Question: What’s up with signs saying "Ahupua‘a Wai- he‘e," "Ahupua‘a Waiahole," etc., along the Windward Coast? What a waste of money. Most local people wouldn’t even know what the signs mean. We have enough signs as it is.
Answer: Fourteen signs have been installed in the Koolaupoko district, from Kualoa to Hawaii Kai, to mark the boundaries of traditional ahupuaa (land divisions).
The signs stem from the Ko‘olaupoko Hawaiian Civic Club’s Ahupua‘a Boundary Markers Project, funded by the Castle Foundation and Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and reflect a collaborative community-government effort.
They are consistent with the state Department of Transportation’s own Ahupua‘a Boundary Marker program, being developed "as part of the department’s effort to add local context to our state roads and meet road safety standards," said DOT spokesman Dan Meisenzahl.
"It is especially significant since many state roads follow the same routes as the ancient Hawaiian transportation network, which is over 1,000 years old."
The signs "are about building stewardship and sustainability," said Mahealani Cypher, who oversaw the Koolaupoko project for the civic club.
"In ancient times, ahupuaa were used as a means of managing resources and people," she explained. "The signs are meant to identify the boundaries of the traditional ahupuaa and, hopefully, to inform the com- munity that within these boundaries, whoever lives in there, works in there, it is their kuleana (responsibility) to care for the resources, whether it’s stream clean- ups, beach cleanups or other resources within their ahupuaa.
"It’s really to connect people with the kuleana to malama, take care of, the aina and the ocean."
Cypher said her club worked with The Outdoor Circle, four other Hawaiian civic clubs and five neighborhood boards within the Koolaupoko district to determine sign locations, "then went to the state and city to get their OK to move forward."
The DOT approved the signs as a standard for designating ahupuaa boundaries statewide. It shows a graphic of a pig’s ("puaa") head atop an altar ("ahu") of stones. The first sign was installed in January on Mokapu Boulevard, adjacent to Aikahi Shopping Center.
One ahupuaa sign also has been installed in Nanakuli, as part of a similar project being planned for the Waianae Coast and expected to be completed in early 2012.
As in the Koolaupoko project, community groups will likely be responsible for the research on the placement of the markers and cost, Meisenzahl said. The DOT will install the signs. In Koolaupoko, the cost of installation was $2,800.
"It is very similar to our Adopt-A-Highway program and is an excellent example of a partnership between the community and the government," Meisenzahl said.
Mahalo
To the little girl who found and turned in my purse at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Everything was intact. — Lillian Norishige
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