Time To Speak Up On Plans For Kawainui Wetlands

Del.icio.us

If there’s ever a place where the future is so deeply rooted in the past, it’s Kawainui. Embraced by cultural descendents, environmental activists, schoolchildren and community advocates alike, not many places have been planned for and protected with the hope of preservation as this 800-acre Ramsar Wetland of International Importance.

In the coming weeks, you have the opportunity to participate in two sets of meetings. The first is an ongoing series sponsored by Ho’olaulima Ia Kawainui, inviting comments on the KawainuiHamakua Interpretive Plan. These meetings have been a way to map out our future interactions with the marsh. The final one is set for 6:30 p.m. Nov. 8 at St. Anthony’s Church.

The second series focuses on the update, revision and implementation of the 1994 Kawainui Master Plan. Wanting to ensure thorough community engagement and making the plan more than just words on paper, Rep. Pono Chong and I made it a priority to secure $800,000 for planning, design and the initial construction work needed to move this plan from shelf to shovel.

Following up on the discussions from our Envisioning Kawainui meetings, co-sponsored by the Castle Foundation, Helber Hastert & Fee will conduct a public meeting from 10 a.m. to noon Dec. 10 at Le Jardin Academy to start the process of revising the master plan.

A draft environmental assessment is being finalized on the Kawainui Marsh Wetland Restoration Habitat Enhancement Project, a joint project between the Division of Forestry and Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Centered around 80 acres of wetland and upland habitat, the project seeks to create an ecosystem that manages flood risk and wildlife and native plant habitat. Public comment also is welcome.

At that place where good plans find state and federal matched funding, we have the Army Corps of Engineers Kawainui Marsh Environmental Restoration Project, known as the “Ponds Project.”

Recognizing the significance of these plans 15 years in the making, we worked hard to bring home more than $1 million in state funds needed to secure the 75 percent federal matching funds so work could begin. With the notice to proceed issued, work is set to begin in the dry season around July 2012 and is expected to be completed in six months.

While this alone should suffice for the amount of planning and preservation work done on any given area, I can assure you that I have but scratched the surface on what is happening in Kawainui. Thanks to the work of everyday heroes, too many to name, the marsh is alive and lies waiting and ready to embrace what the future may bring.

Contact state Sen. Jill Tokuda, D, 24th District, (Kaneohe, Kailua) at 5877215 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).