Park seeks way to control Haleakala crowding

Haleakala National Park on Maui is taking suggestions from the public on how to deal with overcrowding at the summit during sunrise.

Park officials said they are developing an environmental assessment.

Public meetings, starting at 5:30 p.m., are scheduled for Wednesday at the Hannibal Tavares Community Center in Pukalani and for Thursday in the multipurpose room at Baldwin High School in Wailuku.

The park began a pilot reservation system in February, requiring people to register if they were planning to park in one of the 150 parking stalls at the summit to watch the sunrise.

Observers said that the number of vehicles in the past sometimes reached 250 and that cars were parking on the grass along the driveway to the park, creating a potential hazard to people and the environment.

Park officials said the reservation system will be evaluated as part of the environmental assessment.

Matt Wordeman, president of the nonprofit Friends of Haleakala National Park, said his group supports the pilot reservation program in so far as keeping excess cars out.

But Wordeman said the system has cut the number of visitors to the summit and that his group is seeking a way to bring those numbers back up.

He said the group would like to see more public parking spaces at lower elevations served by a shuttle to the summit.

Wordeman also said more viewing platforms could be developed to accommodate more people at the summit.

Suggestions may be provided by mail to Haleakala National Park, P.O. Box 369, Makawao, HI 96758; or online at parkplanning.nps.gov/sunrise.