MES Lanai

Photos: Courtesy of Pacific Stock UPDATE: 2015 Article Written By: Katrina Valcourt, HONOLULU Magazine Much has changed on Lāna‘i since the last update we ran in 2006, the biggest, of course, being Larry Ellison’s purchase of 98 percent of the island in 2012. And though he, like previous owner David Murdock of Castle & Cooke, is investing in tourism, Ellison is also preserving historic structures. “All of the stores, all of the original buildings in the Dole Park square built between about 1924 and 1955, have been restored in their fronts, appearance and approach so that they look as they did when they were originally built, but are no longer falling apart,” says Kepā Maly, senior vice president of culture and historic preservation at Pūlama Lāna‘i. “Every community needs to have some type of economic driver. The foundation of that driver on Lāna‘i is our stories, our sense of place. The look of Lāna‘i City is part of that unique attribute.” UPDATE: 2009 The National Trust for Historic Preservation listed Lanai City as one of the “11 Most Endangered Historic Places” in 2009 and listed development as the threat. LISTED AS ENDANGERED IN 2006 Article Written By: Michael Keany, HONOLULU Magazine What is it? For 70 years, Lana‘i City was a close-knit community united by a common purpose: pineapple. After buying the island in 1922, James Dole engineered a small plantation town perfectly suited to the new agricultural industry—small enough to have no stoplights, but complete with churches, businesses, entertainment and housing.“I’m continually amazed at the way that original design fostered a sense of community, a sense of place,” says Kepa Maly, a cultural historian and Lanai native. What threatens it? Lanai’s last pineapple crops were harvested in 1992, and Castle & Cooke, which owns almost 98 percent of the island, has turned to tourism and real estate. Change is inevitable, [...]

“It is irreparable damage to such a beautiful place in return for very little for our community.” Robin Kaye Photos: Courtesy of Robin Kaye UPDATE: 2011 Public meetings were held on Maui, Moloka‘i and Lāna‘i to gather comments on a "programmatic" environmental impact statement on the Hawaii Inter-island Renewable Energy Program. A traditional cultural properties study of Ka‘a Ahupua‘a was completed in April of 2011 by Kepā and Onaona Maly for The Lāna‘i Culture & Heritage Center. LISTED AS ENDANGERED IN 2011 Article Written By: Victoria Wiseman, HONOLULU Magazine What Is It? The Landscape of the 20,000-acre Ka’a Ahupua’a on the west side of Lāna‘i is unspoiled and mostly uncharted, with little known about the cultural importance of the area is undeniable: A limited 2011 survey identified 294 cultural features, such as ceremonial sites, petroglyphs, heiau and burial locations. The ahupua’a also serves an important community purpose, providing food to local subsistence hunters and fishers. What Threatens It? Historic preservation and the pursuit of alternative energy are both well-intentioned movements in society. However, not everyone agrees that both can happen in the Ka’ Ahupua’a. In 2008, landowner Castle & Cooke Resorts LLC was permitted to build a 170-turbine, 400-Megawatt wind farm in the ahupua’a. Community group Friends of Lāna‘i is against the project. “It is irreparable damage to such a beautiful place in return for very little for our community,” says Robin Kaye. The construction of the turbines, roads, and power facilities would significantly alter the landscape, and all of the power generated would go to Oahu. The only benefit to Lāna‘i would be a handful of permanent jobs, he says. In 2009, after public input, the Public Utilities Commission decided to reexamine the project [...]

Chalking petroglyphs, as shown in the photo, is one of the practices that have damaged these ancient carvings.  Photos: Courtesy of Kepa Maly Article Written By: Jenny Quill, HONOLULU Magazine What is it? Located on a difficult-to-find, 3 acre section of land in central Lāna‘i, Luahiwa is one of Hawai‘i’s most significant Ki‘ipōhaku, or petroglyph, complexes, with close to 1,000 ancient stone carvings etched into the sides of boulders scattered across the slope. According to Kepa Maly, the executive director of the Lāna‘i Culture and Heritage Center, 95 percent of the drawings are of pre-Western-contact forms, including canoes, human shapes, animals, dogs, turtles and processions of men. “The other interesting thing about the complex” says Maly, “is that you can see that it has been used generationally. When one set of images were beginning to fade out due to centuries of exposure to weather, new images were put over them. You can still see the juxtaposing of image over image”. What threatens it? There are several environmental factors: A fire in October 2007 burned through the region, cracking the rocks; soil erosion resulting from the removal of vegetation has undermined the stones. Then there’s the human factor. In recent years, one of the ancient dog images was redrawn as a deer with antlers. People have also crudely carved their names into the boulders, while others have used acrylic, chalk or wax to make the carvings more visible for viewing and recording. What can be done? Maly would like to establish an area for boardwalk that leads to viewing platform outfitted with interpretative signage. This setup would ensure that visitors could still get a glimpse of the ancient stone carvings, and diminish the potential for additional [...]