Nature park shines in Kalihi

Scouts clear trees and make repairs ahead of the official opening

It might be another year until the Kalihi Valley Nature Park opens to the public, but that is not stopping hundreds of volunteers, including the Boy Scouts of America, from keeping it spruced up.

A 100-acre site at the end of Kalihi Street was leased from the state to Kokua Kalihi Valley Comprehensive Family Services, a health center serving valley residents.

The area, which was once a women's hula retreat, has a run-down house and native Hawaiian-style rock-wall irrigation systems. The land once belonged to Princess Victoria Kamamalu, a granddaughter of Kamehameha I.

Since January 2005 the health center and volunteers have been working toward restoring the land to its former cultural glory. About 80 Scouts were at the site yesterday, sawing and clearing trees, making small repairs and clearing the area of debris.

The work puts the boys out in nature and at the same time gives back to the community, said Richard Bauske, Boy Scout district committee chairman.

And in turn, the Scouts might be helping to develop a future campsite for themselves, he said.

"Being in the city, there aren't many campsites," Bauske said. "This thing has been in development for some years. That's why we jumped in to help."

Logan Ne, 11, of Troop 201 at Maemae School, said he helped carry logs out of the area. After things started to clear out, he started to see it as a good potential campsite.

"And we saw lots of bugs," he said.

Volunteers like Logan have been helping out since last year, said Lisa Ferentinos, program coordinator for the health center's Active Living by Design Program.

The program oversees the development of the park. The park already has hiking trails and about two acres cleared for community gardens, where people can grow their own food on small plots.

The center also spent the last year expanding the hiking trail, restoring the run-down house into a caretaker's cottage and removing non-native plants like bamboo.

The health center has a 20-year lease with the state to manage the land. Ferentinos said the park should be somewhat ready, at least for hikers.

However, it is still not open to the public, just volunteers, because the center does not have the funding to build a parking lot and driveway.

"We don't really want to invite people over and have their cars get stuck in the mud," said Ferentinos, adding that the center is waiting for the state to release about $200,000 for parking and other accessibility issues. "That's basically all we need to do now."