HR14

WHEREAS, a group of students from Nānākuli High and Intermediate School participating in the ‘A‘ALI‘I PROGRAM started working at Ka‘ala Farm in Wai‘anae Valley to learn about watershed resource management and agriculture; and

WHEREAS, the students learned how Hawaiians had used the water from streams that ﬂowed through the valley for traditional agriculture and ﬁsh ponds and that water had been capped and diverted by the sugar plantations in the late 1800’s only to be used later for residential development; and

WHEREAS, they also learned that releasing the water into the stream will help to feed our aquifers, allow the stream to ﬂow to the ocean, and create brackish waters that will allow the endemic species of ‘o‘opu, ‘opae, and other ﬁsh like the ‘anae to spawn, as well as promote limu growth; and

WHEREAS, there are at least four streams in Wai‘anae Valley - Kūmaipō, Hiu, Kalalula, and Nioloopua - that no longer ﬂow year-round due to water diversions; and

WHEREAS, the students began to research the laws and policies on water resource management as part of their experiential learning; and

WHEREAS, based on their research, they learned that the Commission on Water Resource Management has the responsibility to protect the traditional and customary practices and natural resources dependent on streamﬂow, and found that Wai‘anae is the only place on O‘ahu that does not have a water management area designation; and

WHEREAS, community members from the ahupua‘a of Nānākuli, Lualualei, Wai‘anae, and Mākaha have expressed a desire to restore the water being diverted out of Wai‘anae back into the stream, to allow mahi‘ai (farmers) who use generational and traditional Hawaiian plants in Wai‘anae; and

WHEREAS, these ‘A‘ALI‘I PROGRAM students attended the Wai‘anae Coast Neighborhood Board meeting on November 1, 2016, and through their efforts the board unanimously passed a resolution researched and written by the students; and

WHEREAS, the students also presented their resolution at a community meeting held in the Wai‘anae Moku where a panel of expert members on water resource management were present; and

WHEREAS, the ‘A‘ALI‘I PROGRAM students additionally attended an agriculture committee meeting to prepare for this panel discussion and to propose their resolution on restoring water to the watershed for this panel to deliberate; and

WHEREAS, at the 2016 and 2017 Annual Conventions of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs in Las Vegas, Nevada, and in Seattle, Washington, the resolution based on the one drafted by the ‘A‘ALI‘I PROGRAM students was introduced by the Princess Ka‘iulani Hawaiian Civic Club and Ke One O Kākuhihewa, O‘ahu Council, Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs; and

WHEREAS, the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs recommended that the resolution be deferred and that association members work with the students to rewrite the resolution; and

WHEREAS, the resolution submitted by the ‘A‘ALI‘I PROGRAM students was amended and eventually passed at the 2018 Annual Convention of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs in Kalapaki, Kaua‘i; and

WHEREAS, the Kamehameha Schools Kapālama, 98th Annual Song Contest Pre-Show, featured the process that the ‘A‘ALI‘I PROGRAM Students took to engage with the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, supporting a movement started by Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalaniana‘ole over 100 years ago; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirtieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2019, that this body, on this 4th day of February 2019, hereby commends the students and teachers of the ‘A‘ALI‘I PROGRAM at Nānākuli High and Intermediate School for their commitment to their civic duty and offers its warmest aloha and best wishes for continued success in all future endeavors.

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

Commending the Students and Teachers of the ‘A‘ali‘i Program.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	14
THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2019
STATE OF HAWAII