Bill Text: HI SCR178 | 2019 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requesting Additional Protections For The Mauna Kea Summit Due To Its Religious Significance And Important Cultural And Natural Resources.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-03-13 - Referred to HWN/WTL, WAM. [SCR178 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2019-SCR178-Introduced.html
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THE SENATE |
S.C.R. NO. |
178 |
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THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2019 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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SENATE CONCURRENT
RESOLUTION
REQUESTING ADDITIONAL PROTECTIONS FOR THE MAUNA KEA SUMMIT DUE TO ITS RELIGIOUS SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPORTANT CULTURAL AND NATURAL RESOURCES.
WHEREAS, Native Hawaiians consider Mauna Kea to be an ancestor, a living family member, born of Wākea (Sky Father) and Papa (Earth Mother), progenitors of the Native Hawaiian people and the place where Sky and Earth separated to form the Great-Expanse-of-Space and the Heavenly Realms; and
WHEREAS, Mauna Kea is a wao akua (the place where gods reside or home of nā akua), the realm of ancestral akua (gods, goddesses, and deities or nā ‘aumakua), where akua take earthly form as the pu‘u (hill or peak), the waters of Lake Waiau, and other significant landscape features, and is a wahi pana (storied place); and
WHEREAS, many Native Hawaiian traditional and customary religious practitioners consider the summit a place dedicated to the Supreme Being and perform temple ceremonies including those that honor the time of the polohiwa (Solstice and Equinox) throughout the year; and
WHEREAS, according to Native Hawaiian Environment by Kumu Hula Pualani Kanaka‘ole Kanahele, "Mauna Kea is also the piko, or navel, of the island, and this is another reason the mountain and the area around it is considered sacred" by Native Hawaiians; and
WHEREAS, Native Hawaiian traditional and customary practices are derived from these beliefs; and
WHEREAS, the large number of shrines on and near the summit of Mauna Kea indicate that the summit was and continues to be used as a place of worship for the snow goddess Poli‘ahu and other akua and ‘aumakua such as Kūkahau, Līlīnoe, and Waiau; and
WHEREAS, approximately 11,000 acres of the Mauna Kea summit, an area spanning from 6,000 feet (saddle road) to 13,796 feet in elevation, is within the conservation district; and
WHEREAS, a number of rare, vulnerable, or endangered plants, animals, and arthropods found nowhere else on the planet live within the Mauna Kea conservation district; and
WHEREAS, the native bird species that reside within the conservation district include the Palila (Loxioides bailleui), ‘Amakihi (Hemignathus virens), ‘Apapane (Himatione sanguinea), ‘Elepaio (Chasiempis sandwichensis), ‘Akiapola‘au (Hemignathus munroi), and ‘I‘iwi (Vestiaria coccinea), and of these species only the Palila, ‘Amakihi, ‘Apapane, and ‘I‘iwi have been observed at Halepōhaku in recent times; and
WHEREAS, the māmane-naio forest on the southwestern, eastern, and northern slopes of Mauna Kea houses the entire world population of the Palila (Loxioides bailleui) bird, the iconic Hawaiian honeycreeper endemic to the island of Hawai‘i and specifically Mauna Kea, and the last finch-billed honeycreeper in the main Hawaiian islands; and
WHEREAS, the Mauna Kea ‘Āhinahina (sliver sword), ‘Io (Hawaiian hawk), Pueo (owl), Palila (honeycreeper), ‘Ōpe‘ape‘a (bat), and Aoa (sandalwood) are all rare, vulnerable, or listed as officially endangered by the federal government; and
WHEREAS, the Māmane woodlands are home to a wide variety of native arthropods (insects and spiders) and the arthropod community on the summit is highly unusual in that it is mostly made up of predators and scavengers rather than herbivores; and
WHEREAS, notable arthropods living on the summit include the Wēkiu bug (Nysius wekiuicola), which is endemic to the northern plateau area of Mauna Kea and has gained the attention and interest of scientists, conservationists, and the public because of its very restricted range and peculiar life history, and two moth species unique to Hawai‘i island and found on Mauna Kea at elevations of 9,000 feet and higher; and
WHEREAS, the Alpine shrublands of Mauna Kea are inhabited mainly by low-lying shrubby species such as Pūkiawe (Leptecophylla tameiameiae), ‘Ōhelo (Vaccinium reticulatum), and Mauna Kea dubautia (Dubautia arborea); scattered grasses such as Hawaiian bentgrass (Agrostis sandwicensis), and Pili uka (Trisetum glomeratum); and native ferns such as Douglas' bladderfern (Cystopteris douglasii), Kalamoho (Pellaea ternifolia), ‘Olali‘i (Asplenium trichomanes), and ‘Iwa‘iwa (bird's nest ferns, Asplenium adiantum-nigrum); and
WHEREAS, historically common but now rare species found in the Alpine shrublands include ‘Āhinahina (Argyroxiphium sandwicense ssp. sandwicense), lava dubautia (Dubautia ciliolata ssp. ciliolata), ‘Ōhelopapa (Hawaiian strawberry, Fragraria chiloen-sis), ‘Ena‘ena (Pseudognaphalium sandwicensium), Nohoanu (Geranium cuneatum ssp. hololeucum), and alpine tetramolopium (Tetramolopium humile ssp.humile var. humile); and
WHEREAS, of the twenty-one lichen species found on the summit of Mauna Kea, at least half are endemic to Hawai‘i island; two, Pseudephebe pubescens and Umbilicaria pacifica, are limited to Mauna Kea alone; and the remaining species are indigenous to the Hawaiian islands; and
WHEREAS, Mauna Kea sits atop five aquifer systems that provide water throughout Hawaii island and to date there has been no comprehensive hydrological study of the summit; and
WHEREAS, the Mauna Kea summit area is composed of Hawaiian Kingdom Crown and Government lands, also known as ceded lands, and is now part of the public land trust and subject to the public trust doctrine set forth in Article XI, section 1, of the Hawaii State Constitution that holds natural resources in trust by the State for the benefit of the people; and
WHEREAS, Native Hawaiians have unrelinquished and undivided ownership interest in the summit of Mauna Kea and as such have additional special customary and traditional rights to practice and access the summit; and
WHEREAS, Article XII, section 7, of the Hawaii State Constitution gives the State a duty to "protect all rights, customarily and traditionally exercised for subsistence, cultural and religious purposes" and new development, construction, and other use of ground-disturbing machines may disturb sacred sites or impede on Native Hawaiian rights to access the Mauna Kea summit for traditional, customary, and subsistence purposes; and
WHEREAS, the approximately 11,000 acres of the Mauna Kea summit are currently within the conservation district and section 13-5-30(c)(4), Hawaii Administrative Rules, prohibits a proposed land use in the conservation district that will cause a substantial adverse impact to existing natural resources; and
WHEREAS, the State has created a management framework that protects conservation land against further degradation regardless of whether the lands have already been adversely affected in the past; however, this has not protected the summit of Mauna Kea from the threat of future adverse impacts caused by new development; and
WHEREAS, any future adverse impacts caused by new development on the Mauna Kea summit conservation land will put the rare and endangered plants, animals, arthropods, fragile ecological environments, and sacred sites on Mauna Kea at risk as destruction of specific and subtle features of the terrestrial environment found on the Mauna Kea summit may lead to reduced populations of any one of these unique, rare, or endangered organisms; and
WHEREAS, there is a high risk of invasive plants and animals migrating to the summit and surrounding areas on workers and machines if there is new development, and invasive species would endanger endemic organisms; and
WHEREAS, continued research leading to a detailed understanding of these life forms is necessary for establishing conservation parameters; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirtieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2019, the House of Representatives concurring, that this body requests additional protections for the Mauna Kea summit from 6,000 feet (saddle road) to 13,796 feet elevation above sea level due to its religious significance and important cultural and natural resources; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this body recognizes that new development on Mauna Kea conservation land would adversely affect the fragile cultural and natural resources of the summit of Mauna Kea and would violate the State's constitutional obligation to protect the public trust, natural resources, environmental rights, and Native Hawaiian customary and traditional rights; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources, Chair of the Hawaiian Homes Commission, President of the University of Hawai‘i System, Chairperson of the University of Hawai‘i Board of Regents, and Office of Mauna Kea Management.
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OFFERED BY: |
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Mauna Kea; Conservation.
