Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 30, Number 7, 1 July 2013 — Gate renews debate over access rights [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Gate renews debate over access rights

By Harold Nedd MAUI — A landowner with close connections to onee powerful sugar plantations on Maui has a vision: build a steel gate that restricts access and limit liability from accidents on a Waihe'e Valley trail whose charm and appeal to hikers are enhanced by man-made wooden bridges that swing over streams near warning signs about such hazards as dangerous cliffs, falling rocks and flash floods. Residents like Kaniloa and lohanna Kamaunu from the eommunity near the valley have another vision: lead the fight against the restriction, whieh they believe ignores the traditional and customary rights of Native Hawaiians who for generations have been, among other things, swimming, fishing and visiting ancient burial sites near an area beyond the gate commonly known in Wailuku as "The S winging Bridges." In May, the tension over the restricted access to the Swinging Bridges was revealed to seven trustees from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Accompanied by staff members, the Kamaunu family as well

as representatives from landowner Wailuku Water Co., the trustees

climbed into four-wheel-drive vehicles to navigate a treacherous mile of the valley then walked another mile to reach the gate, where they listened to both sides of the controversy. "We have a right to cultural practices and to traverse areas historically known to us," said Kaniloa Kamaunu, 50, a correctional officer whose family ties to Wailuku dates back seven generations. "If they are allowed to hloek access, how will we be able to traverse for cultural practices and

visit iwi kupuna? They do not have the power to deny my access rights." His wife, lohanna Kamaunu, who is a 61-year-old bail bond agent, echoes the sentiment, adding that they've mobilized 100 neighbors for a protest march along the trial to the gate. "Until these landowners eame along, everybody and anybody could go up to the Swinging

Bridges," she said. "We decided as a family that we needed to show them that we have rights. We've walked this valley before and we shouldn't be stopped. This is about cultural traditional practices, and they need to allow us access." Avery Chumbley, who represented the Wailuku Water Co. during the site visit with OHA trust-

ees, countered that the gate is a direct response to the hiking trail's growing appeal to eco-tourists, who were swarming Waihe'e Valley's streams, swinging bridges and other hidden treasures. "There were times we would eome into the valley to do maintenance work and would count in excess of 100 people a day," Chumbley told OHA trustees. "There were commereial operations bringing people in by the vanloads. It created gridlock. It got to the point where the liability and risk to us heeame too great. And we put up the gate to limit the amount of uninvited and unauthorized traffic that was coming through here. And the gate has pretty mueh worked." Like a lot of other observers, Daniel Ornellas, a Maui district land agent with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, understands Chumbley's perspective but worries about businesspeople like him missing the main point. "In his mind, it's a liability issue," Ornellas said. "But he doesn't eonsider the traditional and customary rights of valley residents that are still protected by state law. If you grew up in Wailuku, the thing to do was to go in the valley. For a landowner to eome in, slap up a gate and tell valley residents, who have been going up there a

thousand years, that they can't go up there anymore is quite disconcerting

for a lot of people." In the meantime, the dispute is being closely watched by OHA trustees, who in the past have taken steps to address access issues for traditional practices that eonnect Native Hawaiians to the these islands, their ancestors and one another. "This is a eommon threat to Native Hawaiians when it comes to water, land and power," said OHA Chairperson Colette Machado, who participated in the site visit to the gate. "Trustees have

been fully educated about these issues that continue to impede our people. We also know we must continue to take a stand to open the doors that would allow free and full access to their kupuna iwi and fresh water as well as to have that access to Waihe'e Valley." ■

See a video on this story onli.ne at www.oha.org.

We have a right to cultural practices and to traverse areas historically known to us. If they are allowed to hloek access, how will we be able to traverse for cultural practices and visit iwi kupuna? They do not have the power to deny my access rights." — Kaniloa Kamaunu

LAND & WATER

OHA trustrees and staff members visit the site of the controversial gate in Waihe'e Valley on Maui. - Photo: Lehua ltokazu