OHA criticizes
state land director

The agency votes to express
concern to Lingle and call
for a department audit

A majority of Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustees say they have "serious concerns" with the leadership of Peter Young, director of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Six of OHA's nine trustees agreed at a board meeting yesterday to send a strongly worded letter to Gov. Linda Lingle saying that they do not think the department has been fulfilling its mandate to manage the state's public lands for the benefit of native Hawaiians and other state residents.

All six trustees at the meeting said they want an audit of the department, as proposed in House Concurrent Resolution 60 by state Rep. Brian Schatz (D, Makiki). Three trustees said they also want Young to resign or be fired.

A draft version of the OHA letter to Lingle noted that "from the times of the Kingdom through the present, the lands and resources now managed by DLNR are of vital importance to Hawaiians." These include historic and sacred places, forests and streams, habitats for threatened and endangered species, and resting places for the bones of ancestors.

Twenty percent of the income from ceded lands managed by the DLNR are OHA's source of funding. But beyond its income, OHA is concerned with the health and quality of the lands themselves, the draft letter says.

Trustee John Waihee IV was the most vocal in calling for Young's departure, saying that Young is "not representing his mandate well at all."

"Maybe if he was head of the desecration of Hawaiian culture and unbridled irresponsible development, I'd be the first to say he's fulfilled his mandate wonderfully," Waihee said.

Trustees Colette Machado and Donald Cataluna agreed that they would support a call for Young to step down.

The resignation earlier this month of Yvonne Izu, a former DLNR deputy director for water resources, triggered OHA's decision to write Lingle, trustees said. But there appears to be a pattern of DLNR actions that oppose the interests of native Hawaiians, they said.

Izu resigned after refusing to support legislation that would have shifted the duties of the state Water Commission, which she administered, to the counties. Though Senate Bill 503 appears dead for the session, OHA trustees oppose it or any other attempts to eliminate the Water Commission, they said.

Three of the six trustees at yesterday's meeting -- Chairwoman Haunani Apoliona, Dante Carpenter and Linda Dela Cruz -- said that while they shared concern about department management, they did not think it was proper to suggest to the governor who should head a department.

Trustees Rowena Akana, Boyd Mossman and Oswald Stender were not at the meeting and could not be reached for comment.

Lingle will not respond to the letter until she sees it, spokesman Russell Pang said yesterday.

Young also said yesterday that he will not respond to the letter until he sees it.