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| Looking somewhat like an old plantation tunnel in Ka‘ū, this tunnel was bored after a volcanic eruption landslide plugged the outflow of a lake, preventing its overflow and catastrophic flooding. It is an example of managing conditions around a volcano, this one Mount St. Helens. See Volcano Watch below. |
HELP FOR SISTER COFFEE FARMS in Puerto Rico, devastated by Hurricane Maria, and in Mexico, devastated by its own natural disasters, is the call from Specialty Coffee Association, Barista Guild of America, Roasters Guild and others. These organizations represent a number of Ka‘ū Coffee farms and host events that have showcased Ka‘ū Coffee.
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| Specialty Coffee Association, a new unifying organization of Specialty Coffee Associations of America, Europe and others, is calling for help for Puerto Rico and Mexican coffee farmers. |
A statement from SCA yesterday said, "Coffee communities around the world are coming together to raise funds for general relief efforts. As always, specialty coffee professionals are supporting one another and we encourage all SCA members to participate in these activities."
SCA is searching for organizations working to support the coffee sector in each country. "We hope to help amplify their message and connect them to professionals within the SCA’s membership who are willing and able to volunteer their skills and time to help the Puerto Rican and Mexican coffee communities recover." Coffee farmers and other coffee professionals interested in supporting relief efforts for the coffee sectors in these two countries, can submit their information using this form.To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see Facebook. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter.
To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see Facebook. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter.
THE U.S. COFFEE INDUSTRY is valued at $48 billion. WalletHub came out with statistics this week showing the location of the most intense coffee culture cities in the country, many of them places where Ka‘ū Coffee is sold at such outlets as Starbucks and other specialty coffee shops. WalletHub lists the 2017's Best Coffee Cities in America.
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Rusty's Hawaiian is a local Ka‘ū Coffee that has penetrated a number of coffee intense markets, like New York, New Jersey, Portland and Seattle, as well as Honolulu and its international airport. Ralph Gaston and Lorie Obra are two of the team. Photo by Julia Neal |
To determine the best local coffee scenes, WalletHub compared the 100 largest cities across 14 key indicators of a strong coffee culture. The data set ranges from coffee shops, coffee houses and cafés per capita to average price per pack of coffee.
Identified as the Top 20 Cities for Coffee Lovers are Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, San Diego, Chicago, Denver, Boston and Washington, D.C, followed by Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Honolulu, Miami, Atlanta, Long Beach, Austin, Las Vegas and Jersey City.
WalletHub reported that Miami has the lowest average price for a pack of coffee, $3.43, which is 2.3 times lower than in Honolulu, the city with the highest at $7.87.
Fremont, California, has the highest average annual spending on coffee per household, $185.00, which is three times higher than in Detroit, the city with the lowest at $61.29.
Gilbert, Arizona, has the highest share of households that own a single-cup/pod-brewing coffee maker, 21.1 percent, which is 2.9 times higher than in Hialeah, Florida, the city with the lowest at 7.3 percent.
New York has the most coffee shops, coffee houses and cafés (per square root of population), 1.0739, which is 45.5 times more than in Laredo, Texas, the city with the fewest at 0.0236.
Portland has the most coffee and tea manufacturers (per square root of population), 0.0180, which is 36 times more than in Riverside and San Bernardino, California, the cities with the fewest at 0.0005. To view the full report. visit: wallethub.com/edu/best-cities-for-coffee-lovers/23739/To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see Facebook. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter.
RA‘IĀTEA HELM WILL HEADLINE HO‘OKUPU HULA NO KA‘Ū CULTURAL FESTIVAL at Pāhala Community Center, on Saturday, Nov. 4, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Helm is a famed singer and 'ukulele player from Moloka‘i.
Community members who would like to volunteer and support the event are invited to a public meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 4, at 6:30 p.m. at Pāhala Community Center.
Hālau from Tokyo, Okinawa, Honolulu, Mexico and West Virgina will come to Pāhala for the festival. Cultural practitioners from Lana‘i will share their skills.
Hālau from Tokyo, Okinawa, Honolulu, Mexico and West Virgina will come to Pāhala for the festival. Cultural practitioners from Lana‘i will share their skills.
Those interested in becoming vendors for Ho‘okupu Hula No Ka‘ū can also call 649-9334 for an application. There are openings for craft vendors, food vendors, informational booths, and game vendors for children. Deadline to apply is Oct. 27. Craft vendors fee is $50.00. Food vendors fee is $75.00. Informational booths are free. Game Vendors fee is $50.00.
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A CASE STUDY IN MANAGING RESPONSE TO VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS is the subject of this week's Volcano Watch, written by scientists at Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. While it involves Mount St. Helens, it also brings up Ka‘ū history when horizontal tunnels were hand-dug into Mauna Loa to bring out water. In this case, sophisticated mechanical borers did the job:
To mitigate this potential flood hazard, President Ronald Reagan, on Aug. 19, 1982, directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to develop a strategy to prevent breaching of the landslide blockage. While various outlet alternatives were proposed and studied, a temporary pumping facility was installed to lower and stabilize the lake level.
Such high water levels raise concern. If the lake rises only a few meters (yards) higher than it has during prior repairs, for example during an exceptional weather event coincident with an extended tunnel closure, the consequences could be “severe” according the USFS report.
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Aerial view of Spirit Lake looking north from above the crater of Mount St. Helens. The lake’s outlet to the west (left) was blocked by the 1980 landslide, which required a new engineered outlet to maintain the lake at a safe level. A tunnel was drilled through a bedrock ridge on west side of the lake in 1984-1985. Glacier covered Mount Rainier in distance. USGS photo by M. Logan, 2005. |
Thirty-seven years after the May 18, 1980, eruption of Mount St. Helens, Washington, scientists, engineers, land managers, and federal, state, and county officials are still grappling with a challenge created by the eruption—how to prevent potentially massive downstream flooding by the release of water from Spirit Lake, located at the base of the volcano.
A new report published this summer by the U.S. Forest Service describes the complex and interrelated natural hazards—volcanic, seismic, and hydrologic—and risks associated with several options to manage the water level of Spirit Lake (fs.usda.gov/treesearch/pubs/54429). The USFS is the agency charged with management of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, including an engineered outlet for Spirit Lake.
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| A tunnel was constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers after the Mount St. Helens eruption, to allow Spirit Lake water to flow again into the Toutle River, in order to prevent catastrophic flooding below the lake. Photo from Army Corps of Engineers |
The 1980 eruption began with an enormous landslide, released as a series of massive blocks of rock and ice from the volcano. Most of the sliding debris sped 22 km (13.7 mi) down the North Fort Toutle River, filling the valley to an average depth of about 45 m (148 ft) in about ten minutes.
Part of the landslide slammed into Spirit Lake, blocking its natural outlet and raising the lake level by 60 m (197 ft). In the area between Spirit Lake and the North Fork Toutle River to the west, the landslide deposit is as thick as 195 m (640 ft).
Without an outlet, the lake rose with each rainstorm and seasonal snowmelt. By August 1982, the lake level had risen another 16.5 m (54 ft). At that filling rate, water was projected to possibly breach the blockage and produce a catastrophic flood by 1985.
Such a flood would likely lead to loss of life and extensive damage (more than $1 billion) in communities downstream along the Toutle, Cowlitz, and Columbia rivers.
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| A mammoth tunnel boring machine used to give relief to water in Spirit Lake after Mount St. Helens erupted. Photo from Army Corps of Engineers |
Ultimately, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed a 2.6-km (8,500 ft) long, 3.4-m (11 ft) diameter tunnel through a bedrock ridge on the west side of Spirit Lake to deliver its water back into the North Fork Toutle River. The tunnel has successfully controlled the lake level since 1985.
However, several major and costly repairs to the tunnel, owing to damage caused by surrounding rock squeezing it, were necessary in 1995, 1996, and 2016. Additional repairs are expected in the future.
When sections of the tunnel are repaired or upgraded, the tunnel is closed for many months. Repairs always happen during the winter rainy season to ensure adequate streamflow downstream for fish. With the tunnel closed, the lake level rises, and during each repair water has approached its maximum “safe” level.
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| Tunnel from Spirit Lake, following Mount Saint Helens eruption's landslide blocking natural outflow of water in the lake. Photo from Army Corps of Engineers |
To address this concern, an interagency task force evaluated risks associated with the current tunnel and alternative outlets. The new report summarizes those potential risks, including those to an engineered open channel just below the volcano’s north-facing crater, an option exposed to volcanic events that could block or damage the channel, and a buried pipe through the chaotic landslide deposit.
Another much anticipated report is expected soon from the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (dels.nas.edu/Study-In-Progress/Long-term-Management-Spirit/DELS-BESR-15-03). This report will focus on a “framework for technical decision making related to the long-term management of risks related to the Spirit Lake/Toutle River system” and take into consideration “regional economic, cultural, and societal priorities.”
As yet, the USFS has not made any decisions regarding a new outlet strategy. The new reports will help inform such decisions given the volcanic, seismic, and hydrologic hazards that threaten each alternative as well as the long-term costs.
Visit HVO website for past Volcano Watch articles, volcano updates and photos, recent earthquake info, and more. Call for summary updates at 808-967-8862 (Kīlauea) or 808-967-8866 (Mauna Loa). Email questions to ask HVO@usgs.gov.
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Pick up the September edition of The Ka'ū Calendar delivered free to 5,500 mailboxes throughout Ka'ū, from Miloli'i through Volcano. Also available on stands throughout the district. See it online at kaucalendar.com |
Girls Volleyball
Friday, Oct. 6, Ka'ū vs. Kealakehe, home.
Wednesday, Oct. 11, Ka'ū vs. Kohala, away.
Friday, Oct. 13, Ka'ū vs. Honoka'a, home.
Wednesday, Oct. 11, Ka'ū vs. Kohala, away.
Friday, Oct. 13, Ka'ū vs. Honoka'a, home.
Eight-Man Football
Saturday, Oct. 7, Ka'ū vs. Kohala, home.
Saturday, Oct. 21, Ka'ū vs. Pāhoa, home.
Saturday, Oct. 7, Ka'ū vs. Kohala, home.
Saturday, Oct. 21, Ka'ū vs. Pāhoa, home.
Cross Country
Saturday, Oct. 7, Ka'ū vs. Kea'au, away.
Saturday, Oct. 13, Ka'ū vs. BIIF, away.
Saturday, Oct. 7, Ka'ū vs. Kea'au, away.
Saturday, Oct. 13, Ka'ū vs. BIIF, away.
Cheerleading
Wednesday, Oct. 4, at Konawaena.
Wednesday, Oct. 18, at Kamehameha.
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REGISTER KEIKI GRADES K-8 FOR AN ART CLASS until Tuesday, Oct. 3. The class, Cupcake Liner Owl, takes place from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 4, at the Pāhala Community Center. For more, call 928-3102.
VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT MEETS MONDAY, Oct. 2, at 4 p.m., at the Ocean View Community Center. For more, call 939-7033.
TWO STORY TIME EVENTS ARE OFFERED AT KA'Ū LIBRARIES the first week of October. Tūtū and Me Traveling Preschool staff will read a book aloud to keiki of all ages, with "a fun activity and snack provided following the story,” according to the event flier issued by Hawai‘i State Public Library System.
Story Time is free to attend and will take place from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at Nā‘ālehu Public Library on Monday, Oct. 2, and from 10:30 a.m. to noon at Pāhala Public Library on Thursday, Oct. 5.
For more information call Nā‘ālehu Public Library at 939-2442 or Pāhala Public Library at 928-2015. For more library events, visit librarieshawaii.org/events.
DANCE IMAGINED, a class lead by Karen Masaki that “encourages exploration and builds strength and fluidity for pure exhilaration of movement,” will be held on Tuesdays this month: Oct. 3, 10, 17, 24, and 31. The classes will take place at the Volcano Art Center from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and incur a fee of $20 non-members and $15 for Volcano Art Center members or $50 for the entire series. For more, call 967-8222.
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HAWAI‘I COUNTY COUNCIL MEETS Tuesday, Oct. 3, and Wednesday, Oct. 4. Ka‘ū residents can participate via videoconferencing at Nā‘ālehu State Office Building. Agendas at hawaiicounty.gov.
KA‘Ū COFFEE GROWERS MEET TUESDAY, Oct. 3, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Pāhala Community Center.
NATIONAL COFFEE WITH A COP DAY takes place on Wednesday, Oct. 4. All are welcome to celebrate with Ka‘ū police officers from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Ka‘ū District Gymnasium Conference Room in Pāhala. The event is a casual talk-story opportunity with no agenda, where attendees can meet local police officers. Coffee and pastries will be available at no cost.
OPEN MIC NIGHT AT KĪLAUEA MILITARY CAMP’S LAVA LOUNGE, in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 4, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Call 967-8365 after 4 p.m. to sign up. Open to authorized patrons and sponsored guests. Park entrance fees apply. For more details, call 967-8371.
HULA VOICES takes place on Thursday, Oct. 5, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Volcano Art Center Gallery in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. Desiree Moana Cruz moderates this free event, with Kumu hula Iwalani Kalima of Hula Hālau O Kou Lima Nani E presenting her hula experiences. Park entrance fees apply.
OCEAN VIEW NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH MEETS THURSDAY, Oct. 5, at 7 p.m. in the Ocean View Community Center.
For more information call Nā‘ālehu Public Library at 939-2442 or Pāhala Public Library at 928-2015. For more library events, visit librarieshawaii.org/events.
DANCE IMAGINED, a class lead by Karen Masaki that “encourages exploration and builds strength and fluidity for pure exhilaration of movement,” will be held on Tuesdays this month: Oct. 3, 10, 17, 24, and 31. The classes will take place at the Volcano Art Center from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and incur a fee of $20 non-members and $15 for Volcano Art Center members or $50 for the entire series. For more, call 967-8222.
KA‘Ū COFFEE GROWERS MEET TUESDAY, Oct. 3, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Pāhala Community Center.
NATIONAL COFFEE WITH A COP DAY takes place on Wednesday, Oct. 4. All are welcome to celebrate with Ka‘ū police officers from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Ka‘ū District Gymnasium Conference Room in Pāhala. The event is a casual talk-story opportunity with no agenda, where attendees can meet local police officers. Coffee and pastries will be available at no cost.
OPEN MIC NIGHT AT KĪLAUEA MILITARY CAMP’S LAVA LOUNGE, in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 4, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Call 967-8365 after 4 p.m. to sign up. Open to authorized patrons and sponsored guests. Park entrance fees apply. For more details, call 967-8371.
HULA VOICES takes place on Thursday, Oct. 5, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Volcano Art Center Gallery in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. Desiree Moana Cruz moderates this free event, with Kumu hula Iwalani Kalima of Hula Hālau O Kou Lima Nani E presenting her hula experiences. Park entrance fees apply.
OCEAN VIEW NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH MEETS THURSDAY, Oct. 5, at 7 p.m. in the Ocean View Community Center.
SUPPORT FOR STUDENTS WHO HELP WITH ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES IN THE COMMUNITY is offered by The Nature Conservancy. The Nature Conservancy has announced a call for applications through Nov. 3 for student projects that develop nature-based, green infrastructure solutions to an environmental challenge in their community. For full details on requirements, eligibility, and how to apply go to NatureWorksEverywhere.org/#grants.
