Overhaul sought at land board
By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
Several environmental and cultural groups said yesterday they want drastic changes at the Department of Land and Natural Resources in the next two months or they will seek the resignation of Land Board Chairman Peter Young.
It was the latest in a string of attacks in recent months on Young's management of the embattled agency. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs has also voiced concerns about the DLNR's direction, with several of its members calling for Young's resignation. A House committee meets Monday to discuss whether to order a financial and management audit of the department.
Critics say it's important the public know about the problems some have had with Young because the DLNR is entrusted with the management of more than 1.3 million acres of conservation land, one-quarter of the land in the state, making it the state's largest landowner. The department also is responsible for managing historic sites, water resources and ocean recreational concerns, wildlife, hunting and natural area reserves.
"This is the public's resources," said Donna Wong, executive director of Hawai'i's Thousand Friends. "It's your streams, it's your mountains, it's the watershed, all the important public parks. They need to be managed."
Young said he and the Lingle administration are committed to the state's natural and cultural resources and that both budget and staffing at the department have increased since he arrived in early 2003. The overall DLNR budget increased from $60 million under the final Cayetano administration budget to $70 million in fiscal year 2004. Position counts also have increased, he said.
Late yesterday, Gov. Linda Lingle issued a statement backing Young's leadership. "I continue to have full confidence in Peter Young's ability to oversee the management and stewardship of Hawai'i's natural and cultural resources," Lingle said.
Representatives from the Sierra Club Hawai'i Chapter, the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp. and Hawai'i's Thousand Friends said yesterday that under Young, the DLNR has placed private landowners above the public trust and so mismanaged the agency several upper-level staffers have resigned.
The most controversial of the resignations involved former land director Yvonne Izu, who resigned after refusing to support the administration's proposal to transfer many of the functions of the state Water Commission, which falls under the DLNR umbrella, to the four counties. She said the plan, which has made no progress at the Legislature, amounted to dismantling the agency. Environmental agencies have agreed.
Young said many of the duties now shouldered by the commission would best be handled by the counties, but that the shift in responsibilities does not constitute a dismantling of the commission.
The environmental groups want Izu's and other key positions filled immediately and for Young to lobby more vigorously for increased DLNR spending.
Alan Murakami, litigation director for the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, said Young reversed a decision of the Hawai'i Island Burial Council to preserve a burial site that contains the remains of Hawaiian royalty. He said the decision allowed a wall to be built halfway up the hill where the remains were interred, rather than at the base, thus making way for five additional houselots.
Young said his decision was based on the recommendation made by the burial council as well as discussions he had with representatives for descendants of those buried in the area.
Murakami also said that because the burial sites program is understaffed, hundreds of sets of remains that have been unearthed statewide "are still located in storage lockers and closets across the state."
Young said the administration has transferred about half of the sets of remains to the custody of Kamehameha Schools, on whose property the 'iwi were found, for them to inter, and is working on others.
OHA administrator Clyde Namuo, who was not part of yesterday's press conference, said the issue of the staff shortages in the burial sites program was also raised when he and OHA Chairwoman Haunani Apoliona met last week with Young and Bob Awana, Lingle's chief of staff.
OHA trustees also were concerned, Namuo said, that they were not included in discussions, or even consulted, before the granting of easements on ceded lands — which are managed by the DLNR but from which OHA receives revenues. Namuo said Awana and Young were "very reassuring" that OHA's concerns would be addressed and that there would be better communication.
Young, during his later press conference, spoke of partnerships the state has struck with non-profit organizations including the Nature Conservancy of Hawai'i and the Hawai'i Nature Center to protect the environment and educate the youth about natural resources. Leaders of both organizations stood by Young and acknowledged his support.
Young's opponents remain skeptical. "You hear public-private partnerships are a good idea and they may be, but you can't rely on the private entities all the time to manage the public's assets," Wong said.
Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 525-8070.
Correction: Alan Murakami is litigation director of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation. His title was incorrect in a previous version of this story.
