Posted on: Saturday, January 1, 2005

Burial site program needs money and staff, audit says

By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer

The state program that deals with Hawaiian burial sites uncovered during construction suffers from inadequate staffing, inadequate funding and a lack of commitment to get the job done in a timely manner or with enough cultural sensitivity, according to a report by state auditor Marion Higa.

The investigation into the problems began in May, in response to a request by lawmakers to investigate the way members are appointed to the island burial councils, the groups that help direct how Native Hawaiian burials are treated. Hearings on that request had aired allegations that the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, the agency that oversees the burials program, had omitted some candidates from the nomination list without consulting with Hawaiian organizations.

While Higa's report called the appointment process "disorderly" and lacking criteria for nominating council members, it cleared DLNR of those allegations.

Instead, the 73-page report dug more deeply into the operation of the 14-year-old state law and the burials program it created.

"When we looked at what the process was like and tried to get at the truth of whether names were omitted, there were larger issues," Higa told The Advertiser. "It was like peeling an onion."

In a prepared statement Thursday, DLNR head Peter Young said the department is "pleased" that the audit dismissed the original allegation and vowed to give its findings about its historic preservation division "serious consideration."

"We were already aware of many of the issues that were raised in the audit that went beyond burial councils nominations, and the division was already addressing many of these issues prior to the audit," Young said.

Among the findings in the report:

• The state exhibits "a lack of commitment to the burial councils and the burial sites program," a failing that "foreshadows a collapse of Hawaiian iwi (bones) preservation efforts." That lack takes the form of staffing shortages, which led in one instance to a developer, 1250 Oceanside Partners, funding two positions for the department. That company, developer of the troubled Hokuli'a project on the Big Island, paid $71,000 for the positions.

"We question whether it is ethical for a private entity to pay for positions in the department related to the entity's project, particularly while the entity was involved in litigation with the department," Higa said in the report.

In another written response, Young said this practice has ended.

• The burial sites program has hundreds of unresolved cases involving human remains, according to the report, which includes a photo of a room in which iwi have been stored. Other bones have been stored at developments or elsewhere: As of July, the caseload includes about 350 sets of human remains awaiting reburial.

• The lines of authority over burials are confusing and can lead to excessive delays for developers, the report states. Among its examples, it cites the case of an unnamed North Shore landowner whose discovery of a partial set of remains has generated 19 months of delays, $45,000 in archaeological and other costs and no resolution to date.

• The state historical and cultural branch keeps insufficient records of potential council candidates and has maintained a sluggish pace in submitting names, according to the report. This is one factor leading to the delays in appointing council members in recent years.

• The state relies too heavily on Western archaeological methods for establishing the nature of the burial and not enough on oral tradition — testimony by Hawaiians about where burials are located.

The state needs to reconnect with this oral tradition, according to the report, and could start by convening an 'aha (council). This meeting would enlist Hawaiians to develop burial protocols that would embrace a range of family practices, and to forge criteria for the qualification of burial council members.

"Despite the respect for native Hawaiian iwi held by Burial Sites Program employees, the program is inadequately staffed, causing lateness in candidate lists, lack of proper notice of council meetings, an eight-month backlog of council minutes and a disarray of human skeletal remains inventories," the report concluded.

Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053.