Despite Hawaii State Law, Ancient Historic Ewa Plain Trails Being Destroyed By HART Rail Land Developers
The 1825 Malden Trails would be a really great visitor attraction with likely state and federal funding, as well as serve as a walking and bicycle path across the Ewa Plain from Fort Weaver Road to the campus of UH West Oahu and then on through Kapolei and the Leeward coast. It would be an historic, cultural and environmental preservation win-win for everyone...but right now they are on the verge of being bulldozed unless action isn't taken immediately!
By John Bond Kanehili Cultural Hui
The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), State of Hawaii Historic Preservation Division (SHPD, and City and State officials have done nothing to stop the on-going destruction of ancient historic native Hawaiian trails, identified as the 1825 Malden Trails, and also identified in a City Council resolution passed unanimously in 2012.
One of the last acts of Queen Liliuokalani was the enactment
of the Highways Act of 1892, clearly establishing that roads, trails and other
thoroughfares are public lands. Like much of kingdom law, that principle was
codified in state law as well, as section 264-1 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes.
HART Rail Ignores Signed Programmatic Agreement - Destroys Oahu Cultural Sites
Na Ala Hele
Na Ala Hele is the State of Hawaii Trail and Access Program. Established in 1988 in response to public concern about the loss of public access to certain trails and the threat to historic trails from development pressure. Na Ala Hele has become increasingly engaged in trail management and regulatory issues due to both public and commercial recreational activities and emerging legal issues.
Historic trails a public asset worth saving
Our View Dec 28, 2014
Hawaii's natural beauty attracts investors who can
capitalize on the development potential as well as others of means who simply
want to purchase a piece of paradise — and in many cases, it's a pretty big
piece.
The trouble comes where these private acquisitions clash
with public ownership of a substantial asset: Hawaii's historic trails.
It's time for the state to more affirmatively assert that
public ownership, defending the people's rights of access.
Some of these byways go back to ancient times. They were
used by chiefs to get to each ahupua‘a, or self-managed land division, or by
the people themselves, bringing resources from the mountains down to villages
by the sea.
In modern times, these byways remain not only for hiking
enjoyment but as the principal means for Native Hawaiians to practice
traditional gathering rights — rights that have been upheld in state courts.
One of the last acts of Queen Liliuokalani was the enactment
of the Highways Act of 1892, clearly establishing that roads, trails and other
thoroughfares are public lands. Like much of kingdom law, that principle was
codified in state law as well, as section 264-1 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes.
However, in large part it's been left to private
organizations to see that the law is enforced through court action. And when
those with deep pockets, including the billionaire and celebrity purchasers of
large Hawaii parcels, have an interest in maintaining their privacy, the
defense of public access can be given short shrift.
It's up to the state to affirm the public's rights. But
according to groups such as Public Access Trails Hawaii (PATH) there's not much
of an affirmative defense from the state Department of Land and Natural
Resources.
The public trails program, Na Ala Hele, was established in statute
in 1974 and finally funded in 1988.
One reason for the state's ambivalence seems to be concerns
about liability for public trails, he said. However, Brown rightly observed,
that shouldn't be used as an excuse to yield the state's claim on these lands:
What's being lost is a public good, one that is worth defending.
Brown met with the Hono-lulu Star-Advertiser editorial board
to discuss the issue. He was joined by Ted Blake, director of Hui Malama o
Koloa, which is suing over the Hapa Trail in Koloa, Kauai; and Jimmy Medeiros,
president of Protect Keopuka ‘Ohana, which successfully sued the developer of
Hokulia on Hawaii island.
"It's going on, on every island at the same time, not
only with trails, with other things in our culture," Blake said. "I
just feel there is a total disconnect from the state, who is, by law, supposed
to be nurturing this. … We've got to go out privately and fight this on our
own."
Additionally, advocacy groups have had to fight against
initiatives to weaken state law that protects public trails. In the 2014
legislative session, Senate Bill 2728 sought to give the state Board of Land
and Natural Resources the prerogative to designate which trails are public.
This was correctly perceived by PATH and other opponents as
an attempt to water down the state's custody of a public asset.
Fortunately, that legislation died once it crossed to the
House, but it's disheartening to see that it got that far.
Hiking trails offer the public the opportunity to get closer
to nature than this increasingly urbanized state usually allows. For cultural
practitioners, they serve as the only route to exercising traditional rights.
But that opportunity, and those rights, will quickly disappear if the state
allows Hawaii's system of trails to be lost.
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JURY FINDS THAT THE STATE OWNS AND HAS ALWAYS OWNED THE
HISTORIC HALEAKALA TRAIL
After a long fourteen day jury trial before Judge Cardoza in the Maui Circuit Court, a jury returned a verdict in favor of the State of Hawai‘i (State) and plaintiffs Public Access Trails Hawai‘i (PATH), David Brown, Ken Schmitt, and Joe Bertram III, who are the lead plaintiffs in a class action on behalf of all pedestrians in Hawai‘i.
The jury found that the State owns—and has always owned—the historic Haleakala Trail. The jury also dismissed Defendant Haleakala Ranch Company (HRC)’s competing claim to ownership of Haleakala Trail, which the State and plaintiffs have long alleged was based on no evidence or law.
David Brown, executive director of PATH and one of the lead plaintiffs in the case, said that the jury verdict was “monumental and ground-breaking.” “The court victory today should be celebrated by anyone who wants to recognize, preserve and protect Hawai‘i’s unique and rich cultural past, including Hawai‘i’s historical trails,” Brown explained.
Ken Schmitt, another lead plaintiff, added that although Hawai‘i has many laws that protect the public’s interest in Hawai‘i’s historic trails, including the Highways Act of 1892, which places trails in the public trust, the political reality in Hawai‘i is that trails are often neglected and ignored.
Schmitt reiterated the importance that this jury verdict had, and in particular applauded the State’s active role in defeating dubious claims of ownership to historical Hawaiian trails.
Honolulu City Council RESOLUTION 12-172, CD1 (2012) passed unanimously:
URGING THE HAWAII COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY AND
THE STATE OF HAWAII TO RECOGNIZE AND PRESERVE
THE HISTORIC TRAILS OF THE EWA PLAINS.
http://honouliuli.blogspot.com/2014/12/hart-rail-and-state-of-hawaii-should.html
