Crackdown helps clean up Kauai park

Napali Coast State Wilderness Park is making a comeback after being marred by tons of rubbish left behind by outlaw commercial enterprises and a “city” of illegal squatters, state Department of Land and Natural Resources officials said Saturday.

Alan Carpenter, assistant administrator for the Division of State Parks, said campers are reporting an “amazing difference” compared to last year.

“The result is a much cleaner place, a much better protected place, and of course a much better experience for people who are legally accessing the place,” he said at a news conference at the Kalanimoku Building.

Napali is the state’s largest park, and only 60 camping permits are allowed in the park per night. Anyone hiking more than 2 miles from the trailhead, or past Hanakapiai, must have a camping permit.

In late 2015, DLNR began strengthening enforcement of park rules in response to the deteriorating conditions. In the past nine months, Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement officers have issued more than 100 citations to violators for being in the park without a permit and arrested one man who was transporting visitors into the park via personal watercraft for a fee.

Francis Kinimaka was found guilty of three boating violations and sentenced to 150 hours of community service.

Francis “Bully” Mission, the conservation division’s Kauai branch chief, said next month officers will begin arresting anyone illegally in the park without a valid ID because too many people have been giving false names when cited. Enforcement officers will fly the violators out of the park by helicopter to arrest them.

Carpenter said at the beginning of the stepped-up enforcement period, maintenance crews were hauling out up to 5,600 pounds of rubbish by helicopter, one or two times a month. Last week, crews left with only one or two bags of trash.

In addition, DLNR officials discovered a commercial tour operator offering an illegal four-day tour into Napali in September for $2,800 a person. The company bought camping permits for six people to resell and planned to bring the customers in through illegal boat traffic. Carpenter said the permits will be revoked.

“They’re actually keeping legitimate users from coming in,” he said.

Carpenter noted that Napali doesn’t have a full-time employee for managing the park, and the department will request funding for four full-time rangers for Napali next legislative session. The state has only two unarmed rangers for 51 parks.

“The net effect on the public is they’re not greeted by anybody, there’s no human interaction,” Carpenter said. “That’s the model that we really have to start to change with the crushing amount of people coming to visit. People expect that and deserve it.”