Lawai'a- Caretakers of the Land and Sea

"The Truth is, there is man and there is environment. One does not supercede the other. The breath in man is the breath of Papa. Man is merely the caretaker of the land that maintains his life and nourishes his soul . . . . Therefore, the 'aina is sacred, the church of life is not in a building, it is the open sky, the surrounding ocean, the beautiful soil." - George Helm, January 1977.

On the afternoon of May 13th, my dad and I took a ride out to Ka'ena. When we arrived at the sandy bay we had found the remains of some parties that occurred over the weekend: the remains of a pallet fire, a stack of leftover pallets, and tire tracks that covered the entire area. This was upsetting for us to see this because we have been trying to get out to Ka'ena as often as possible to educate the off-road community about the impacts that they have on the aina. We had already attempted to block off the bay and nearby sand dunes with boulders and car parts left behind by offroaders the last time we had been out (see previous blog).

We had missed one weekend and we couldn't believe the damage that had been done in that short period of time.

In order to stop people from driving their vehicles into sandy areas (where iwi kupuna are known to be buried and where we have gathered shells for generations), we decided to reposition the boulders that off-roaders had moved to regain access over the weekend. So we spent the remainder of our afternoon replacing the boulders to block the access points to the bay and nearby sand dunes. On our way out, we loaded the remaining pallets on the truck and drove them out to the dumpsters by the parking lot.

At this point we were still pretty confident that our efforts would not be fruitless. We were sure that everyone would understand that the replaced boulders meant no vehicle entry.



Unfortunately, we were wrong.



When we returned on the afternoon of May 15th (only two days after moving the boulders for a second time), we had found that offroaders had thrown the boulders, which we had put in place the previous afternoon, into the bushes. It was pretty frustrating - I wanted to cry - but we did not want to give up on our efforts to protect the area from further destruction and desecration. So this time we put up even bigger blockades.

By the time we finished moving boulders, the sun had set and it was getting dark, but I still had time to string up some rope around the access points to the bay and nearby dunes. On the rope I put up signs saying "Malama Pono:Protect Our Resources - No Vehicles Beyond This Point." This was my attempt to better communicate with those who had moved the boulders the last time, who threw the party with a pallet fire on the aina that I love, who clearly did not understand the language of a wall of upright pohaku, and who I thought would probably understand some English.

When we left that night, I was pretty confident that the offroaders would receive our message loud and clear this time around. I mean, we had replaced the boulders that they had moved before and posted signs in English that said "NO VEHICLES BEYOND THIS POINT."

Unfortunately, on our return two days later, the boulders were moved again and my signs cut down. This time, we decided that we would use the truck to pull larger boulders up to block the accesses to the bay and nearby dune systems. In the process of blocking an access way, we were visited by a friendly DOCARE officer who thanked us for what we had been doing. He told us that the night before he had watched a bunch of military personnel in jeeps that were taking down my signs and moving the boulder barricades we had placed to keep off-roaders out.

Because I care so much about this place, because it is a part of me, and I a part of it, I refuse to give up - especially to those who I know have no respect for this wahipana. I will continue to move boulders and post signs, and to educate those who will listen . . . to malama pono -because this kuleana comes from within me.

To Be Continued . . .