By its inaction with the now clearly dysfunctional State Historic Preservation Division, the Lingle administration is treading dangerously close to a precipice. The state is at risk of failing at its missions to protect historic resources and provide sensible oversight for development planned throughout the Islands.

A story in today's paper by Advertiser Big Island writer Kevin Dayton illustrates that the operation of that agency has become nothing short of irrational.

The staffing shortages at Historic Preservation, a division of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, have been longstanding and well documented. Some patience was warranted when problems first came to light a few years ago, but the time for patience has run out.

The current situation — a shortage of state archaeologists, which has created a backlog of more than 300 pending building permits and caused overdue archaeological reports on historic sites — demands intervention.

Perhaps calling it a "shortage" is misleading. O'ahu already lacks its archaeologist, so with the resignation of the lead archaeologist for Maui and Hawai'i counties, the remaining staff is unable to handle the workload. And with that work already sitting in mile-high stacks, the situation has reached crisis stage.

With the untenable delays for permit-seekers and burials protection being handled haphazardly, the state is vulnerable to legal challenges.

A separate but equally alarming symptom has been the sudden decision by division chief Melanie Chinen to order burials on the Victoria Ward Village Shops project to be left in place. State burial law allows for such restrictions, but the time to have issued them was at the start of site work, not now.

Dissatisfaction at the division and with Chinen's leadership surfaced publicly at the reconfirmation hearing of former DLNR chief Peter Young. Some may argue that Young bore some responsibility for the division's failure, but even those who support the Senate's decision to replace him can't argue that his departure solved the Historic Preservation issue.

The state cannot uphold its duty to the public by letting this division limp along. Chinen needs either to be replaced or overseen by managers who can marshal the help needed to set this sinking vessel right again. The last thing anyone wants to see is the needless loss of Hawai'i's historic resources.