Natural Resource Protection Working Group
Documents relevant to this working group:
Preliminary Themes, Goals, and Objectives from the Small Group Meetings
These themes (recurring ideas) were derived from 130 small group meetings conducted across the Puna district.
Preliminary Themes (AINA; CTR-KAI; SID)
- Grading/Grubbing Ordinance
- Invasive Species Control
- Environmental/Sustainability Education
- Environmentally Sensitive Codes
- Open Space
- Sustainable Living
- Preservation of Ecologically Significant (native flora and fauna) Areas (International Biosphere Zone)
- Coastal and Shoreline Protection
- Sustainable Industries
Preliminary Goal – To sustain a healthy local ecosystem
Preliminary Objectives
These
objectives have been derived from themes generated from 3,394 ideas
provided by broad citizen participation. The numbers in parentheses
indicates which theme or themes were used to develop the objectives.
A. Produce a strategy to minimize the clear cutting on new lots. (1)
B. Pursue effective solutions to control invasive species. (2)
C. Create educational programs about the environment and sustainable living. (3)
D. Investigate the feasibility of environmentally sensitive codes. (4)
E. Create incentives to maintain open space and biodiversity. (5, 6)
F. Identify important ecological land & define criteria for connectivity of open space. (5, 7)
G.
Proactively promote more sustainable economic, environmental &
social development policies. (sustainable industry zone) (6, 9)
H. Investigate the creation of improved regulations or incentives to prevent destructive coastal development. (8)
Excerpts From Previous Plans
Considerable
time, thought and community-wide effort has been applied to the issue
of natural resource protection in Puna over the past decade or more,
resulting in a number of plans that have made specific recommendations.
Pertinent excerpts from some of these plans are provided below.
The
County of Hawai'i General Plan, adopted by ordinance in 2005, sets the
land use and community development policy for the County of Hawai'i,
and is intended to serve as a guide for state and federal government
and private sector, as well. Here is what the General Plan says about
natural resources in Puna:
"Approximately 130,167 acres of Puna are national parks or forest reserves. These areas are non-developable public lands."
"The
lower Puna forests and the Ola’a forest are among the finest and most
well preserved of their types in the state. The Office of State
Planning, the National Biological Survey, and The Nature Conservancy
have identified remnants of the Ola’a forest that are currently zoned
for agriculture."
"General island-wide subsidence occurs at a
rate of 0.25 inches annually. In addition, the south-east shoreline is
subject to catastrophic subsidence events of five feet or more due to
the activity of Kilauea. Coastal property can change ownership status
when inundated. For example, what was once privately owned land may be
reclassified as navigable waters under the jurisdiction of the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers, or public shoreline under State jurisdiction."
"Puna
is part of the United Nations-designated International Biosphere
Preserve with Hawaii Volcanoes National Park as the core. All of Puna’s
coastal waters are classified as AA waters making Puna’s coastal areas
among the most unspoiled in Hawaii. By definition, “it is the objective
of class AA waters that these waters remain in their natural pristine
state as nearly as possible with an absolute minimum of pollution or
alteration of water quality from any human-caused source or actions. To
the extent practicable, the wilderness character of these areas shall
be protected” (Hawaii Administrative Rules 11-54)."
"Puna
contains the largest concentration of lava tube caves in the world.
Lava tube caves are a valuable biological, archaeological, and
geological resource. Some of the caves also have considerable
utilitarian and cultural importance. The caves also present themselves
as unique issue. Lava tube caves run beneath many lots and roadways
throughout the district, making positive or negative human interaction
with the caves inevitable. Some caves are tourist attractions, while
others may be hazardous to life and property. The locations of the
caves are not all known, and the County may be held liable in not
reviewing building and grading permits for know cave locations is
injury or loss of life should occur."
"Along the coast, the
black sand beaches and tidal ponds are noted features of natural
beauty. Inland, major areas of natural beauty are the 1960 Kapoho and
the Pu’u O’o volcanic regions, which represent a force of nature
responsible in altering the landscape. A portion of Hawaii Volcanoes
National Park is located within the Puna district."
"Many of
the ancient trails connect areas whose natural beauty has cultural
significance. Many of which are still protected as public land or with
traditional access rights. The presence of unspoiled vistas and
traditional sites of natural beauty accessible by trail is an important
asset for eco-tourism."
"Course of Action:
In
overall land use planning, insure the integrity of continuous corridors
compatible with eco-tourism, such as the combination of trail corridors
within open space reserves, naturalized drainways, and connection with
services and accommodations in town centers and more remote areas, as
well as the National Park."
In 1995,
the County of Hawai'i secured services of a consultant to complete the
Puna Community Development Plan. While it was not adopted, this
document sets forth some specific recommendations for natural resource
protection:
- Collaborate with the National Park Service
and the State private landowners to develop a master plan for
preservation and restoration of the forest which integrates the land
use patterns and economy of the settled areas with the health of the
forests.
- Coastal environmental quality should be protected by encouraging placement of new development inland.
- Consider
the use of Transferable Development Rights (TDR) to reduce residential
densities in areas of subsidence and coastal pollution.
- Consider the use of TDR to protect important forest lands in upper Puna.
- Collaborate
with subdivisions containing lots smaller than one acre to educate
owners about and plan for the future requirements of central sewers.
- Support
local communities in the preparation of community master plans which
provide for retention of continuous natural corridors and reserve areas
large enough to maintain ecosystem integrity.
- Availability of
information on lava tube locations should be restricted or controlled
to minimize potential vandalism and intrusion into burial sites.
- Support the creation of an interagency committee including the following:
- Federal:
- Natural Resources Conservation Service
- National Park Service
- State of Hawaii:
- Office of Hawaiian Affairs
- Department of Health
- Department of Land and Natural Resources and sub-agencies including the Historic Preservation Division, Burial Council
- County of Hawaii:
- Department of Public Works
- Planning Department
- Civil Defense
- Community:
- Hawaii Speleological Survey
- National Speleological Society
- Subdivision Associations
- Puna’s Hawaiian Kupuna
- ...to propose short-term, education, and permitting procedures for cave conservation and public safety.
- Consider
requirement of cave safety approval as part of County Department of
Public Works grading permits and Department of Health individual
wastewater system approvals.
- Support development of a cave management plan.
- Collaborate
with subdivision associations and property owners to find means to
compensate landowners if open space dedications are desired which
“take” the use of whole parcels or significantly lowers value and use
for which there are investment-backed expectations.
In addition
to these County-sponsored plans, there are community-initiated plans
for Hawaiian Acres and Volcano that contains recommendations for
natural resource protection:
Hawaiian Acres Master Plan (1999):
"We
plan to implement a process by which more responsibility would be given
to the Hawaiian Acres community for taking up the shortcomings of the
agencies that issue grading permits. An example would be, tasking our
HACWP to report violators.
We plan to create an information sheet to
be attached to, or printed on the reverse side of escrow papers, that
states the laws regarding grubbing.
We support an ordinance that would require posting of grubbing permits on job sites.
We support increased penalties for grubbing violations.
We support appropriate signage stating requirements for such work to be performed.
We discourage the placement of future geothermal ventures in areas that impact on Hawaiian Acres.
We will work to insure that irradiation facilities are not placed in Hawaii.
We support composting or anaerobic toilets for new homes.
The Hawaiian Acres planning committee seeks to preserve and protect the nonrenewable resource of the lava tubes.
We
plan to institute a policy whereby heavy equipment operators i.e.
bulldozers, notify HACA as to the locations of lava caves. HACA will
reciprocate."
Volcano Vision 2020:
- Protect and conserve out natural resources and natural beauty from undue exploitation, encroachment, and damage.
- Develop methods to encourage the saving of the forest ecosystem including native trees and the native understory.
- Preserve green spaces and wildlife corridors in future developments.
- Encourage and streamline the process for he consolidation of
lots. Discourage the subdivision of lots and ohana dwellings built on
speculation.
- Identify the major lava tube systems under the Volcano area and
discourage the use of any of the tube system for disposing of
wastewater including septic systems.
- Educate property owners, renters, realtors, heavy equipment
operators, business owners and others about alternatives to practices
that may be destructive to the natural resources, beauty or
environmental quality of the Volcano area.
- Promote the prudent use of management of the Volcano area’s unique, fragile and significant environmental and natural resources.
- Support the increase in tax incentives to protect natural resources and native ecosystems.
- Support equal tax assessments for all agriculturally-zoned parcels whether they are cleared for farming or forested.
- Discourage the subdivision of inappropriate commercial use of public lands.
- Identify and protect exceptional native trees and/or plant and animal communities.
- Develop programs, guided walks, and written materials to increase
knowledge and appreciation of native ecosystems and features as well as
threats to them such as mosquitoes, invading alien species, ect.
- Reproduce “Building in Forest,” “Controlling Noxious Weeds,” and
similar pamphlets on identifying and growing native plants, and
disseminate to the community.
- Inform lot owners about environmentally sensitive waste disposal systems that do not require large clearings.
- Encourage partnerships among community stakeholders.
- Develop community dialogue on issues that may affect Volcano’s unique environment.
- Encourage cooperative land-use development and management to protect native ecosystems.
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