Ka‘ū News Briefs, Tuesday, July 20, 2021

THE RESOLUTION ON KIOLAKA'A, TO AUTHORIZE COUNTY OF HAWAI`I TO NEGOTIATE TO PURCHASE THE 1800 acresn using county and state funds, passed the County Council's Finance Committee today and is headed to the full County Council for consideration. The property would be held in stewardship by the Ala Kahakai Trail Association. All of the live and written testimony presented today supports the measure.

    Ninth grader Nali'ipo'aimoku Harman  is named in honor of a "great, great, great grandmother, a native of Kaʻū. It's a name that commemorates a trip around Hawai'i island by two of my kupuna, Kaʻū chiefs who were cousins." Harman wrote that "Growing up on Hawai'i Island, I have been blessed to be able to holoholo to Kaʻū. As a baby, my mother tells me that I would fall asleep in the water of Punalu'u while waves crashed all around me, no matter how cold the water was. May parents would take me to Honu'apo where I wold pass the time exploring tide pools with my siblings. We hiked down to Waikapuna where I helped to collect rubbish that found its way upon the shore there because of the strong Kaʻū ocean current.
    "I know that so many places in Hawai'i have been developed and that the experiences of my cousins and peers living elsewhere are so limited because they do not have access to nature like we do here. As a Native Hawaiian with Kaʻū blood, I know it is my kuleana to take care of this place. He ali'i ka 'aina, he kaua ke kanaka. This land is my chief and I will always try to protect and serve it. How will my generation and those that come after me know how to truly take care of our 'aina if places like Kiolaka'a are not protected?"

    Trust for Public Land wrote that it has "worked with Kaʻū community organizations for years to preserve its beloved 80 mile coast to honor Kaʻū's ancestors and allow all current and future generations to be nourished by these coastal lands. Kiolaka'a is part of a landscape level effort to protect the Kaʻū coast. We helped to protect Waikapuna in 2010 with County and State funding and Kawala and Manaka'a which are permanently restricted to agriculture and through privately funded conservation easements. We are currently working to conserve Kauanamano with State and County funding. Combined these projects protect a 6,600 acre cultural and natural landscape, connected by over 6 milers of the Ala Kahakai Trail."
    The TPL letter noted 34 letters of support for the protection of Kiolaka'a, from such organizations as Ka Ohana O Honu'apo, Ho'omau Ka'u, The Nature Conservancy, Hawai'i Wildlife Fund, The Mary Kawena Puku'i Cultural Preservation Society, Makahanaloa Fishing Association, Sierra Club, Hui Aloha Kioho, E Mau Na Ala Hele, Huliauapa'a, 'OHana Keohokalole, the Cave Conservancy, Mj Ranch, Triple LLL Ranch, Kuahiwi Ranch and Office of Hawaiian affairs among others.

    Ka 'Ohana O Honu'apo's letter focused on Ka'alu'alu Bay, its eastern side within the Kiolaka'a lands. 

The letter from Megan Lamson says that K'alu'alu Bay was "once a flourishing fishpond that provided sustenance for local residents. It is critical for places like this one to be protected from development and providing resources for our local community..."

     The measure regarding the purchase of Kiolaka'a for preservation is expected to come up before the full County Council in August.

THE BLUE PACIFIC ACT from Congressman Ed Case is approved by the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Foreign Affairs. Case reported today that the Committee has included the bulk of his Boosting LongTerm U.S. Engagement in the Pacific Act in its major measure, the Ensuring American Global Leadership and Engagement Act. He said the Act would reassert U.S. leadership and engagement across an all government spectrum in non-defense programs. It would expand Peace Corps in the Pacific Islands.
    It was approved by the House Foreign Affairs Committee last Thursday after substantial debate. H.R. 2967, the BLUE Pacific Act, establishes a long-term comprehensive strategy for U.S. engagement in the critical Pacific Islands region.
    The sections included as part of the EAGLE Act would: Expand U.S. diplomatic and development presence in the Pacific Islands; require coordination of U.S. engagement, including security and development assistance, through a formal consultative process with regional partners, allies and multilateral institutions; direct U.S. agencies to devise and implement a strategy to invest in climate
resilient development projects, including by using the U.S. voice and vote at international financial institutions, and authorize $50 million per year for the next five years for this purpose.
    It would also expand coverage of the International Law Enforcement Academies program to the Pacific Islands; establish a comprehensive strategy for U.S. security assistance to the Pacific Islands to enhance maritime security, address illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, tackle transnational crimes like human and drug trafficking, and more.
    The measure would increase U.S. efforts to assist the Pacific Islands in addressing transnational crime through ratification and implementation of international legal instruments and enhanced action on illegal forestry and logging; implement an emergency preparedness initiative for the Pacific Islands through education and training programs, technical assistance and more, and authorize $40 million per year for the next five years for this purpose.