Regina Floyd has been lending a hand with cleaning up Lydgate Park on Kauai’s Eastside every Saturday morning for three years.
May 12 was the first time heavy machinery was added to the mix, and Floyd said watching the excavators rip logs from Morgan Pond and the surrounding beach was impressive.
“I did a video of them pulling a huge, huge trunk out of there,” Floyd, a Wailua Homesteads resident said. “It was phenomenal.”
The heavy rains of April 14 and 15 sent albizia and other types of trees and debris down the Wailua River and out into the ocean, where currents and tides pushed the debris back onto the beach at Lydgate — a beach popular with both locals and tourists.
Over a few days, sticks piled on top of each other as the Wailua watershed washed onto the beach and after the rain slowed the sand was barely visible through the thatch of salt-laden driftwood.
Once the rains stopped, Friends of Kamalani started cleanup efforts.
Floyd said the biggest group to help with cleanups was about 60 people who showed up during the May 12 major cleanup day. That’s more than twice the usual crowd of helpers at the regular Saturday Friends of Kamalani cleanup events, she said.
The community group worked with Kauai Veterans Express, who was contracted with County of Kauai for $89,000 to clean the pond of debris from the April flooding. An additional $5,000 was donated by the Kauai Visitors Bureau to help with the cleanup work.
The driftwood was taken to Kauai Nursery to be chipped and recycled into green waste compost.
Tommy Noyes, one of the coordinators with Friends of Kamalani, said the company used the heavy equipment clear tree trunks from the pond with big claw buckets and was a massive help to their effort.
“They were using a chain to lift away the big pieces of driftwood that had lodged against the exterior of the seawall,” he said. “That was the way the bulk of the floating driftwood was removed from the pond itself and the beach.”
Now, Floyd says the beach surrounding Morgan Pond is still littered with driftwood and debris, but “it’s not bad.”
“It’s way better. The water is clearer. The rocks that go around the edge, those were breached so we’re still getting stuff that washes in, but it’s way more manageable,” she said.
Noyes said he’s expecting to see a heavier influx of driftwood finding its way into the pond until the rock wall is repaired, and currently the county says there aren’t any plans to repair the wall.
“The repair of the rock wall will require permits from the Army Corps of Engineers, along with a Special Management Area permit,” said Lenny Rapozo, director of parks and recreation.
To apply for these permits, a proposed design of the repairs will need to be completed by a coastal engineer.
“There is no funding available at this time to pursue a contract with a coastal engineer to design the proposed repairs and apply for the required permits,” Rapozo said.
Meanwhile, a brown water advisory is still in place from the state’s Department of Health for Lydgate Park and advises “if the water is brown, stay out”.
Surfrider’s Blue Water Task Force last sampled May 12 and recorded 520 enterococcus bacteria per 100/mL of water at the Wailua River mouth, which exceeds the state standards of 130 parts/100 mL.
“People are swimming there again,” said Floyd. “I don’t know that I would, but we do see visitors that are back at the beach. People are coming back.”
April floods postponed Friends of Kamalani’s annual Earth Day cleanup and the organization is holding it June 16 to give the community another chance to help by cleaning the beach park and painting playground equipment.
It will start at 7:30 a.m. and volunteers should gather near the Kamalani Playground at Lydgate Beach Park.
“That’s our major community work day,” Noyes said. “Let us know if you’re bringing a group of volunteers so we can coordinate volunteer efforts.”
Info: 639-1018
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Jessica Else, environment reporter, can be reached at 245-0452 or at jelse@thegardenisland.com.
