ANAHOLA — A three-day cleanup commenced in Anahola Friday, drawing more than a dozen volunteers to clear out junk cars, moldy mattresses and broken- down home appliances from a portion of the northeast coastline that has become littered. The cleanup
ANAHOLA — A three-day cleanup commenced in Anahola Friday, drawing more than a dozen volunteers to clear out junk cars, moldy mattresses and broken- down home appliances from a portion of the northeast coastline that has become littered.
The cleanup crew, comprised of volunteers from a number of diverse organizations, vowed that the makeshift junkyard overtaking the stretch of undeveloped land held in trust for Native Hawaiians would be trash-free by week’s end.
“We’re going to be hauling all this out for days,” said Robert Zelkovsky, a member of the Kauai Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation’s executive committee. “But it’s really good to see a lot of local residents down here cleaning up the beach.”
As he organized a pile of rubbish dampened in a rainstorm Friday, Zelkovsky said that at last count there were about two dozen cars that had dumped which were in danger of polluting the ocean and surrounding environment.
In addition to Surfrider, a half dozen Anahola-based community groups helped organize and execute the cleanup, which was made possible by volunteer labor and funding from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, which manages the land. Some of those community groups include Kalalea/Anehola Farmers Hui, Piiliani Mai Ke Kai, Anahola Farmers and Ranchers Association and Anahola Hawaiian Homes Association.
Anahola resident Pat Hunter-Williams said she joined the effort over concerns about brush fires.
“The last one was so big, the fire came right up to the road across the street from these homes,” she said, motioning toward a row of houses on Pilipoli Road. “And these are new homes. There were embers in the village. (Kauai Fire Department) has had to spend resources to continually come down here. Fire are going to keep happening until we do something.”
And then there are environmental concerns, such as the array of rusted-out cars that could potentially leak fluids.
If hauling out the trash is the short-term solution, Anahola Hawaiian Homes Association members are working on the long-term fix.
The association has notified DHHL of its desire to play a larger role in discouraging dumping by cutting the grass, patrolling the area and installing picnic tables in an effort to create an atmosphere that’s more like a park and less like an abandoned wasteland.
AHHA leaders said they are working with DHHL officials so they can put their plan into action.
“What matters is that we’re out here making a difference,” said La Contrades, a homesteader and president of Ka Hale Pono, a group that seeks to provide education opportunities to the community.
