HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The dream of restoring a 17-acre pond in Lahaina at the original site of the Hawaiian Kingdom government is gaining ground in Washington, D.C.
Advocate and cultural preservation expert Keeaumoku Kapu, leader of Na Aikane o Maui Community Foundation and a contractor for FEMA as a cultural and history advisor, points visitors to a basement parking lot under the destroyed 505 Front St. Shopping village.
Clear water rises up the ramp to nearly street level.
Kapu says it not rain runoff or ocean water. It’s fresh water coming up from an underground stream that once fed multiple ponds in the area. “Water is making a definitely big, huge statement,” Kapu said.
Kapu says it’s time to be led by the rising water — to take a former city park along Front Street and bring back Loko o Mokuhinia, a large pond that surrounded the island of Mokuula and served as a tomb for royalty before tourism took over Lahaina.
“So there’s a lot of trauma basically came about once the island was covered on the native Hawaiian perspective of why this area was so important, Kapu said.
The restoration of Mokuula has been talked about for over 50 years, but the fire — fueled by the dry landscape — has opened eyes to a physical and cultural transformation.
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West Maui Council Member Tamara Paltin says many believe Lahaina’s emphasis on whaling and plantation history has overshadowed its important role in development of the Hawaiian Kingdom. “There’s somewhat of a little bit of a blank slate feel,” she said I think you know, when we’re talking about the historic district of Lahaina,” she said.
One of the issues that prevented restoration in the past was money.
But with the Lahaina disaster well-known around the world, there seems to be more appetite in Washington for funding things like restoration of wetlands.
Most of Hawaii’s local and national leaders have joined in support of the plan.
“It’s really essential to restore this wetlands and this culturally and ecologically significant area,” said U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii. “And if there’s a way that the federal government can help, I’m very open minded to that.”
U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda, who represents Maui, was in the historic district Wednesday. She’s proposing historic Lahaina be named a National Heritage Area, eligible for federal funds.
“I think the really, good part is a good portion of the historic areas that people are looking at are already publicly owned by either the state or the county, and so that’s a really great start. So you can already start doing some of the work,” Tokuda said.
Gov. Josh Green announced his support for restoration several months ago.
“We’re also going to, right in that area be kind of recommitting ourselves to the cultural corridor, Mokuula, and that’s a very important thing,” Green said in April.
“So we’re going to be restoring fishponds. We’re going to make sure that we listen to our cultural leaders and the healers in the community.”
Kapu said it won’t be as easy as it sounds, you can’t just remove the groundcover to release the stream.
“I hope that the governor got a bigger wand than we think he has,” he said.
Kapu sees barriers in federal wetland regulations and potential Native Hawaiian burials in the soil used to fill the pond.
He points again to the spring water rising under the destroyed shopping village.
It and the park next door were once the site of a royal inland fishpond, near where the Hawaiian Kingdom Constitution was drafted, and where restoration efforts could start.
“Lo and behold, we already have a fish pond.,” he said. “All we have to do is take the mascara off, and we have the wetlands right there.”
The owners of 505 Front St., equity real estate firm Fowler Property Acquisitions, said they would not comment on any plan for the property.
It could be the first step to a potential freshwater renaissance of culture and history that advocates say could educate generations, attract and inform visitors, protect against fire and begin to change the dry climate of West Maui.
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