Hawaii Volcanoes
park leader to retireJim Martin reflects on the
park's kinship with the native
Hawaiian community
VOLCANO, Hawaii >> When Jim Martin was promoted from chief ranger to superintendent of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park in 1994, the Puu Oo vent had already been erupting for more than 11 years.
As Martin ends his 40-year career with the National Park Service Wednesday, the eruption enters its 21st year with no sign of abating.
Martin's policy has been to allow visitors relatively unrestricted access to eruption sites.
"Thanks to Jim Martin's leadership and vision, people have unprecedented access to the world's most active volcano," said ranger Jim Gale, the national park's chief of interpretation. "Under his tenure, we've been able to create a park without handrails."
Visitors are informed of the safety rules, Martin said, but then it is up to them to follow the rules and stay safe.
Hiking on an active volcano is not without risk. Occasionally, a visitor who ignores safety rules is injured or killed. When that happens, Martin is criticized by superiors.
"We'd get tremendous feedback asking, How we could allow people to get so close?" he said. "We'd tell them it's not the lava, but the fumes, the white-outs, the cracks in hardened lava. Our job is to make sure people know what the hazards are, what they need to do to be safe, and then they need to be responsible for conducting themselves properly."
Although creating a "drive-through volcano" at the park is Martin's best-known achievement, colleagues say two other accomplishments are more important: purchasing the adjacent Kahuku Ranch, which increased the park's size by 50 percent, and reaching out to native Hawaiians, who consider many park sites sacred.
The park negotiated off and on since 1938 with the estate of Samuel Mills Damon to purchase Kahuku Ranch, a 116,000-acre property adjacent to the 217,000-acre park. Martin led the National Park Service and Nature Conservancy team that finally closed the deal July 3 for $22 million.
"Kahuku Ranch has been the No. 1 land acquisition priority for the entire National Park Service since 2001," said Martin. "I've seen magnificent areas throughout the world. Kahuku Ranch has world-class qualities -- tremendous resources, tremendous beauty and tremendous value to global biodiversity. Adding Kahuku Ranch to the park will enable visitors from around the world to experience the natural, cultural and historic treasures unique to this very special place."
Under Martin the park has built partnerships with Ola'a National Forest, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Kamehameha Schools and others.
"That's why Kahuku's important," he says. "We'll develop the same kinds of public-private partnerships throughout the South Kona area. The park will be the core, but we'll have private landowners all striving to improve the ecosystem and the health of their properties."
Martin has also worked closely with the native Hawaiian community.
"We have no interest in presenting 'native Hawaiian culture shows' just for the visitors," said Martin. "Our partnerships with the native Hawaiians are fragile -- we must recognize that this park land is critical to the perpetuation of that culture."
Kupuna are routinely issued permits allowing them to pick plants for religious and medicinal purposes. "It's worked out well. The kupuna are usually more conservative in what they take than the scientists," said Tim Tunison, the park's chief of resource management.
During the 100th anniversary of the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy, Martin made an exception to the Department of the Interior's "equal access policy" and closed large sections of the park to all but native Hawaiians.
"The Hawaiians were able to gather for 24 hours of reconciliation and purification and the community deciding how they would move forward into the future," he said.
Martin also meets with a number of kupuna on a monthly basis. "We don't want to inadvertently do anything stupid that would degrade a sacred site. The value of the living culture is not for the visitors, but merely that it exists on this land."
Martin and his wife are moving to her childhood home of Marfa, Texas, in the high desert. The couple has two adult children and an infant grandchild.
Park officials say Martin's replacement has been chosen but not finalized, and declined to announce a succesor.