Ka`u News Briefs Friday, June 12, 2015

Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park received a federal award for its many environmentally responsible efforts, including recycling.
NPS Photo

AN EXAMPLE OF SAVING THREATENED agricultural land is rolling out on O`ahu, where Hawai`i lawmakers have allocated $10 million to purchase 500 acres of ag land for a project to revitalize the local ag industry. According to a story in Pacific Business News, the plan is to bring farmers and the state together to increase local food production, create jobs and provide affordable housing.

The state is purchasing ag land on O`ahu to keep it in food production.
Photo from ADC

The most threatened ag land in Ka`u where farmers are hoping for a plan for land security is at Moa`ula and Pear Tree. There, above Pahala, displaced sugar workers and other local farmers have built a successful coffee industry during the last two decades, only to find themselves with the land up for sale, the coffee used to market the land, and no long-term leases.
In another state effort to save ag land, but on O`ahu, PBN reported that the state Legislature appropriated $500,000 to study feasibility of exchanging state land for 5,000 acres that Dole Food Co. wants to sell.
The state previously acquired a warehouse in Central O`ahu for $4.3 million, beginning a plan that includes thousands of acres of farmlands and an agricultural hub with an ag technology park, an ag foreign-trade zone, workforce housing and the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at University of Hawai`i Manoa.
The state’s Agribusiness Development Corp., an agency of the Department of Agriculture, is heading the plan. ADC’s mission is to acquire and manage, in partnership with farmers, ranchers and aquaculture groups, selected high-value lands, water systems and infrastructure for commercial agricultural use and to direct research into areas that will lead to development of new crops, markets and lower production costs.
The agency’s main goals are to transition former plantation land and water systems for diversified agriculture, initiate development of facilities and provide support as necessary for successful diversified agriculture and provide solutions to certain bottleneck issues facing the agriculture industry.

See bizjournals.com/pacific.
To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Hawai`i's endangered false killer whales are seldom seen.
Photo by Julie E. Steelman

FALSE KILLER WHALES HAVE BEEN SEEN in Big Island waters, and Ka`u fishermen, paddlers, surfers and divers are urged to report any sightings along the Ka`u Coast. The endangered mammals are actually a dolphin species and can be identified by their gray throats and necks. They have slender bodies with elongated, tapered heads. Tall dorsal fins are sickle-shaped, and flippers are narrow, short and pointed. Their fins and flippers have distinctive humps or bulges in the middle of front edges.

The social animals travel in pods of 10 to 20 individuals and dine on fish, including ono, mahimahi and tuna, as well as cephalopods. Hawaiian populations, estimated to be around 130 individuals, are the most studied groups of false killer whales.
The pod seen last week near Kohala was most recently seen four years ago, with one of them not seen for almost three decades.
Call 800-747-7329 with any sightings.
For more information, see cascadiaresearch.org/Hawaii/MayJune2015.htm.

To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

THE U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY recognized Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park with the agency’s Federal Green Challenge Regional Overall Achievement award as part of its efforts to encourage federal departments to reduce their environmental footprints through sustainable practices.

“We applaud National Park Service staff for leading the way toward zero waste and educating the millions of visitors to Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park,” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “This unique landscape deserves protection, and that starts with the commitment by the federal employees who work there.”
“We are extremely honored to receive this level of recognition for our climate-friendly efforts,” said Park Superintendent Cindy Orlando. “Our staff is dedicated to implementing environmentally responsible practices, and we encourage our visitors and park partners to do the same.”

Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park encourages
visitors to avoid plastic bottles.

The park had top regional achievements in the Federal Green Challenge Waste and Purchasing target areas, increasing recycling by 167 percent to achieve an overall rate of 76 percent, while decreasing copy paper purchases by 89 percent. In addition, 95 percent of its cleaning products met Environmental Preferable Purchasing criteria.

Park employees reach out to the community and visitors throughout the year with programs, exhibits and presentations on the values and importance of being climate friendly and sustainable.

The park actively works to reduce their environmental footprint in all six Federal Green Challenge target areas: energy, water, waste, electronics, purchasing and transportation.

The park is home to Hawai`i’s largest public rainwater catchment system that stores 5.3 million gallons of water that is treated, filtered with cartridge and sand filters and disinfected to supply water to 56 areas throughout the park. Water bottle refilling stations, posters and sale of refillable stainless steel water bottles educate the public to “Step Away from the Plastic.”
In addition, the park’s Visitor Emergency Operations Center, which opened in 2011, earned a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Platinum certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. It is currently the only federal building in Hawai`i to receive LEED Platinum certification. The 4,896-square-foot building is powered by photovoltaic panels and is constructed from mostly recycled or reused materials.

The park has made more great strides in conserving energy. Park rangers ride electrically powered Eco Bikes to their programs along the Kilauea summit, saving fossil fuels and parking spaces. Kilauea Visitor Center features special yellow LED lighting to conserve energy and keep night skies dark. Solar panels generate renewable energy, and electric and alternative fuel vehicles further reduce energy and transportation-related emissions.

For more information on the Federal Green Challenge, see epa.gov/fgc.
To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

THE COALITION FOR TOBACCO-FREE HAWAI`I-East Hawai`i awarded Bay Clinic Inc. the third annual Community Excellence award in recognition of World No Tobacco Day.

CTFH-East Hawai`i chose to honor Bay Clinic for its comprehensive tobacco-use policy, which prohibits use of all tobacco products, including electronic smoking devices, on all nine of its campuses, including Na`alehu.

Sally Ancheta, CTFH-East Hawai`i community coalition coordinator, and Lenard Allen, Department of Health, public health educator of East Hawai`i, presented awards to Bay Clinic CEO Harold Wallace and patient services manager Meleah Lerma.

“Bay Clinic has been a forerunner in tobacco control policies and practices for the past 10 years,” Ancheta said. “They are the leading providers of tobacco treatment with programs at the Hilo, Kea`au, Pahoa and Na`alehu clinics.”

Logan Kahele Bishop

For more information about the Bay Clinic tobacco treatment program, contact Jennifer Griffith at 333-3504 or Ancheta at 936-2686, or email sally@tobaccofreehawaii.org.

Also see www.tobaccofreehawaii.org.
To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

HAWAI`I ISLAND POLICE are searching for a 25-year-old Na`alehu man who is wanted on a bench warrant for violating probation. Logan Kahele Bishop is also wanted for questioning in connection with a robbery in Ocean View on June 9. He is described as 5-foot-10, 160 pounds with dark brown hair and brown eyes.

Police ask anyone with information on his whereabouts to call the Police Department’s non-emergency line at 935-3311 or contact Detective Levon Stevens at 326-4646, extension 275, or levon.stevens@hawaiicounty.gov.

THE BAGRADA BUG, A SERIOUS ECONOMIC PEST of agricultural crops, was discovered on Hawai`i Island recently, reported Andrea Kawabata, of the University of Hawai`i Agricultural Extension Service.

Bagrada bugs love cruciferous crops. Photo from UH-CTAHR

Preferred hosts are cruciferous vegetable crops including broccoli, tatsoi, cabbages (head cabbage, Chinese cabbages, etc.), cauliflower, kale, radish, turnip, mustards, brussels sprouts, sweet alyssum, collards and arugula. The bagrada bug can also feed on corn, cucumbers, okra, sugarcane, papaya, potato, cotton, figs and some legumes. In the absence of preferred host crops, this polyphagous pest will feed on a variety of weeds, also in the Brassicaceae plant.
Growers suspecting this insect on their farms or properties are asked to contact Stacey Chun (HDOA Hilo) at 808-974-4146 or stacey.g.chun@hawaii.gov or Rob Curtiss (HDOA Kona) at 808-323-7579 or Robert.T.Curtiss@hawaii.gov.
To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

SEVENTH ANNUAL VOLCANO POTTERY SALE begins today from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. and continues Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Volcano Art Center’s Niaulani Campus in Volcano Village.

In addition to the sale, there will be an exhibit of new work by each potter, and the public is invited to bid for these pieces in a silent auction. Demonstrations of throwing on the potter’s wheel take place Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Call 985-8530 or email ron@ryhpottery.com for more information.

HAWAI`I WILDLIFE FUND AND FRIENDS host their first-ever underwater cleanup event on Hawai`i Island Sunday at South Point. Divers are coming from as far away as Japan and Canada for the cleanup.
Email kahakai.cleanups@gmail.com or meet at the hoists at 10 a.m. with dive gear. The one-tank dive should be pau around lunchtime.

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.