Ka‘ū News Briefs, Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022

    Visitation at Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National in 2021 increased 114% from 2020 when 589,775 people came during the first year of the pandemic.
    The statement pointed out that "While most visitors to Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park limit their visit to the often-crowded summit of Kīlauea hoping to witness an eruption, the volatile history of Mauna Loa volcano is revealed in the park's uncrowded Kahuku Unit, located in Kaʻū."
    The Kahuku entrance is an hour drive south of the park's main entrance, with eight hiking trails, a deep pit crater enrobed in native plants, and a 150-year ranching history. Rolling green puʻu (hills) intersect

Kahuku VSC and ranch house from Puu o Lokuana. NPS Photo by B.Hayes

with lava from the 1868 eruption of Mauna Loa, "one of the most profound natural disasters in Hawaiian history. It is a captivating landscape, and one that most visitors miss on their way to Kīlauea," says the park statement.
     The park suggests additional less visited sites: "Another 'must-go' park, located about 100 miles from the main entrance of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, is Puʻukoholā Heiau National Historic Site in Kawaihae. The massive heiau (temple) built by Kamehameha the First, his warriors and other kāne (men) is a monument to the beginning stages of the Hawaiian Kingdom. This is where Kamehameha sealed the fate of his Kaʻū cousin, Keōua Kūʻahuʻula, ending a bloody civil war. It is also where blacktip reef sharks cruise over a submerged heiau. A scenic stretch of the Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail starts just south of the heiau."
    Kahuku and Puʻukoholā Heiau do not charge entrance fees. The $55 Hawaiʻi Tri-Park Pass provides access to three fee-charging parks in Hawaiʻi: Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park and Haleakalā National Park on Maui. The tri-park pass is available at the participating parks' entrance stations and is valid for one year from the purchase date.
    National Park Service 2021 visitation statistics for all parks are available on the NPS Visitor Use Statistics website.  More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America's 421 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Learn more at www.nps.gov, and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

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Tulsi Gabbard (center) met with Kaʻū Coffee farmers John Ah San, Gloria Camba, Efren Abellera and Kili Matsui at Ka'u Coffee Mill during her tenure representing Kaʻū and all of rural Hawai'i from 2013 to 2021 in the U.S. Congress. Gabbard left her post in the U.S. House, ran for President, frequented Fox News as a commentator, and is considered  a possible candidate for President or VP. She will speak at this week's Conservative Political Action Conference in Florida. Photo by Julia Neal

TULSI GABBARD IS BACK ON THE POLITICAL STAGE, named as a speaker at the next Conservative Political Action Conference, which starts Wednesday in Orlando, FL. CPAC is largely Republican and friendly to Pres. Donald Trump. Gabbard is a Democrat.