ASSOCIATION OF HAWAIIAN CIVIC CLUBS
A RESOLUTION
No. 2017 – 33
COMMENDING THE STUDENTS AND TEACHERS OF THE ʻAʻALIʻI PROGRAM AT NĀNĀKULI HIGH AND INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL FOR THEIR CIVIC DUTY
WHEREAS, a group of students from Nānākuli High & Intermediate School known as the ʻAʻaliʻi Program started working at Kaʻala Farm in Waiʻanae Valley to learn about watershed resource management and agriculture; and
WHEREAS, the students learned how Hawaiians used the water from streams that flowed through the valley for traditional agriculture and fish ponds and that water had been capped and diverted by the sugar plantations in the late 1800’s only to be used later for residential development; and
WHEREAS, they also learned from their experience working at Kaʻala Farm and through talking with Wally Ito from Ānuenue Fisheries that releasing the water into the stream will help to feed our aquifers, allow the stream to flow to the ocean, and create brackish waters that will allow the endemic species of ʻoʻopu, ʻōpae and other fish like the ʻanae to spawn as well as promote limu growth; and
WHEREAS, there are at least four streams in Wai‘anae Valley – Kūmaipō, Hiu, Kalalula and Nioloopua – that no longer flow year-round due to water diversions; and
WHEREAS, the students began to research the laws and policies on water resource management as part of their experiential learning; and
WHEREAS, based on their research, they learned that the Commission on Water Resource Management has the responsibility to protect the traditional and customary practices and natural resources dependent on streamflow, and found Wai‘anae is the only place on O‘ahu that does not have a water management area designation; and
WHEREAS, community members from the ahupua‘a of Nānākuli, Lualualei, Wai‘anae, and Mākaha have expressed a desire to restore the water being diverted out of Wai‘anae back into the stream, to allow mahi‘ai (farmers) who use generational and traditional Hawaiian plants in Wai‘anae; and
WHEREAS, these ʻAʻaliʻi Program students attended the Waiʻanae Coast Neighborhood Board meeting on November 1, 2016, and through their efforts the board unanimously passed a resolution researched and written by them; and
WHEREAS, the students presented their resolution at a community meeting held in the Waiʻanae Moku where a panel of expert members on water resource management were present; and
WHEREAS, the ʻAʻaliʻi students additionally attended an agriculture committee meeting to prepare for this panel discussion to learn about the issues of watershed resources and to propose their resolution on restoring water to the watershed for this panel to deliberate; and
WHEREAS, at the 2016 Annual Convention of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs in Las Vegas, the resolution based on the one drafted by the ʻAʻaliʻi students was introduced by the Princess Kaʻiulani Hawaiian Civic Club; and
WHEREAS, the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs recommended that the resolution be deferred and that association members work with the students to rewrite the resolution; and
WHEREAS, Ke One O Kakūhihewa, the O‘ahu Council of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, received the students’ resolution at its July 8, 2017 council meeting where it was referred to Kōmike Kaiaola for further editing; and
WHEREAS, Ke One O Kakūhihewa has introduced a water resolution based on the spirit and work of the ʻAʻaliʻi Program students.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs at its 58th Annual Convention in Seattle, Washington, in the malama of ʻIkuwā and the rising of Māhealani, this 4th day of November 2017, commending the students and teachers of the ʻAʻaliʻi Program at Nānākuli High and Intermediate School for their civic duty; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a certified copy of this resolution be transmitted to Nānākuli High and Intermediate School, Kaʻala Farms, Inc., Place-based Learning and Community Engagement in Schools (PLACES), the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, as well as the Governor of the State of Hawai‘i, President of the State Senate, Speaker of the State House of Representatives, Chair of the State Senate Committee on Hawaiian Affairs, Chair of the State House Committee on Ocean, Marine Resources, & Hawaiian Affairs, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and all County Mayors.
The undersigned hereby certifies that the foregoing Resolution was duly adopted in the malama of ʻIkuwā and the rising of Māhealani on the 4th day of November 2017, at the 58th Annual Convention of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs in Seattle, Washington.
Annelle C. Amaral, President
