SOUTH POINT — The southernmost point in the United States has always been a frontier.
Ka Lae, or South Point, is where the first Polynesians are said to have landed their canoes thousands of years ago. It’s home to the oldest records of human presence in the islands, with archaeological sites dated to 124 AD. The canoe mooring holes bored in the rocky cliffs and the Kalalea Heiau are testaments to Hawaii’s beginnings, as newcomers worked with the resources available to build their community.
The area still retains that character in the 21st century.
“South Point is its own community,” said state Sen. Josh Green, who represents Ka‘u. Green lived in Naalehu for four years and his uncle once owned orchards at South Point. “It’s more off the grid, more independent … very beautiful but very isolated.”
That isolation, however, means that services are hard to come by. Enforcement of environmental and cultural protection are far more lax than in other parts of the island.
The road to Mahana Bay and its famous green sand beach is not one road, but a crisscrossing network of deep ruts carved by regular and unrestricted four-wheel-drive traffic.
Lua o Palahemo, the deep brackish pond that is part of an area designated a National Historic Landmark and home to several invertebrates found nowhere else in the world, has turned green from algae blooms and dust from the eroding landscape.
Dirt bikes and ATVs race over the hills — and over ancient burial sites — while “Danger: No Cliff Diving Allowed” signs posted at the fish hoist are ignored by people jumping off the cliffs. Offshore sportfishing tournaments prompt fears about overfishing game species.
“I think people are very worried and very concerned, and rightfully so,” said Hawaii County Councilwoman Maile David, who represents Ka‘u.
Though tourism isn’t the sole culprit, the toll on South Point’s resources has increased in recent years as social media offers images of sparkling green sand and deep blue water to the world.
“The reality is it’s now a major tourist attraction,” said state Rep. Richard Creagan, D-Naalehu, Ocean View, Captain Cook, Kealakekua, parts of Kailua-Kona. “Guidebooks promote the green sand beach and people want to go see it. It’s a resource that attracts tourists, and the question is how much of that can be sustained.”
“It’s kind of a situation where there’s been surprisingly few problems that I’ve heard about as far people getting hurt,” he said. “Given the fact that there’s no lifeguards in that bay and it’s pretty turbulent if you get out too far.”
A roughly 3-acre space at the tip of South Point, where a lighthouse is located, is owned by the federal government, but the bulk of the land in the area — about 15,000 acres — is held under the Hawaiian Home Lands Trust and managed by the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.
And after a decades old false start and several years of recent planning efforts, DHHL is working to address the problems.
The department’s 2012 Ka‘u Regional Plan calls for two South Point-specific projects: developing a roadway and a pedestrian path at the Ka Lae area, specifically to protect the cultural sites and to manage access to Kaulana Bay and its boat ramp. The boat ramp is the only public launch between Pohoiki and Milolii.
Beginning in 2015, DHHL Honolulu-based environmental and community planning company Townscape Inc. began compiling a South Point Resources Management Plan that goes beyond the regional plan’s goals.
The plan was created after several speak-out and talk-story sessions — some of which drew nearly 80 people — and published in October 2016. It does not shy away from addressing the scale of South Point’s problems.
“The issues at South Point can no longer be neglected,” the report states. “DHHL needs to make a strong commitment to actively manage and restore this sacred and treasured place for the people of Ka‘u.”
One speak-out session attendee (none were identified by name in the report) said that DHHL needed to “put its foot down.”
“Makai side, all by the shoreline, that all needs to be healed,” the attendee commented. “You guys came, you guys seen. You cannot just come say everything is fine. It is not fine.”
“(South Point) is huge, and it’s isolated, and then people in the last 30-40 years have become accustomed to doing these activities that are harmful to the cultural sites,” said DHHL deputy director William Aila. “It’s a statewide trust asset, which is why we’re responsible … we have to try to step up with as much resources as possible.”
DHHL does not have police powers, making it difficult for the department to carry out enforcement without hiring outside help, but the newest plan calls for increased and improved infrastructure as well as restoration and protection of the cultural sites in the area.
An environmental assessment for the plan is in the works and expected to be complete by April or May 2018.
Once complete, the EA will allow the department to implement some of the resource plan proposals.
“Possibly increasing security, having more porta-potties in the area, and more of a presence so as to deter and educate people as to the appropriate behavior,” Aila said. “There are some very specific things the community wants us to do.”
Those include protection of Palahemo and the burial mound, as well as addressing safety concerns at Mahana Bay, including the issue of area residents providing shuttle service to the beach.
The shuttles are a source of revenue for people, but are technically illegal, presenting a liability issue for DHHL. The shuttles’ existence is “contentious,” the resource plan notes.
A parking fee also might be implemented as a means of generating revenue.
“They’re (DHHL) trying to control an environment that has been really uncontrolled,” Creagan said. “They’re trying to get as much buy-in as possible, going slow, having all of the community meetings.
“My impression is they’re trying to make it usable and accessible for local people for fishing and hiking while allowing tourists in in a more restricted way.”
“What I don’t want to see is a resource management plan that goes through the whole exercise of being developed, and then there’s no enforcement,” David said. “This has to be a meaningful plan because this area deserves it. I really feel the state and the government has to be able to implement what visions they have.”
Implementation will depend on DHHL’s funding levels, however. Aila said the department regularly requests additional resources during the state legislative sessions.
In 1983, land planning group PBR Hawaii completed a management plan for South Point on behalf of DHHL, but little came of it (“Many Ka‘u community members are frustrated that there has been no progress,” the new report says).
Since then, most preservation has been carried out by residents themselves.
“I think the Ka‘u community has been stepping up all these years, and trying to address it as best they can,” David said.
Community nonprofit group O Ka‘u Kakou, for example, has paid for the two porta-potties near South Point’s fish hoist since 2007. It costs the group about $468 per month to provide the service, said the group’s president, Wayne Kawachi.
Kawachi was a fisherman at South Point for 23 years.
“I was fishing down there, and I saw the conditions (there), that people were just using the bathroom here and there and everywhere,” he said. “I thought it would help, and our organization is a 501(c)3, so people can donate … it’s definitely a good idea to help keep the land as clean as possible.
“We’ve got to do what we’ve got to do to malama the area,” Kawachi said.
Aila said he had been impressed by how engaged Ka‘u residents were during the talk-stories.
“(It’s) the level of commitment that the community continues to have in working with the department to address this very difficult situation,” he said. “For years and years they’ve stuck with us, trying to find a solution. That shows the level of commitment to the aina.”
In the long term, DHHL hopes to create an interpretive walking trail at Ka Lae and provide more educational opportunities for visitors and residents. Many at the speak-out sessions remembered a summer camp in the 1990s for Ka‘u keiki, and expressed interest in starting a similar program.
“We are trying to increase our community relations and information staff,” Aila said. “One day we’ll have everybody educated to respect the sites down there.”
“Residents and tourists all need to find an understanding of the sacredness of the area: What the history of it is, and why it should be respected.”
Online: The Plan is available for viewing at https://bit.ly/2uLQx6P. Comments on the plan must be received by July 26 and can be sent to DHHL planner Andrew Choy at Andrew.H.Choy@hawaii.gov.
