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When it comes to historic preservation, landscapes as well as structures can hold profound cultural, religious and historical value, according to Kiersten Faulkner, executive director of the Historic Hawai‘i Foundation.
One example is the vast, lava-crusted Lekeleke Burial Grounds in North Kona, Hawaii island, where hundreds of warriors died in battle in 1819; it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
A different sort of landscape is Oahu’s Kaena Point; revered in Hawaiian tradition as a leina a kauhane, where the souls of the dead leap into the sea, it is “significant not only for the pohaku (stones) and other natural features, but for intangible elements — people’s beliefs, traditionsand practices — that make it a sacred site,” Faulkner said.
Such places, she said, can be harder for Native Hawaiian organizations to defend during a review process required under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, when federal agencies pursue development projects that could harm Native American or Native Hawaiian sites.
In response, the Advisory Council for Historic Preservation has developed a new, online Section 106 course and will hold a training seminar, in partnership with the Historic Hawai‘i Foundation, at the Honolulu YWCA on Saturday.
“Native Hawaiians have a right to participate in the review process, so we developed this online course to help prepare them to do that effectively,” said Valerie Hauser, director of ACHP’s Office of Native American Affairs.
The act that created ACHP “said federal agencies had to stop, look and listen before they went forth with projects,” and was amended in 1992 to require that the agencies consult with Native American and Native Hawaiian organizations, Hauser said.
Section 106 cases involving archaeological sites on Oahu have included the building of the H-3 interstate freeway; the U.S. military firing range in Makua Valley; the development of Honolulu Rail Transit; and the creation of Kalaeloa Heritage Park after the Navy closed its Barbers Point station in 1999.
A current Section 106 case is a proposed Federal Highway Administration/state Department of Transportation highway project on Likelike Highway on Oahu, said Stanton Enomoto, senior program director for the Department of the Interior Office of Native Hawaiian Relations, who will moderate a panel of national and local preservation practitioners at the seminar.
The new online course “benefits both government agencies and Native Hawaiian organizations, as it sets the framework for early outreach, coordination to identify and protect historic properties, and establish mitigation responsibilities during project implementation,” Enomoto said via email.
Panelists at the YWCA event will include William Dancing Feather, Native American Program analyst with ACHP, who developed the course with Hauser; June Noelani Cleghorn, senior cultural resources manager for Marine Corps Base Hawaii; cultural consultant Mahealani Cypher; Susan Lebo, archaeology branch chief in the State Historic Preservation Division of the Department of Land and Natural Resources; and Kai Markell, compliance enforcement manager at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, which provided support for the seminar through an ‘Ahahui Grant.
“While there has been moderate success in some projects, like the five-mile Queen Ka‘ahumanu Highway widening project on Hawai‘i Island,” Markell wrote in an email, “there were also challenging projects, such as the Section 106 NHPA Programmatic Agreement for the U.S. Army Stryker Brigade Transformation on Oahu and Hawaii Island, which unfortunately ended up with litigation by OHA against the Army.”
Because federal projects and money are used in many local undertakings, Markell added, Section 106 consultations provide valuable “insertion points to allow advocates to speak up and protect the last vestiges of our Hawaiian culture.”
Understanding the process and its outcomes is important, he added, “for all of us who love and call Hawaii home.”
The seminar is free and open to the public, with registration required at historichawaii.org.
FREE EVENT
>> What: Community seminar on how to consult with federal agencies to protect Native Hawaiian sites
>> When: 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Saturday
>> Where: YWCA of Honolulu, 1040 Richards St.
>> Cost: Free, but space is limited
>> Info: To register, visit historichawaii.org
The Advisory Council for Historic Preservation has developed a new, online Section 106 course and will hold a training seminar, in partnership with the Historic Hawai‘i Foundation, at the Honolulu YWCA on Saturday. “Native Hawaiians have a right to participate in the review process, so we developed this online course to help prepare them to do that effectively,” said Valerie Hauser, director of ACHP’s Office of Native American Affairs.
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