Our Department of Land and Natural Resources slapped trespass citations on 49 adults who were enjoying a forest reserve in Waimea Saturday. I didn’t think it was even possible to trespass on public land. Public land is just that, public. It belongs to all of us. What compelling reason does our government have to stop these hikers?
DLNR says the forest reserve has been closed since the 2007 earthquake without giving any specific reason. The department does cite safety as a general concern in a press release about the citations. But it is not the government’s job to tell us when risks are too great. Each citizen alone has that responsibility. Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement Supervisor Verl Nakama said in the release, “there’s no cell service and help can be a long ways off.” Is it now policy to not let hikers go where there is no phone service? What about hikers like me who do not own a cellphone? Should I not be allowed to hike anywhere? And how can he say help is a long way off when the trailhead is roughly five miles from one the island’s top-rated hospitals? Is there a trail anywhere on the island that is closer to medical services? Also, the press release raised safety concerns for those who choose to slide down a short section of the Kohala ditch, yet it admits right in the release that no one has been hurt doing so.
Public land belongs to all of us and we simply hire government officials to take care of it for us. If we do not like the way they manage our lands we can tell them to change the policies, or we can fire them. I have fond memories of hiking the trail with my dad. It’s not right that families now are not permitted to share this treasure with the next generation.
Our community has become far too accepting of a just say no mentality. We allow gates to remain locked at beaches when the surf gets high, we allow DNLR to require a pointless permit to ride dirt bikes at the Kilohana hunter area and we shrug our shoulders when the Coast Guard restricts how close we may take our boats to the Kalapana lava entry. When the state posts signs on the cliffs at South Point claiming it is illegal to jump into the ocean, or it says it is illegal to enter any lava tube without a landowner’s permission, and as the landowner, the state is not giving permission, our government has overstepped its role as the steward of our land.
Andrea Jasper is a resident of Holualoa