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Nuuanu may
get own park

A trail around the reservoir
and other ideas are weighed

By Harold Morse
Star-Bulletin

A trail around Nuuanu Reservoir and other proposals to open up the Nuuanu forest reserve to the public will be discussed Wednesday at Nuuanu Elementary School.

The nonprofit Friends of Nuuanu Reservoir group hopes the land around Nuuanu Reservoir No. 4 can be turned into a natural park, with safeguards to preserve its pristine beauty.

"The main purpose of the meeting is to solicit public comments on the conceptual plan that we've developed over the past six months," said Friends president Bruce Anderson, who is working on the Nuuanu Watershed Park project separately from his duties as director of the state Department of Health.

The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. at the school, 3055 Puiwa Lane.

The Nuuanu forest reserve has relatively few visitors. While the Board of Water Supply controls the Nuuanu dam and reservoir (the dam created the reservoir, which collects water along Nuuanu Pali, then feeds Nuuanu Stream), land around it is tended to by the state. The reservoir is opened occasionally for catfish fishing, while pig hunters frequent the rain forest.

The Friends want nearby land and the reservoir area open also for hiking and, possibly, camping.

"We're trying to allow access to cultural sites in the area." Anderson said. "There's a wealth of history up in Nuuanu Valley -- the Battle of Nuuanu and so forth."

Among the proposals: a 50-space parking lot below the dam and a boardwalk trail to the reservoir.

"We want to minimize vehicular traffic in the area," Anderson said. "We want to try and keep this just for low-impact recreational use."

He said minimal facilities are projected -- a comfort station near the low-elevation parking lot and another one farther up.

Noting past concern about the soundness of the dam, Anderson said the Board of Water Supply has determined that it is structurally sound. Thus, no major dam improvements are necessary to allow planning to go forward, he said.

The park idea came from the Nuuanu Neighborhood Board and was developed through the mayor's "visioning" process. The city has appropriated planning funds, Anderson said.

"We're hopeful that we'll have this park open in a couple of years," he said.