Report Title:

Preservation of Maha'ulepu

RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Maha'ulepu is a heritage landscape where it is possible to preserve and restore diverse and significant natural, scenic, cultural, archaeological, historic, scientific, and recreational resources; and

WHEREAS, Maha'ulepu is a living cultural landscape and a place sacred to many Native Hawaiians, particularly to those of the Koloa area whose ancestral remains are buried at Maha'ulepu; and

WHEREAS, it is in the economic and social interest of the State to conserve its valuable natural and cultural resources and to create parks and preserves for the future; and

WHEREAS, the ahupua'a of Maha'ulepu is directly adjacent to Kipu Kai, an entire ahupua'a which is a future State land preserve; and

WHEREAS, the unique opportunity to apply the ahupua'a framework of care-taking and management of watersheds from mountain peak to the ocean exists at both Kipu Kai and Maha'ulepu; and

WHEREAS, the County of Kaua'i General Plan states that Maha'ulepu needs a community-based planning effort that engages the landowner and local community interests, drawing upon the County, the Department of Land and Natural Resources, and various professional experts; and

WHEREAS, many residents and visitors are grateful to the Grove Farm Company, Inc., for keeping Maha'ulepu open to the public; and

WHEREAS, Governor Benjamin Cayetano has declared his support for the preservation of Maha'ulepu; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2001, the Senate concurring, that this body supports a collaborative planning effort to explore options that would make it possible to preserve the irreplaceable natural and cultural resources of Maha'ulepu, and to sustain the special experience of this place; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Honorable Benjamin J. Cayetano, Governor of the State of Hawai'i, the Honorable Mazie K. Hirono, Lieutenant Governor of the State of Hawai'i, the Honorable Maryanne W. Kusaka, Mayor of the County of Kaua'i, members of the Board of Land and Natural Resources, members of the Council of the County of Kaua'i, and the President and Chief Operating Officer of Grove Farm Company, Inc.