The Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation plans to train its employees and reexamine its policies following issues with plantings at two city parks in the Waimanalo area.
Last week, during a Waimanalo Neighborhood Board meeting, Parks Director Laura Thielen apologized to the board and the public for cutting down two laamia, or calabash, trees at Waimanalo District Park during a construction project.
Steps were taken to preserve the trees while crews worked on a nearby building, Thielen said, but maintenance workers mistakenly cut them down anyway.
“We had worked with the Department of Design and Construction to make sure that the trees were going to be protected. … Unfortunately, what happened was, when some groundskeepers went to clear the area, they were not aware of it,” Thielen said.
Waimanalo board Chairman Kimeona Kane said the laamia trees were planted decades ago by a cultural practitioner and were used by hula practitioners. The trees produce gourds that are fashioned into uliuli rattles used in hula.
“I know that several practitioners … have utilized that tree as a resource,” Kane said. “Certainly it is an important resource to the hula community.”
Thielen said work is being done to replace the laamia trees at the park and potentially other areas. At the same time, training for the area’s groundskeepers will be conducted to ensure culturally significant trees won’t be cut down again.
At the same board meeting, Thielen reiterated that a garden at another city park, which was also planted by a resident, would not be removed.
Waimanalo resident Mialisa Otis asked about the garden she started without city permission at Hunananiho, a nearby city park that was the site of a proposed construction project until 2019.
Otis started the garden of native plants at the park after the city announced it would stop construction of a field nearby. The construction project inspired protests by neighbors and Native Hawaiians who wanted to preserve the iwi kupuna, or ancestral bones, that have been found in the area.
By the time the project was stopped, a section of the park had been cleared of all plants. But nothing has been done to maintain the area since, and haole koa and other invasive plants have mostly taken over.
“It’s very hot there, so it’s very dry. And what has grown, even during the rainy weather, is just weeds,” Otis said.
A complaint about the garden, which sits along an access road to the beach, had been made to the city, and workers told Otis she had to remove the 30 or so native plants she had been tending. She didn’t have permission to start the garden, but the city has decided against pulling out the plants and is allowing Otis to continue maintaining them for now.
Thielen said the Parks Department is reexamining its policies on planting in parks, mentioning in particular her goal to accommodate cultural practitioners. It’ll take a while to figure out, she said, because the city would have to consider more than just the Waimanalo area.
“It’s more of a discussion that’s going to take a while to sort out because we’re trying to figure out how to handle a number of places across the island and not just this area,” Thielen said.
The department also will be considering concerns about potential conflicts over people harvesting from trees in parks. The agency also wants to make sure that it knows what is being planted at city parks.
Otis on Thursday said that several plants had been donated to the garden, where they were planted, but added she was not told what is allowed. She said she is reaching out to parks officials for further consultation.
