Posted on: Friday, September 24, 2004

Trash choking Kaua'i valley

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau

LIHU'E, Kaua'i — The stories of a poorly maintained trail, piles of trash and overflowing toilets at the state's prized Kalalau Valley camping grounds this summer have been horrific.

Complaints have made it to newspapers, to other campers and hikers, and ultimately to the landowner, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, which said yesterday that it will address the trash problem in the largest valley along its Na Pali Coast State Park.

"Trash in Kalalau Valley is a major source of complaints because it is a visual eyesore in an otherwise beautiful natural area. It is also a potential health threat," said Peter Young, DLNR chairman.

Young said garbage piles up with remarkable speed in the remote valley, which is accessible either by sea or via an arduous 11-mile cliffside trail.

Kaua'i resident Gabriela Taylor said she hiked into the valley in July to find composting toilets filled to the brim, piles of trash littering the campsites and an assortment of illegal campers living in the valley.

"A lot of them were camping down along the beach, and when they heard that the rangers were coming, they would disappear into the valley," she said.

She argued that the state needs a full-time presence in the valley to keep track of permits, ensure that people haul out their trash and maintain the trail, which she said is dangerously eroded and in immediate need of repair.

Young said the state has been hearing the reports from those returning from camping trips along Na Pali.

"This summer in particular, we have received numerous complaints from campers about trash scattered about on the valley floor. It is unsightly and unhealthy, and detracts from the wilderness experience. The trash provides food and shelter to rats, flies and mosquitoes, which may harbor and transmit diseases that cause illness, such as leptospirosis, dysentery, diarrhea, food poisoning and dengue fever," he said.

"Obviously, the trash is from people entering the valley who do not practice the essential back-country philosophy of 'pack out what you pack in,' " he said.

State officials for years have complained that some of the major deposits of trash are at camping sites of illegal campers who maintain semi-permanent residences in the valley. Most permitted campers use designated campsites near the beach.

"Our last major cleanup in the valley hauled out two tons of trash, mostly camping equipment and supplies strewn throughout the valley. Typically abandoned are plastic sheets, tarps, tents, sleeping bags, cans and bottles," Young said.

He said DLNR crews will collect the debris, which will be loaded onto a sling under a helicopter and flown down the coastline to Polihale State Park. State trucks will haul it the short distance from there to the county's Kekaha Landfill.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808)245-3074.