The Change Mariner

After 49 Years of Bombings and 10 Years of Cleanup, Kaho'olawe Returned to Hawaii

Honolulu Advertiser

See Detailed Map of Kaho'olawe

... On Nov. 11, the island's journey from conscripted bombing range to cultural preserve will hit yet another milestone: the Navy officially hands over access control to the state.

The date marks 10 years since Congress authorized the $400 million cleanup of the island and represents the first time since statehood that Hawai'i will control access to all its territory.

"I honestly don't know where the 10 years went," said Dr. Noa Emmett Aluli, chairman of the Kahoolawe Island Reserve Commission and president of the Protect Kaho'olawe 'Ohana, the group that carried out a series of occupations of the island beginning in 1976 and continued the fight in the years since.

The battle to wrest control of Kaho'olawe from the Navy, which had been using the island for target practice since the start of World War II, was an early model for the Native Hawaiian rights movement, a catalyst for activism and cultural resurgence throughout the Islands

...According to the Navy, nearly 70 percent of the surface of the 28,800-acre island will be cleared of ordnance by the end of the year. Of that area, only 9 percent will be cleared to a level 4 feet below ground.

Those numbers are irksome to commissioners and others involved in the Kaho'olawe movement. They continue to hold up a 1994 memorandum of understanding between the Navy and the state that called for 100 percent surface clearance and 30 percent subsurface clearance.

"They have failed us time and time again," said Colette Machado, commissioner from Moloka'i.

Navy officials say they did the best they could given the money and time limitations set by Congress.

... And not just anyone will be allowed onto the island. Visitation, Aluli said, will be reserved for those who want to advance the mission of the reserve, including those who want to practice Native Hawaiian traditions, volunteer for environmental work or engage in preservation or archaeological activities.

Access is also clouded by the money issue. With the end of the federal contract comes the end of the commission's source of money. While the commission has $30 million in a trust fund, it will take more than interest from that amount to pay for the proposed capital improvements, the ongoing restoration activities and island oversight.

See Detailed Map of Kaho'olawe

Posted by Norm M. Wada at November 2, 2003 12:06 PM | TrackBack
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