In the midst of a years-long legal battle with the state Board of Land and Natural Resources over its decisions to allow Alexander & Baldwin, Inc., to divert water from East Maui streams for agricultural uses in the island\u2019s central plain, native Hawaiian taro farmers who are plaintiffs in the case have been working with the state \u2014 albeit a different agency \u2014 on identifying and completing $4.5 million worth of improvements to ancient water channels, or \u2018auwai, that feed their fields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2016, the state Legislature appropriated money for capital improvement projects that would repair irrigation systems that serve East Maui farms. But the funds were not immediately released because the projects seemed at first to exclusively benefit private parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2018, the Legislature passed a bill allocating the same funds for the same general purpose, but made it clear that the appropriation benefitted the public, as well, by supporting the state\u2019s goal of food self-sufficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In written testimony to the Senate Ways and Means Committee, Ed Wendt, an East Maui taro farmer and member of Na Moku Aupuni O Ko\u2018olau Hui, described how landslides in 2016 had severely damaged \u201cthe most important, cliffside miles-long \u2018auwai above Wailuanui Valley,\u201d located on state lands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
East Maui taro farmers, who had main- tained the \u2018auwai for many generations, could no longer do so, due to threats of erosion and falling rocks. As a result, Wendt stated, farmers were not getting the water they needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The state Department of Agriculture (DOA) was ultimately tasked with encumbering the funds and shepherding the projects to completion, in cooperation with community members and others with a stake in how water resources in the area are allocated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On July 10 and September 25, the Land Board approved recommendations from the Department of Land and Natural Re- sources\u2019 Land Division to grant construction right-of-entry permits to the DOA to allow contractors to implement emergency stabilization projects for \u2018auwai in Honopou, Ke\u2018anae, and Wailuanui. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the Honopou project, which involves stabilizing about 15 feet of the banks of the \u2018auwai, the board also issued a revocable permit to Lurlyn Scott and Sanford Kekahuna to allow them to maintain the \u2018auwai in the future and to continue the intensive agriculture they had already been doing on a five-acre state-owned parcel that is adjacent to their own private lands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ian Hirokawa, special project coordinator for the Land Division, stated in his report to the board, \u201cNormally, a long- term disposition, such as an easement or long-term lease, would be required under such circumstances, but staff believes that an exception is appropriate in this specific case. Applicants have a long history of engaging in taro cultivation in the area, as well as maintaining the subject parcel through a revocable permit, and have committed to do both for the long term. Applicants have also complied with the terms and conditions of the revocable permit. Given the foregoing, and in consideration of the Applicants\u2019 contribution to the state\u2019s local food production objectives, staff believes that a revocable permit would be a satisfactory alternative to the burden and cost of an easement or long-term lease.\u201d He also recommended that their monthly rent remain at $45.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scott told the board her family has been growing taro on the property for generations and to continue, \u201cit\u2019s really crucial we take care of this issue, especially before the next storm comes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Board member Jimmy Gomes asked why the recommendation was for a revocable permit (RP) and not a long-term disposition. \u201cAre they comfortable with just an RP … or would they like to expand on it and go the other way? I just want it to be a win-win because they are the stewards in the area,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYes, we are. We do plan to go long-term. Because this is an emergency, we want this done as soon as possible. … During this time of COVID, everyone is returning home and wants to open [fields and] start growing more food. … We want to keep that taro patch going and we really need help. … We really want to step up and get a long-term lease after this COVID,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Board member Chris Yuen pointed out that the Land Board has been under a lot of pressure to get rid of revocable permits that have been in place for many years via public auctions. \u201cI see problems with doing that. He asked if the land were transferred to the DOA, whether they could negotiate a lease, instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hirokawa said he wasn\u2019t sure about the DOA\u2019s ability to avoid an auction, but he then pointed out that if the tenants were to form a non-profit, the Land Division could work with them on a direct lease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is a great example of working with community to maintain a system that has been in place for generations,\u201d said board member Sam Gon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In September, the board approved 55- year easements to the non-profit Maui Mixer, dba Na Mahi\u2018ai O Ke\u2018anae, which plans to maintain the repaired \u2018auwai in Ke\u2018anae, and to Na Moku, to allow it to maintain the \u2018auwai in Wailuanui.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Na Moku president Jerome Kekiwi, Jr. told the board that the there are approximately 200 acres of lo\u2018i kalo in the area and the \u2018auwai is the major source of water to the valley below. He expressed his gratitude to Sen. Jill Tokuda, who chaired the Ways and Means Committee in 2016, as well as Maui County legislators <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kalani English and Lynn DeCoite. He also thanked Gov. David Ige, \u201cwho took a personal interest in this project,\u201d as well as the DOA and Ku\u2018iwalu Consulting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also thanked the board for approving the Commission on Water Resource Management\u2019s 2018 order that called for the restoration of several streams that serve taro farms in East Maui.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the Land Board\u2019s September 25 meeting, it unanimously approved the creation of a two-unit condominium property regime over lands purchased with the help of a Legacy Land Conservation Fund grant in 2008.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The $737,000 grant to the Wai\u2018anae Community Re-development Corpo- ration (WCRC), dba MA\u2018O Organic Farms, helped the organization buy 11 acres of agricultural lands that cost nearly a million dollars. The farm has since vastly expanded its operations to more than 300 acres. According to co-founder Gary Maunakea Forth, it plans to generate gross revenues of $1 million this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said the farm produces 15 different products, including a variety of leafy greens and root vegetables, as well as tomatoes. Because MA\u2018O owns the land it farms, which he said is absolutely critical for the future of agriculture in Hawai\u2018i, it has been able to launch into agro-forestry. It\u2019s planted 90 ulu trees, 200 citrus trees, and a lot of mango trees, he said, adding that it\u2019s also experimenting with cacao.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said Hawai\u2018i stores are rabid for anything local and organic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once the farm ramps up and is able to have all of its lands producing crops, \u201cwe project to be able to make $10 million and fund 90 percent of our internship programs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He stressed that the youth are part of that evolution and noted that some students who interned on the farm in high school have gone to college and are now they\u2019re running the farm. Young, local talent is key to the future of agriculture in Hawai\u2018i, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
College student Emily David testified that she started working at the farm as a junior in high school and is now finishing her associate\u2019s degree. She said the organization\u2019s \u2018Auwai vocational and workforce specialist, Brienne Imada, is helping her figure out what her future career will be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to helping her understand the importance of farming, MA\u2018O is a \u201chome to come to, to get my food from, and to ask for support,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To allow for the kind of growth the organization envisions, it needs to upgrade its packing and processing operations, which currently take place in a repurposed chicken shed located on one of its parcels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The farm has secured $1.5 million in federal funding to build a new facility on a small portion, about a third of an acre, of the lands it purchased with Legacy Land money in 2008.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe would like to raise the bar and have professionalism,\u201d Forth told the board. The building would be a food safety-certified wash-pack facility that could also be used to train people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re looking to automate … to increase our ability to produce food,\u201d he said, noting that they will likely produce about 200,000 pounds this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is a big development that we\u2019ve been working on one way or another for the last 12 years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
David added, \u201cBeing able to have this expansion for the facility is a perfect idea … for my generation to know we have a hope.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Land Board approved the organization\u2019s proposal to legally separate out the area where the facility will be built and to buy the state\u2019s interest in that area. This would allow the federal Economic Development Administration, which is providing the grant for the building, to take over the primary lien interest in the property from the state, at least for the next 20 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
David Smith, administrator for the Department of Land and Natural Resources\u2019 Division of Forestry and Wildlife, which administers the Legacy Lands program, told the board, \u201cWe feel it is in the interest of the state because it will support the organic farm. … They have a terrific program, work with at-risk youth, come up with a lot of great products … We feel it\u2019s consistent with state program goals.\u201d He said the payment for the third of an acre will go back into the Legacy Land program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Program administrator David Penn said MA\u2018O\u2019s situation was unique, but it was not the first time there had been a conflict between federal and state program grant requirements. In all the other cases, the program has been able to resolve issues with federal agencies without needing any approvals from the Land Board, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA complete and permanent buyout of the state\u2019s interest is one scenario. … Another [is] a discounted limited buyout, with reversion to the Legacy Land program after the 20-year life of the [federal] grant expires,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In December 2019, Environment<\/em> Hawai\u2018i <\/em>reported on an enforcement case brought to the Land Board the previous month regarding the illegal installation of three temporary shoreline protection structures \u2014 large sand-filled ballast tubes, or \u201cburritos\u201d \u2014 on a portion of Sunset Beach fronting the home of Gary and Cynthia Stanley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The couple, who had just bought the dangerously eroding property, testified that they believed they had permission to add to an existing sand burrito that had been authorized by the Department of Land and Natural Resources as a temporary, emergency measure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They did not have any such permission, and the Land Board fined them $3,000 and ordered them to remove the structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead, they filed a petition for a contested case hearing, which the board granted in January. In their petition, their attorney Greg Kugle argued that the requirement to remove the burritos would \u201ccreate a physical taking of their real property interests.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a March 23 letter, however, Kugle informed state deputy attorney general William Wynhoff that the Stanleys were interested in settling, \u201c[r]ather than put the state and themselves through the expense and delay of a contested case hearing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Stanleys committed to removing the three unauthorized sand burritos they installed within 60 days of an agreement and paying the full fine within 30 days. The one sand burrito and a tarp authorized by the department in February 2019 would remain in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On April 28, hearing officer Chris Yuen, who is also a member of the Land Board, recommended that the board approve the settlement offer, which it ultimately did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At its September 25 meeting, the Land Board granted permission to the DLNR\u2019s Division of Aquatic Resources to outplant six small coral colony modules, each less than 25 centimeters wide, at two sites in the Hanauma Bay Marine Life Conservation District (MLCD).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The modules, grown over four years at the division\u2019s state-of-the-art coral nursery at the Anuenue Fisheries Research Center on Sand Island, were created using micro-fragments skinned from Pocilloporid corals from O\u2018ahu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThese outplantings will assist the division to determine whether additional coral restoration at Hanauma Bay MLCD is viable in order to accelerate the return of lost ecological services and functions at this important reef site for the people of the State of Hawai\u2018i,\u201d a DAR report to the board states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n DAR\u2019s Dave Gulko explained that across the 60 species of coral found in Hawai\u2018i, they grow at an average rate of only 1-2 cm\/year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because Hawai\u2018i corals grow so slowly, areas damaged by vessel groundings, or even scientists with permits to take bits of coral, stay damaged for a long time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said studies of the reef outside Barber\u2019s Point where the Cape Flattery <\/em>grounded in 2005 found no coral recovery years later. \u201cWe did not get the larval recruitment and settlement we thought we\u2019d see,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the coral reef nursery, DAR has developed lab techniques to grow the corals much faster than they would naturally. Source corals are sawed into microfragments and attached with surgical super-glue in rows to pyramid-shaped modules, where they eventually grow together under pristine conditions. \u201cIn less than a year, they go from 10 cm of source coral to 42 cm of coral colony. In the wild, to go from 10 cm to 20 would take a decade,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After spending some time in acclimation tanks, \u201ckind of like going from a five-star hotel to being homeless,\u201d Gulko said, the modules are carefully planted in the ocean and monitored. To date, every module outplanted has survived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe may be the most expensive coral nursery on the planet, but we have the highest survival rates,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The nursery is now working to create larger modules and so far it has been able to grow one square meter of coral in less than a year. It would take 12 to 125 years to grow that much naturally, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also has developed a \u201ccoral ark\u201d that includes 60 species, 40 of which are rare or uncommon. One of those species actuallydisappeared from Kane\u02bbohe Bay due to bleaching, but has been re-established.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All of the previous module outplant- ings were at sites with little to no human disturbance. The Hanauma Bay outplantings will allow DAR to assess the viability of restoring coral in an area of high human usage, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Various groups testified in support of the project, including the Kohala Center, Friends of Hanauma Bay, and the Center for Biological Diversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maui Land Board member Jimmy Gomes asked whether fast-growing cor- als from Florida or Australia that are not invasive could be outplanted here to help restore damaged areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBasically, fast-growing species in the plant world are called weeds. … Our entire ecosystem would be modified,\u201d Gulko replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gomes then agreed it would be a bad idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Given the advances the nursery has made in growing corals, board member Kaiwi Yoon asked Gulko what he thought the nursery could achieve in the next 20, 50, or 100 years. \u201cYou\u2019re not talking about a full restoration of all our reefs,\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cActually, we are,\u201d Gulko replied. He said that the nursery has been able to create 80 42-cm modules a year. \u201cIn the near future, DAR is hoping to acquire a property directly adjacent to us, if we get funds. We expect to grow thousands of modules a year [and] we\u2019re starting to think even larger [than 1 meter],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He noted that Australia is now trying to restore more than a hundred square kilometers of the Great Barrier Reef. \u201cOur workable scale should be 1 square km. Two thousand modules a year over five years … Yes, it is possible. It\u2019s limited by resources, but we\u2019re working our way up and we\u2019re showing success at the scales we\u2019re working at,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThank you Doctor… You just made my Friday,\u201d Yoon replied. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 Teresa Dawson<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Land Board Grants Permits, Easements For ‘Auwai Repair Projects in East Maui In the midst of a years-long legal battle with the state Board of Land and Natural Resources over its decisions to allow Alexander & Baldwin, Inc., to divert water from … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12994,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,474],"tags":[3],"class_list":["post-12975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-board-talk","category-october-2020","tag-teresa-dawson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\n\n\nCoral Outplantings At Hanauma Bay<\/h2>\n\n\n\n