Ka‘ū News Briefs, Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Sunset and stargazing adventures are back in action on Maunakea, as the University of Hawaiʻi establishes new rules for access and operations on the mauna. The businesses shut down in July during protests blocking the road to construction of the planned Thirty Meter Telescopes. See story below. Photo from Mauna Kea Summit Adventures

AFTER A WILD WEEKEND OF FLOODING at ranches and farms in Kaʻū, with roads torn up and streams breaching their banks to carve new paths through the land, the weather calmed down Monday into Tuesday.
    Phil Becker, President of the Kaʻū Farm Bureau, reported 17 inches of rain at the Aikane coffee farm and ranch. He said he and Merle found 1500 to 2,000 feet of fencing taken down by the storm.
He said he wants to thank Ray Mizuno and his county road team for cleaning up the old cane haul road between Pāhala and Nāʻālehu. Becker said he has never before seen such a stream of vehicles that steadily traveled on the mountain bypass during the nearly 24 hours from Saturday night into Sunday when Hwy 11 was closed with flooding at Kāwā Flats. He noted damage to the rural bridges, including one near his home.

A rural bridge was damaged during the recent flooding. Photo by Phil Becker

     Kapāpala Ranch reported 15.05 inches of rain in four days, from Thursday through Monday at 8 a.m., with most of it from Saturday to Sunday morning. Residents and workers reported ranch roads destroyed and having to make new paths across pastures to travel Pāhala.
     National Weather Service recorded the peak three-day total day from 2018's Hurricane Lane– the highest flow in 30 years – was 56 inches at KahunaFalls, with a storm total of 58 inches. The preliminary peak flow value from WailukuRiver from this storm system was 52,500 cubic feet per second at a stage value of 21.61 feet. This was the second highest flow value in the last 30 years; peak flow from Lane's rainfall was 82,300 cfs at 24.40 ft stage. At Honoliʻi Stream just north of Hilo, peak flow on the night of Saturday, Jan. 11 had a preliminary value of 14,200 cfs at 17.32 ft stage, which is the fourth highest in the last 30 years. By comparison, peak flow at this site from Hurricane Lanewas 19,900 cfs at 19.9 ft stage.

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TULSI GABBARD'S PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN RELEASED THE FOLLOWING, AHEAD OF TODAY'S DEMOCRATIC DEBATE. The tribute to Kaʻū's congresswoman who is running for President, without participation in the debate, comes from a Standing Rock Sioux Tribe member, Cody Two Bears, who wrote: "I'm not watching tonight's debate and I hope you'll give me a second to explain why: Not one of those candidates on the stage tonight speak for me. Most don't speak for you. Billionaires and millionaires, people who bought their way onto the stage, establishment mouthpieces, a candidate who appropriated my culture — they don't represent our diverse American voices. Where are the indigenous voices? The women of color? The warriors for peace? The people like Tulsi who time and time again have stood on the front lines of the most important challenges facing our nation."
     Cody Two Bears stated that "Tulsi is all of those things, but mostly she's a leader who shows up. She showed up at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota to stand arm in arm with my tribe against Big Oil and the Dakota Access Pipeline when they tried to grab our land and soil our planet for dirty profits. She showed up as a soldier in Iraq, and then Kuwait, to put her life on the line for all of us. Tulsi always shows up... and then she listens.

Cody Two Bears of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe calls Gabbard a "Warrior for the People." Photo from Cody Two Bears

     "I firmly believe now more than ever — while we face a warming world, a planet on the brink, the threat of war with Iran, and nuclear war — we need a president who will ensure the history, the lived experience and the voices of indigenous people, and black and brown people around the world, are heard. We need a candidate who can bridge the great and growing divide between Americans that ignores our common humanity. Our common dreams of shared health, wealth and happiness. I believe Tulsi is the only candidate who can do this, and that's why we need to stand with her now. When our voices are being silenced, and left off that debate stage. When we're being out-raised and outspent by candidates who don't represent all of us.
     "Tulsi represents the values of living in harmony with nature and having respect for the Great Spirit, Father God and Mother Earth. She has the spirit of aloha, respect for all. Tulsi is not just speaking up for my people, she's a voice for indigenous people everywhere: No other candidate is standing up for the indigenous people of the Middle East, the indigenous Yazidis, Druze, Christians, and minority Muslims that are being targeted and persecuted based on their beliefs, bankrolled by Saudi Arabia. Will you help me today in lifting up Tulsi's voice for peace, for our planet, for all of us?"
     In lieu of the dabate, Gabbard scheduled a live stream talk story with Dennis Kucinich, Lawrence Lessig, and Stephen Kinzer. Her campaign calls it "an urgent and timely conversation about the escalating war with Iran, the constitutionality of Trump's actions and the best path forward to peace." It is available at tulsi.to/discussion.

Sunset is spectacular on Maunakea and part of the Hawaiʻi Forest & Trail tour. Photo from Hawaiʻi Forest & Trail

MAUNAKEA TOUR COMPANIES WILL LIKELY RECEIVE NEW PERMITS to continue their operations. Gov. David Ige on Monday approved and signed new administrative rules for Maunakea land managed by University of Hawaiʻi. The rules take effect on Thursday, Jan. 23.
     Tour companies, some of them in business for decades to offer sunset and stargazing from Maunakea, shut down last July when protesters of the planned Thirty Meter Telescope blocked the road to the summit to stop construction trucks. Companies laid off tour guides, drivers, mechanics, and other workers and cancelled catering and other services, for the tours, which provided employment in the community.
     Maunakea tour companies are up and running again with reservations available online.

     The UH Board of Regents adopted the new rules on Monday after an 11-hour meeting at UH Hilo, where 99 people testified. 

     UH Hilo Chancellor Bonnie Irwin, who oversees the Master Plan and Comprehensive Management Plan for UH-managed lands on Maunakea, said this week, "It is now time to utilize these rules to address the issues with excessive traffic that have been raised, as well as to issue new permits for commercial tour operations. We look forward to working with the community as we move forward."

     Ige said, "With the opening of Mauna Kea Access Road and a return to normal activity on the mountain, I believe it is the right time to approve the rules. I have personally observed that there was too much traffic on Mauna Keaand these rules will give the university the tools needed to better manage public and commercial access."

Bonnie Irwin is UH Hilo Chancellor  and says it is time to address traffic  and issue new permits for  commercial tours on Maunakea.

     The purpose of the rules, under HRS section 20-26-1, is to "provide for the proper use, management, and protection of cultural, natural, and scientific resources of the UH management areas; to promote public safety and welfare by regulating public and commercial activity within the UH management areas; to ensure safe and appropriate access to the UH management areas for the public; and to foster co-management with the Department of Land and Natural Resources in UH management areas."

     The governor's office stated the final version of the rules "is the result of extensive consultation and public outreach" that included Native Hawaiian organizations, Hawaiʻi Island business organizations, commercial tour operators and government agencies including the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Department of Land and Natural Resources, the Office of the Hawaiʻi County Mayor, the Mauna Kea Management Board, and Kahu Kū Mauna.

THE COUNTY'S SOLID WASTE MEETING FOR KAʻŪ TONIGHT was cancelled due to the recent stormy weather and will be rescheduled. The Public Information Meeting by County of Hawai‘i Department of Environmental Management's Solid Waste Division had been scheduled for tonight, Jan. 14 at Nā‘ālehu Clubhouse. Among the topics to come up at the next meeting will be improvements and changes at the county's transfer and recycling stations where people take their trash.
     Visit hawaiizerowaste.org or call the Solid Waste Division Office at 961-8270 for more.