If you want to enjoy a night of camping at state parks on Kaua’i and in the rest of Hawai’i, you had better be willing to pay for the experience. To raise revenue to improve maintenance of Hawaii state parks,
If you want to enjoy a night of camping at state parks on Kaua’i and in the rest of Hawai’i, you had better be willing to pay for the experience. To raise revenue to improve maintenance of Hawaii state parks, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources will begin charging fees Monday for overnight camping in state facilities.
A fee of $5 will be charged per family campsite (up to 10 persons) at 11 campsites statewide, including those at Polihale State Park and Koke’e State park on Kaua’i, according to Ralston Nagata, administrator with DLNR’s parks division.
The exception will be a $10 per-person fee for overnight camping along the Na Pali Coast, because “it is a unique visitor resource,” Nagata said. “It is in higher demand than other campground sites. The resource is fairly significant, and we don’t want to encourage its overuse.” Officials considered a $20 fee for the Na Pali Coast, but that amount was nixed because it was thought to be too high, Nagata said.
The Limu Coalition, a Kaua’i citizens group from the North Shore area, wants the state to institute a better management plan for Kalalau Trail, which brings hikers to overnight state campground facilities on the Na Pali Coast. The group claims up to 500 people hike on the trail daily during the summer.
The rush of hikers to the area, described by a Sierra Club member on Kaua’i as a stampede, has contributed to the accelerated erosion of the trail. Wayne Souza, who heads the DLNR parks division on Kaua’i, said he and his staff strive to keep the trail in good order, but are hindered by the lack of maintenance funds. That problem is expected to be alleviated once revenues are generated from the camping fees.
DNLR gets about $5 million a year for the maintenance of parks statewide, and the fees are projected to generate another $300,000, as long as there isn’t a drop-off in campers after they start paying to camp, Nagata said.
Statewide, 12 parks will be affected by the new fee structure, including Kalopa and MacKenzie on the Big Island, Polipoli Spring, Wai’anapanapa and Pala’au on Mau’i and Kehana Valley, Keaiwa Heiau, Malaekahana and Sand Island on O’ahu. “Hawaii state parks are in serious need of investment, increased management and protection,” said Timothy Johns, DLNR chairman. “Over the past five years, funding has been cut by over 30 percent, making it nearly impossible to adequately maintain our parks and keep pace with the visitor demand.”
The fee structure was approved by the Board of Land and Natural Resources in February 1999 and is comparable to similar fee structures in other states. Up until now, Hawai’i had been one of the few states that did not impose fees for tent camping. Nagata said while it will take a while before sufficient revenues are raised to begin making any improvements, DLNR hopes the “nominal camping fees will be welcomed by the public as an investment toward the future and a means to better care for these resources.”
Staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and lchang@pulitzer.net.
