Ka`u News Briefs Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016

FEES FOR CAMPING IN HAWAI`I VOLCANOES National Park will be charged beginning Tuesday, Nov. 1, as part of a plan to meet national standards for parks with similar visitor amenities. A $10 fee will be charged per trip, in addition to the park entrance fee for all eight backcountry campsites: Ka‘aha, Halapē, Keauhou, ‘Āpua Point, Nāpau, Pepeiao Cabin, Red Hill Cabin and Mauna Loa Cabin. 

     All require a permit, with a stay limit of three consecutive nights at one site. Campers can move to another backcountry site for the fourth night, but no more than seven consecutive nights per trip will be allowed. Permits must be obtained no more than 24 hours in advance from the Backcountry Office, open daily from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fees for backcountry camping can be paid in person at the Backcountry Office, or online through pay.gov. Call 985-6178 for more information.

Kīlauea aglow from its summit crater is visible  from Kulanaokuaiki Campground.  Photo by Jacob W. Frank

      Kulanaokuaiki Campground, a drive-in, front-country campsite off Hilina Pali Road, will cost $10 a night per site, with a stay limit of seven consecutive nights, and a maximum of six people per site. The nine designated campsites at Kulanaokuaiki have picnic tables and tent pads, and are available on a first-come basis. Fees for Kulanaokuaiki can be paid at the campground’s self-registration station. Checkout time is 11 a.m.

    The new camping permit fees are similar to other public camping fees statewide. At Kulanaokuaiki, campers who hold the Interagency Senior (Golden Age) and Golden Access passes pay $5 per site.
      Nāmakanipaio Campground off Highway 11 is managed by Hawai‘i Volcanoes Lodge Company, LLC and is under its own fee structure.
      Pets are not permitted in any of the campgrounds, except for leashed pets in Nāmakanipaio Campground. Leashed service animals are allowed.

THE FOAM CONTAINER ISSUE on the island with a proposed ban for county and county vendor use has drawn a group of organizations together to study it. The Fall edition of Recycle Hawai`i  newsletter reports a task force of sustainability organizations, businesses, the state Hawai`i Dept. of Health and county Research & Development and Environmental Management departments meeting and conducting research. The task force is called the Hawai`i Island Packaging Sustainability Initiative Stakeholders who came up with proposed solutions: Source reduction, education, best practices for littler control and state and local government support for action initiative. The group advocates for the proposed polystyrene ban for county agencies and county vendors, proposed by County Council member Margaret Wille and supported by Ka`u council member Maile David.

See more at www.recyclehawaii.org. To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see Facebook. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter.

Get the Drift wraps up at the end of October, scouring coast and waterways part of the International Coastal Cleanup. Photo from Recycle Hawai`i

GET THE DRIFT AND BAG IT wraps up six weeks of beach cleanups in conjunction with the annual International Coastal Cleanup at the end of October. Hundreds of Hawai`i Island volunteers helped to clean beaches and waterways. This year's events are coordinated by Keep Hawai`i Beautiful and Recycle Hawai`i, under leadership of Terry Miura for the past 15 years. She recently retired as a County of Hawai`i' Parks & Recreation Aquatics Recreation Specialist. About the cleanups, she said, “Marine debris is everyone’s problem and we are the cause, but we are also the only solution."
     See more from Recycle Hawai`i Executive Director Paul Buklarewicz at www.recyclehawaii.org.
     To volunteer to help clean up a Ka`u beach, contact the local participating organization, Hawai`i Wildlife Fund at kahakai.cleanups@gmail.com.

SOUTH POINT U-CART in Ocean View recently received a Keeping It Green Hawai`i Award for serving on a voluntary basis as a permanent collection site for resident do-it-yourself users to bring in used motor oil for proper disposal. The cooperative project was managed by Recycle Hawai`i and the county Department of Environmental Management. South Point U-Cart owner Stan Troeller and Kaida Hoevener received the award. See more at www.recyclehawaii.org and on Facebook.

THE EIGHT-MAN FOOTBALL 2016 TITLE for the Big Island Interscholastic Federation is on the line today. If Ka`u High School beats Pahoa, Trojans win the island championship. Game time is 2 p.m. at the Pahala school field under coaches Keala Ke and Greg Rush. Eight-man football offers higher scores and faster play than traditional football. Entry is $6.

Keiki celebrated a safe Halloween at Shaka's in Na`alehu last night.

CENTENNIAL HIKE: LiDar Sheds New Light on Hidden Gems. Meet at Ka`u Desert Trailhead at 1 p.m. today along Hwy 11 in between Volcano and Pahala. Park rangers lead a 2.5 mile round trip walk within Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park and show how Light Detection and Ranging technology helped rescript the history surrounding the ancient footprints embedded in the landscape. 

REALMS & DIVISIONS OF KAHUKU on Sunday, Oct. 30, explores the ancient Hawaiian classifications of the land areas in Kahuku as seen from the Pu`u Kahuku Trail.  Free, see NPS.gov.HAVO. Entrance mauka from HwY 11 between South Point Road and Ocean View.