Kalalau to reopen sooner than scheduled

LIHU‘E — When the state Department of Land and Natural Resources announced in June it had plans to close Kalalau Valley for two months to conduct rockfall mitigation work, some community members questioned if such an ambitious project would be finished by Nov. 7 as promised.

Officials last week announced the state will be leaving Kalalau by Nov. 1, but will have to return to finish the job.

“The state is deciding to deal with Block I at a later time,” Tobias Koehler told the county Planning Commission on Tuesday. Koehler is the environmental planner for AECom, the company contracted to oversee the project. Block I is a large rock formation attached to the cliff in the north end of the beach.

“Looking at the project schedule and where we’re at, right now is not the time to bring it down,” Koehler said.

Part of the project involved workers rappelling down the face of the same cliff. Using crowbars, they knocked down rocks that appeared to be less than 50 percent attached to the cliff’s face.

Koehler said this part of the project will be wrapping up this week. After that, clean-up efforts will take place.

Another part of the project involved bringing down two massive blocks that appeared to be slowly detaching from the cliff’s face.

Koehler said in June that workers would insert air bags inside the cracks on the blocks, and then pump them until the blocks detached from the cliff.

On Tuesday Koehler said that upon closer inspection, what he called Block II doesn’t need to be removed.

Block I, however, which perches atop the waterfall, is still in the DLNR’s plans to be removed. But with time running out, they decided to leave the block in place for now, according to Koehler.

The state originally received a two-year permit to conduct the work. Koehler said they would like to keep the permit open while the state considers the situation with Block I.

Commissioner Jan Kimura was concerned that if the project isn’t going to be finished as scheduled, the cost to finish it is going to double.

Russell Kumabe, development branch chief of State Parks, said Block II, atop the sea cave, appears to be less of an eminent hazard.

“We’re still concerned about people going in the sea cave in that area,” he said, adding that the state will post warning signs around the cave.

“For the Block I, we really wanted to take care of that eminent hazard,” he said.

Kumabe said Block I, however, will take a lot more time than what the state has planned.

“What we want to do is allow us time to plan this out and come back. It’s going to double our cost, but we cannot help it,” he said.

Kumabe said the decision to start the project so close to the rainy and large-surf season may appear to have been impractical. But the state, he said, had to act in that short window of time because of a combination of several things, including gathering necessary permits, allowing the valley to be used during summer, and using state funds before they lose them.

Kumabe said finishing the job will involve additional public funds, but the funds from the contract will still be used. If there is a need for more funding, DLNR will be looking into taking funds from the statewide rockfall mitigation funds.

State Parks archaeologist Alan Carpenter said the project gave the state an unprecedented opportunity to clean the area.

“We’ve broken down numerous illegal campsites, we have removed rubbish, we’ve replaced signage, we rehabilitated toilets, which is a huge issue for a lot of people who have been there,” he said. “Quite frankly, they were disgusting. Those will be as good as new.”

Carpenter said when people come back they will be impressed with how clean the area is. The impacts of the rockfall mitigation, he said, were less than those from illegal camping.

Kumabe said the state learned a lot from the project and will have more time to plan for when they come back to finish the job.