Horses on Sliding Sands trail. Drownings in \u2018Ohe\u2018o Gulch. The continued spectre of an expanded Kahului airport throwing down the welcome mat to hosts of invading species. Traffic jams at sunrise. And, not least, the delicate problem of how to deal with the call of nature when you\u2019re in the middle of a wilderness area and miles away from the nearest toilet.<\/p>\n
These are a few of the issues that routinely cross the desk of Don Reeser, superintendent of Haleakala National Park. In a nutshell, they all center on how to preserve and protect a 30,000-acre wilderness area that hosts some 1.6 million visitors a year.<\/p>\n
Giddyap!<\/b><\/i>
\n Headlines in recent months have centered on the lawsuit by survivors of a drowning victim at the park\u2019s \u2018Ohe\u2018o Gulch, resulting in the award of damages of $2.3 million. But to many of the park\u2019s most frequent visitors, the more pressing issues are those that they claim threaten to undermine the park service\u2019s mandate to protect Haleakala \u201cby such means as will leave [it] unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the chief concerns is the proliferation of horse rides down Sliding Sands trail. What used to be a lightly packed and barely visible trail down the sandy slope to the floor of the crater has now been tamped down by up to 48 mounted visitors a day, not including visitors who have their own horses and rangers using the park\u2019s own stable of horses.<\/p>\n
The result? A path that is at times more trench than trail, wetted down with horse urine and mucked up with manure. The flies, the smell, and the mire detract from the hikers\u2019 experience of the park. Often, to avoid the worst areas, hikers will walk off the beaten path, thereby widening the trail and enlarging the impact of human activity.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have received more complaints from visitors about horse manure on the trails than about any other thing,\u201d Reeser said in a recent interview with the editor of [i]Environment Hawai\u2018i.[\/i] The park has issued licenses to three operators, each of which is allowed to bring in up to 12 riders twice a day. One operator has yet to use his license, but the two others are active on a daily basis. Sliding Sands is the only trail open to commercial horse tours.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe good news is, we\u2019ve been talking for some time about trying to get commercial users to put money into cleaning up the manure and maintaining the trail,\u201d Reeser continued. \u201cBeginning January 1, they\u2019ll pay $5 a horse. We figure that, based on their use, that will about pay for a half-time employee to clean up and help maintain the trail.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Wilderness Experience<\/b><\/i>
\nHorses are not the only ones to relieve themselves in the crater. With hundreds of people hiking down Sliding Sands trail each day, human waste is a growing problem. Ribbons of toilet paper stream from the odd tree or rock. Archaeological sites, providing a certain amount of cover, become de facto toilets. Not long ago, a park employee studying petrels reached her hand into one of the birds\u2019 burrows to check for a chick. Instead, she found human excrement.<\/p>\n
To address the problem, the park has floated a proposal to build a composting toilet along the Sliding Sands trail. \u201cWe have some money available \u2026 to try to do something about human waste at Sliding Sands and Split Rock,\u201d Reeser said. (Split Rock is a natural feature that provides the first real screen at the bottom of the trail.)<\/p>\n
The initial feedback to a brochure containing an artist\u2019s rendering of what the toilet might look like has not been favorable. The Friends of Haleakala, a non-profit, independent group that supports the park, indicated it wanted to have the park prepare an environmental assessment at the very least, Reeser said. \u201cAnd, you know, it is a wilderness area, and the toilet is intrusive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Siting the toilet is also problematic. For it to do any good, he noted, it has to be built before Split Rock, and that means it is also in the areas with the least natural shelter. Reeser indicated he had himself been caught off-guard by the artist\u2019s conception, which shows a giant, elevated outhouse connected to the trail by a bridge. \u201cI was sort of hoping for something that would look like a rock,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In any case, \u201cit\u2019s kind of been put on the back burner\u201d for now, he said. In the mean time, he said, \u201cpart of the responsibility of the person we\u2019re going to hire\u201d with money from the commercial horse trail operators \u201cwill be to clean up human waste, too. So whether or not the toilet is built is still up for discussion\u2026. We\u2019ll have hearings on it and listen to the kupuna, the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ecosystem Protection<\/b><\/i>
\n Reeser is proud of his staff\u2019s accomplishments in managing the park\u2019s ecosystem. \u201cWe took the pigs out of Kipahulu, the goats out of the crater. And we\u2019ve seen fantastic recovery of the flora. We have the best ecosystems in the state,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The park is ever watchful for invasive species, though. Miconia, kahili ginger, clidemia, Australian tree ferns, guava, and pampas grass are just a few of the weeds that threaten to get a foothold in the park. \u201cWe\u2019re working with the Maui Invasive Species Committee, the state, and the East Maui Watershed Partnership\u201d to address the problem, Reeser said, adding: \u201cI feel things are going better.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the impediments to large-scale environmental management is a mix of land ownership, especially on Haleakala\u2019s southern slopes. Several years ago, land that the park had hoped to acquire was purchased instead by a private party, Andy Graham. Reeser said he was encouraged, though, that Graham has begun planting koa and is evidently sincere about restoring native ecosystems. Immediately west of Graham\u2019s land is a 4,000-acre parcel owned by Campbell Estate. \u201cCampbell Estate has to sell the land, which would be a key piece of the leeward Haleakala restoration project,\u201d Reeser said.<\/p>\n
A representative from The Conservation Fund, a non-profit organization that helps place sensitive natural areas under protection, visited Maui recently and looked at the Campbell land. If the park could acquire this through the intercession of the fund, Reeser said, it could extend its reach down to the Nu\u2018u pond, a coastal area rich in archaeological and natural values. For years, conservationists have wanted to see Nu\u2018u protected, but unless the pond area becomes contiguous with park property, the park cannot acquire it.<\/p>\n
A Shuttle Service<\/b><\/i>
\n Congestion at the crater rim is a near-daily occurrence. Thousands of visitors to Maui want to view the sun creep above Haleakala\u2019s summit, despite the cold, despite the thin air, and despite the traffic jams. People often pull their cars off the road anywhere they can, even if it is dangerous or damaging to the park\u2019s resources. Increasing the space available for parking lots is not an option. \u201cThe main problem is that we did our general plan in 1995 and it pretty much stated in there that we\u2019re not going to enlarge the parking lots,\u201d Reeser said. \u201cIf you enlarge the parking lots, two years later you\u2019ve got to enlarge them again. You\u2019ve got to draw the line somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
An alternative the park is examining now involves transporting visitors in vans that take them from parking areas at lower elevations to the summit. \u201cThe Department of Transportation has given us funds for a transportation study,\u201d Reeser said.<\/p>\n
On the Horizon<\/b><\/i>
\n The park general plan is being updated by Belt Collins. Reeser expects it to be available for public comment early in the year.<\/p>\n
The Federal Aviation Administration was charged by Congress in 2000, when it passed the Air Tour Management Act, to develop plans for use of the airspace over the park. Reeser said that he\u2019s been working with the FAA for the last year and a half. \u201cIn January, we\u2019ll have a sit-down with the FAA and develop alternatives,\u201d he said. At present, tour helicopters are restricted to flying over Kipahulu and pay the park $25 for each flyover. \u201cLast year the park got $400,000 from helicopters,\u201d Reeser said, of which the park gets to keep 80 percent.<\/p>\n
The proposed expansion of the Kahului runway has been opposed by Reeser and the park for years out of fear that additional flights into Maui would bring invasive species to the park\u2019s doorstep. Although the expansion seems to be on hold for now, Reeser said, \u201cwe\u2019re still concerned about it.\u201d A plan to build an enclosed cargo inspection facility and to beef up inspectors at the airport has yet to be put into effect.<\/p>\n
On top of that, now there\u2019s the proposal for a superferry that would give Hawai\u2018i residents the chance to bring their cars and their pets along on interisland trips. \u201cIt\u2019s not that we\u2019re opposed to the superferry,\u201d Reeser said, \u201cbut they need good inspections. Folks on Maui have enough problems. Our stance is, we want to keep pests out of Maui, rather than wait until they\u2019re in the national park.\u201d<\/p>\n
–Patricia Tummons<\/p>\n
Volume 15, Number 7 January 2005<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Horses on Sliding Sands trail. Drownings in ‘Ohe‘o Gulch. The continued spectre of an expanded Kahului airport throwing down the welcome mat to hosts of invading species. Traffic jams at sunrise. And, not least, the delicate problem of how to … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[134],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-january-2005"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1504","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=1504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1504\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}