State plan for Kahoolawe
calls for increased usage
The state body overseeing Kahoolawe island approved a five-year plan yesterday aimed at shepherding the former Navy bombing site's rebirth.
The Kahoolawe Island Reserve Commission's strategic plan provides wide-ranging goals, from increased fund raising to the expansion of environmental restoration.
"It's the launching point for all the work that needs to happen," said Stanton Enomoto, acting executive director of the commission. "Now it's up to the commission staff, working with others, to make it happen."
The approved plan has been in the making for five years, since the commission began preparation for the transfer of Kahoolawe from military control to state management. It recognizes the cultural significance of the island, its fragile environment and the hazards it poses because of significant areas that have not been cleared of ordnance.
The plan calls for increased use of Kahoolawe and education about it; an assessment of the island's cultural sites; the recruitment of volunteers; and the development and maintenance of island infrastructure.
The adoption of the plan comes three weeks after the Navy completed its handover of Kahoolawe, withdrawing personnel and equipment and fully transferring power to the state after a 10-year, $460 million cleanup.
Many native Hawaiians have complained the military did not adequately clean up the island, but members of the Kahoolawe Island Reserve Commission have accepted the work that has been done in hopes of healing an island they consider sacred. There are hopes it will still someday be fully cleared of bomb remnants.
Six miles southwest of Maui, the 45-square-mile island was used by the Navy as a target and training area from 1941 until 1990, when the first President Bush ordered a halt to the exercises after years of protests and lawsuits by Hawaiians. In 1993, Congress agreed to clean up the land; it was formally returned to local control on Nov. 11.
Kahoolawe will be set aside for cultural, education and archaeological activities, with no commercial development allowed.