Malama Maha’ulepu appreciates The Garden Island’s supportive editorial of Nov. 10. Thank you for succinctly expressing the many reasons that Maha’ulepu merits preservation. And thank you for recognizing that retaining “Maha’ulepu’s rare combination of beauty and history for generations to
Malama Maha’ulepu appreciates The Garden Island’s supportive editorial of Nov.
10. Thank you for succinctly expressing the many reasons that Maha’ulepu merits preservation. And thank you for recognizing that retaining “Maha’ulepu’s rare combination of beauty and history for generations to come” is an opportunity that all of us – individuals and community groups, public officials and private interests – must try to achieve together.
One correction to the editorial: Malama Maha’ulepu is not attempting to preserve 22,000 acres. That acreage would constitute the entire land holdings of Grove Farm Co. Inc. We do want to keep the ahupua’a of Maha’ulepu and a coastal strip area of Pa’a beyond the Hyatt golf course undeveloped with compatible recreational uses. This area totals about 2,900 acres of conservation and agricultural zoned land. The vision of keeping the ahupua’a of Maha’ulepu undeveloped builds upon the farsighted legacy of the Waterhouse family who have deeded the adjacent ahupua’a of Kipu Kai to the state of Hawai’i in the future.
Malama Maha’ulepu is a community-based coalition. We are dedicated to this proactive initiative of preservation of Maha’ulepu no matter who the owner of of Grove Farm, Inc. shall be. We welcome – indeed, we need – the participation and support of individuals and of other community groups such as the signers of the eloquent and informative “Na Kahea no Na Kupu ‘O Koloa”, a plan to join this effort. (This letter can be heard in its entirely on our Web site: www.geocities.com/malamamahaulepu).
May we also take this opportunity to thank the hundreds of volunteers who have collected over 3,500 signatures, 700 postcards to Governor Cayetano, and who have supported this effort in other ways.
If readers have questions, want to assist or to contribute to this effort to create a South Shore heritage preserve, a contact address, phone and e-mail are below: Beryl Blaich, Sierra Club Kaua’i, coastal conservation organizer and facilitator for Malama Maha’ulepu, P.O. Box 1434, Kilauea, HI 96765. Phone: 828-1483, e-mail blaich@aloha.net
BERYL BLAICH, Kilauea
