the right thing."

Some heiau and burial sites are not safeguarded, and the attempts at protection amount to trying to keep tourists from finding out about them.

"I think there's a legitimate concern about wahipana — Hawaiian sacred places that maybe should not be openly shared or at least advertised as places to go," said Peter Apo, director of the Hawai'i Hospitality Institute.

Annette Kaohelaulii, who heads the Hawaii Ecotourism Association, said many places are inappropriate for tourists to visit.

"There's some places that if the Hawaiian community is willing to share that, then they can do that, but there's other places that the visitors don't need to know about," Kaohelaulii said.

Sites that generate concern for protection include a cemetery in Wai'anapanapa State Park on Maui, a burial site at Na Pali Coast State Park and numerous unmarked burial sites in lava tubes and caves. The state has cemented some caves closed.

"It seems word just gets out that these things are here and people go looking for them," said Martha Yent, state parks interpretive program supervisor at the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Sites such as Ulupo and other heiau are getting heavier visitation than five or 10 years ago, Yent said. "It does mean potential for greater impacts."

She said the state could establish carrying capacities for cultural sites, such as one tour group a day, and issue permits to limit visitation.

"I think it would be a good idea," Yent said. "I feel like cultural sites are very sensitive and it does need to be managed. Because these resources — they're fragile and they're irreplaceable and I think that we do need to be careful so that these sites will be there tomorrow."

Tina and Peter Muccio, who were visiting Hawai'i from Melbourne, Australia, said they were not told about heiau or sites that are kapu, but they understand the need to respect culture.

"Some places in Australia as well belong to the Aborigines and you gotta respect it," Peter Muccio said. He thinks tourists should be able to learn about the culture and be permitted to visit sites as long as they respect the culture.

Kekai Avilez, a Wai'anae resident, does not think tourists should be kept from visiting Hawaiian cultural sites.

"You'd be suffocating the people, especially those that want to learn," Avilez said. "Visitors don't know, and they're really interested."

Others complain about uninformed visitors coming to heiau and piling up rocks, called "rock lau laus," or leaving behind crystals or coins, which are not considered appropriate offerings and disrupt the site. In some cases, tour guides who don't know about heiau aren't prepared to instruct visitors how to behave.

"I don't think people mean to do harm — most of them don't," Brun said. "It happens because they don't know what they're standing on. ... These things mean everything to the Hawaiian people — it's all they have. It's their whole history. Jumping around on it wouldn't be a nice thing."

Brun contrasts it with Japanese culture. For Japanese Americans here, "no matter how much they lose it's still totally intact (in Japan)."

But with Hawaiian culture, "It does tend to melt and get mixed up with other things."

People have asked to hold weddings at heiau, for example, but government officials were told that is not appropriate.

Foster at OHA thinks the need is not as much to limit access as to control destruction and vandalism.

"We have to work within the bounds of what is legal at the same time what is cultural," Foster said. "You have to find a balance between them."

He thinks there should be protocols to help visitors understand what is appropriate behavior. "Education could really help with a lot of these kinds of incidents."

At the Kukaniloko birthing stones in Wahiawa, where royalty in early Hawai'i came to give birth to ensure high-ranking status for their children, curator Tom Len-

chanko runs into problems with people camping out nearby, which makes the area prone to illicit activity, he said.

"When I see them I try to explain to them, you know, the importance of the site and our belief as a community to maintain the open space and protect the culture," Lenchanko said.

"If it was up to me I would like to keep the number of people minimal, but we cannot. ... It's something important for the tourist to visit because they want to feel a part of the culture."

Lenchanko thinks designating something kapu is not the answer. "You cannot put restrictions in that form because you do not have the authority to do so," he said.

Yent at DLNR said the department years ago asked for an opinion from the attorney general about what the state can do to control access and management of sacred sites. She said the answer was that if visitation would irreparably damage a site, the state can put management controls on it, but the state cannot determine what is sacred because of the separation of church and state.

Meanwhile on Kaua'i, "We have a few heiaus and we just try to keep them quiet," Brun said. "A lot of our heiaus and special places are away and haven't been found yet." Many are in Wailua and all along the Na Pali coastline, but some are more difficult to protect, such as the recently restored Malae Heiau, which is right by the side of a road.

Brun does not feel that more laws are needed, but that more money for enforcement and education such as signs would help.

Kaohelaulii with the ecotourism association is concerned that Hawai'i is simply not prepared for an onslaught of visitors interested in Hawaiian cultural sites.

"We didn't plan very well," Kaohelaulii said. "We didn't plan for what would happen when all these people start coming to see all this stuff. ... We gotta protect these things."