Newly appointed Kalaupapa National Historical Park Superintendent Steve Prokop announced that the National Park Service has obtained funding to conduct preservation work on historic grave markers in more than 15 designated cemetery areas scattered across the vast, windswept Kalaupapa Peninsula on Moloka'i, according to a news release.

Kalaupapa remains inhabited by former Hansen's disease patients, and continues to be administered as a closed community under the direction of the state Department of Health in an effort to protect the lifestyle and privacy of its aging population.

More than 1,300 documented cemetery markers are still visible on Kalaupapa's remote landscape, serving as powerful symbols reflective of the residents' life stories of sacrifice, struggle, courage and triumph, the park service said.

An estimated 8,000 people were forcibly exiled to Kalaupapa starting in 1866 in an attempt by the Hawaiian monarchy to isolate Hansen's disease sufferers. A means of permanently rendering the disease inactive was proving successful by the 1940s, and advancing knowledge within the medical profession also paved the way for repealing the 104-year-old forced isolation statute by 1969 because isolation was no longer considered as either a medically or socially appropriate method of treatment for newly diagnosed cases.

Based on existing lease and cooperative agreements with the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, the Department of Land and Natural Resources and the Department of Health's Kalawao County administrator, the National Park Service is authorized to conduct historic preservation activities "to preserve and interpret the Kalaupapa settlement for the education and inspiration of future generations to come," the park service said.

The work planned will focus on roughly 90 historic headstones and their pedestals in the Papaloa Cemetery Area. Especially in consideration of cemetery visitation by the resident community and their sponsored guests, the work will include addressing safety issues resulting from many unstable markers. Leading the project will be five-year resident worker Richard Miller, a park service Historic Structures Preservation Training Center stone mason.

"Certainly we are concerned about the physical care and preservation of the markers, but we are also aware of the sensitivity surrounding the nature of these preservation activities," said Jennifer Cerny, Kalaupapa National Historical Park cultural anthropologist and chief of Cultural Resources Management.

"We are not simply dealing with historic structures that need re-roofing. These cemeteries contain time-honored memorials to loved ones, which makes this project significantly more personal and therefore something in which we must take extra care."

During the last scheduled Kalaupapa Community Meeting on April 8, Kalaupapa museum technician James Johnson presented the planned cemetery preservation work to local residents, stressing that ongoing input from community members is essential, and that park staff will continue to provide the residents with periodic updates.

Families who would like to learn more about the project may write to: Cultural Resource Manager, Cultural Resources Management Division, Kalaupapa National Historical Park, P.O. Box 2222, Kalaupapa, HI 96742, Attention: Cemetery Preservation Project.