Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
ECOTOURISM OFF TRACK?
Ecotours pack
Manoa Falls
hiking trail
Licensed tour operators fear
By Treena Shapiro
heavy use by illegal groups
degrades the trails for all
Star-BulletinFlorida residents Shawn and Randy Rickman were grateful to encounter nature on the outskirts of urban Oahu while biking down Roundtop Drive and hiking up to Manoa Falls.
They weren't sure what they would find when they signed up for the ecotour with Bike Hawaii/Ohana Adventure Tours, but they knew they'd be on the move.
"I'm the kind of guy who can't sit still for 10 minutes," Randy said.
He didn't want to experience Hawaii from the inside of a tour bus. "We like the physical thing -- just to get out in nature."
They got their wish, and some education to boot.
"We especially enjoyed the history lesson," Shawn said.
The couple had thought their introduction to Hawaii culture wouldn't come until the luau they were to attend the following night, but along with hiking and biking, during their eco-adventure the Rickmans were introduced to Hawaii's geology, flora and fauna.
The Rickmans found this particular tour in an advertisement at their hotel and were unaware of the controversy surrounding tour companies leading groups to Manoa Falls.
Last September the state issued four permits to commercial tour vendors who profit off state trails. Two are allowed to bring a group of 12 to Manoa Falls each weekday, for a fee of $3 for each tourist and $1 for each vacancy. The money is used to purchase gravel, tools, recycled plastic and other materials for the trail's upkeep.
But unlicensed and illegitimate tour operators are ruining the Manoa Falls experience for everyone, says Aaron Lowe, state trails administrator for the Na Ala Hele Trails and Access Program.
To obtain a permit, Bike Hawaii owner John Alford got a business license, a tax license, a commercial driver's license and insurance. Since he started leading tours on January 1, he hasn't hit the maximum limit or seen a profit.
"I support (Oahu's Forestry and Wildlife Division) through this introduction period because it's new and I anticipate problems," Alford said. "But I hope they'll work with the vendors that are trying to be legal. Enforcement is a key issue. It needs to have enforcement."
Alford said he and other local vendors discussed the permit process after they found out other groups were leading tours last weekend. "That's their kuleana," he said.
"We're doing what's pono. We're doing what's right," he said. "We're doing what Forestry wants us to do."
Lowe said the state is making sure the laws are in place before moving ahead with citing illegal vendors so "when we go in and enforce this, we aren't going to lose the cases," he said.
In the meantime, he plans to work with the legal vendors, perhaps letting them change some of their options so they can survive as the state irons out the details.
In addition, the state will tighten loopholes that currently allow nonprofit organizations to bring tour groups up indiscriminately.
When the permit law was put into place, nonprofit groups were exempted so the Sierra Club, the Hawaii Trail Mountain Club and other similar organizations could lead educational tours. Those groups ask for a minimal donation and hike a different trail once a week, Lowe said.
However, other nonprofit groups have started leading tours of 15 to 30 people up to the falls for a $15 donation, some three times a day. Sometimes up to 90 people are on the trail at one time.
"We have seen an obvious degradation to the trail with that much high use," Lowe said.
None of the donations makes it back into the trail. "If they've done any cleanup on the trail, they've never reported it to me," Lowe said. "We have to supervise all maintenance done on the trail."
In addition, Lowe said he has received complaints from local residents about the number of tourists on the trail. One of his responsibilities is to protect the resource, he said. The other is to preserve the local beauty and experience for the state taxpayers who support the trail.
For this reason, Lowe will not take donations from nonprofit groups who are leading high-volume tours.
"Sure you could give me a ton of money and make the trail beautiful, but the experience is still lost for the general taxpayer," he said.
Alford said the high traffic makes him appreciate the state's efforts to regulate tour groups. "It makes me realize that is why there's a permit process. It would eliminate the peace and solitude on the mountains," he said.
Hawaii Rainforest Foundation's Mitch Berger leads tours of 17 to 21 people up to the falls three or four times a week for a $15 donation. Berger said his organization achieves its nonprofit status by providing education, doing monthly cleanups on the trails, and providing a check-in service for tourists hiking alone.
Berger said although he's seen as many as 50 people at the waterfall at one time, "it's very easy to safely pass each other by." People will go to the falls with or without a guide, and if tours are restricted, there will be more parking problems, injuries and people getting lost in the mountains, he added.
"It's state land," he said. "There's plenty of room up there for everyone to enjoy the aina."
Lowe doesn't agree. "We want to work on slowing this activity down," he said.
According to Lowe, the state is currently trying to "get its ducks in a row" to make sure the new permit process can be enforced and is looking at other ways to reduce the trail's use, including limiting the tours for nonprofit groups.
"We've considered closing the trail. It might be a last resort because there's just too much impact."
Closing the trail would allow time for restoration.
"It's like giving it a rest, and in that time we would be able to get in there and implement our trail projects that would fix the trails up," Lowe explained.
