Hawai‘i Volcanoes Park weighs larger role for Native Hawaiians

Change is a constant at Kilauea Volcano, and the 2018 eruption and summit collapse that took out major visitor and scientific facilities at Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park is providing an opportunity for further change in the form of a disaster recovery project.

The park is one of the state’s most popular visitor attractions, and some Native Hawaiians and community members say any new development should emphasize the volcano’s cultural importance and not just focus on restoring its status as a tourism “cash cow.”

The collapse of the caldera at Halemaumau Crater, starting in May 2018, triggered 60,000 earthquakes and clouds of rock and ash at the summit over a roughly three-month period. The historic Jaggar Museum and Reginald T. Okamura building housing the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory were severely damaged and have been vacant since.

The national park was closed for an unprecedented 134 days before once again welcoming visitors, and attendance was steadily picking up before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Nearly 1.37 million people visited the park in 2019, spending $116 million in nearby communities, according to National Park Service statistics.

The current months-long lull in the state’s visitor industry has been seen by many as a chance to hit the reset button on tourism across the islands, and especially at heavily visited areas that are also popular with locals.

A disaster recovery project for HVNP presents four initial design concepts to repair and/or replace visitor and administrative buildings as well as U.S. Geological Survey facilities damaged in 2018. The project also proposes updates to relieve overcrowding at the Kilauea Visitor Center, which has worsened with the closure of Jaggar Musuem.

Park officials say the final concept likely will be designed and constructed in phases over many years, as funding allows.

Of particular interest in recovery plans is Uekahuna Bluff, an area of geologic, natural and cultural significance where Jaggar Museum and the Okamura building are located. Pretty much beyond reasonable repair, the buildings are surrounded by fault lines and the area continues to subside on the crater side, park officials say, undermining the stability of terraces and building foundations.

The civic engagement process for the recovery project was hampered by COVID limitations on public gatherings, and the National Park Service and the USGS used other means to solicit community input.

A recently released Civic Engagement and Comment Analysis Report summarizes the initial public comments. Planners received 159 pieces of correspondence from nine states and Great Britian, with Hawaii residents accounting for approximately 78% of the submittals, the report said. Concerns and suggestions touched on traffic, parking, pedestrian access and safety, building design, the visitor experience, visual impacts, natural resources and other topics.

Comments were received from the Historic Hawai‘i Foundation, the Hawaii County Planning Department, the Edith Kanaka‘ole Foundation, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and other groups and individuals.

A large number of commenters expressed that Uekahuna Bluff is “a sacred site,” requesting it be treated as such and permanently set aside for cultural practitioners to gather and for ceremonial purposes, the report said.

One commenter said visitor-oriented facilities should be scaled back and more weight given to the priorities of Native Hawaiians instead of proceeding with a mindset that focuses “on the visitor industry being the cash cow that supports NPS operations.”

Bobby Camara, who lives in nearby Volcano village and worked off and on at the park for 30 years before retiring in 2013, is a member of a kupuna advisory committee that participated in the civic engagement. He noted the proposals were drafted before COVID-19 and don’t reflect the current need to limit crowds.

“It does reflect the fact that the park, which like the rest of Hawaii the island and the state, was extremely congested with visitors, many of us believe simply too many visitors, and my comments reflect that,” he said last week. “They also reflect that Native Hawaiians have been in and around the park for a thousand years and the federal government for a little more than 100. Many of us believe that it is time for the management of the lands and all park resources to reflect Native Hawaiian thinking, values and practices.”

Camara said that instead of expanding facilities to accommodate out-of-state visitors, officials should seek “to limit visitation to protect, conserve and perpetuate our cultural resources.” As a precedent, Camara cited Maui’s Haleakala National Park, which established visitor limits and a reservation system for sunrise viewing due to overcrowding.

Although four initial design concepts are under consideration, there are common elements. Among them:

>> Jaggar Museum and the Okamura building would be demolished, with most of the existing footprint restored to natural conditions. Some remnants of the buildings may be salvaged and incorporated into a 2,800- square-foot, open-air viewing shelter.

>> A second area, previously used as an informal viewing area, would become a formalized, 7,000-square-foot overlook located along Crater Rim Trail south of the public parking area.

>> If needed, a new parking lot would be built on the other side of Crater Rim Drive to alleviate severe congestion.

>> Existing trails around Kilauea Visitor Center would be connected to form a loop trail linking the visitor center to other amenities and nearby overlooks. The existing covered lanai at the center would be reduced in size to restore the integrity of the historic building and current outdoor exhibits would be replaced and relocated to a new covered lanai area.

>> The park entrance road and kiosk would be modified to improve vehicle circulation and reduce congestion.

Officials say the public comments will be used for refining a design concept and developing proposed actions that will be open to additional community input prior to the environmental analysis process, tentatively planned for early 2021.

READ THE REPORT

>> Find the Civic Engagement and Comment Analysis Report at 808ne.ws/hvnpcomments.