Charles K. Burrows and the Star-Advertiser failed to mention the discovery of the rare and endangered blackline Hawaiian damselfly habitat immediately downslope of the major grading, excavation and earth-moving activities of the Hawaiian Memorial Park cemetery expansion (“Conservation lands being preserved,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Nov. 29).

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the draft environmental impact statement “underestimates or fails to adequately analyze certain risks to the habitat” of the damselfly, and that “such activities to the local hydrology feeding the spring at that site would be immediately detrimental to the integrity and potential long-term survival of this population.”

If Hawaiian Memorial Park truly wanted to be a good neighbor and steward of the land, it would have given the “cultural preserve” land to the community years ago and be doing everything possible today to protect an endangered species.

Most importantly, it would seriously look at revising its inefficient and outdated burial requirements to increase its inventory in a way that did not have such negative impacts on its neighbors.

Kate O’Malley

Kaneohe

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