ASSOCIATION OF HAWAIIAN CIVIC CLUBS
A RESOLUTION
No. 2018 – 38
STRONGLY CALLING FOR ALL HAWAIʻI STATE GOVERNMENT LEADERS TO ENSURE THE RESTORATION OF ALL EAST MAUI STREAMS AS NOTED IN THE WORKS OF NĀ MOKU AUPUNI O KOʻOLAU HUI TO BENEFIT THE LONG TERM STEWARDSHIP OF EAST MAUI FORESTS IN PROVIDING ENOUGH WATER TO MEET ITS PRIMARY TRUST RESPONSIBILITIES
WHEREAS, the East Maui watershed encompasses over 60,000 acres of predominately native forests, extending to 8,000 feet elevation on the slopes of Haleakalā; and
WHEREAS, annual rainfall exceeds over 300 inches a year in the eastern portion of the watershed; and
WHEREAS, for over 120 years, the State of Hawai‘i allowed Alexander & Baldwin (A&B) and East Maui Irrigation (EMI), a subsidiary of A&B, to divert water for agricultural, domestic and other purposes from East Maui reserves and communities, to Central and Upcountry Maui; and
WHEREAS, EMI constructed its diversion systems in phases, beginning in the 1870s and extended to the completion of the current system in 1923; and
WHEREAS, Nā Moku O Koʻolau Hui, a group of taro farmers, fishermen, hunters, and traditional practitioners, filed a petition in 2001 to amend the flow standards of more than two dozen streams that A&B diverted for its sugar cane fields which negatively impacted stream life, taro farming, and other Native Hawaiian practices; and
WHEREAS, in 2003, the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) approved the A&B application for a 30-year lease; and
WHEREAS, Nā Moku O Aupuni Hui appealed the BLNR 2003 decision to the Circuit Court arguing that BLNR must complete an environmental assessment of the impacts of A&B stream diversions including impacts on traditional and customary Native Hawaiian rights, and this appeal was granted by Judge Eden Hifo; and
WHEREAS, the Constitution of the State of Hawaiʻi, Article XI, Section 7, states: “The State has an obligation to protect, control and regulate the use of Hawaiʻi’s water resources for the benefit of its people…”; and
WHEREAS, the Constitution of the State Hawaiʻi, Article XII, Section 7, states: “The State reaffirms and shall protect all rights, customarily and traditionally exercised for subsistence, cultural and religious purposes and possessed by ahupuaʻa tenants who are descendants of native Hawaiians who inhabited the Hawaiian islands prior to 1778…”; and
WHEREAS, on June 20, 2018, the Commission on Water Resources Management (CWRM) issued its East Maui interim instream flow standards stating the benefits of the long-term stewardship of East Maui forests provide enough water to meet the primary trust responsibilities: 1) maintenance of waters in their natural state; 2) domestic water uses of the general public particularly for drinking; 3) Native Hawaiian traditional and cultural gathering, including appurtenant rights; and 4) reservations of water for the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands; and
WHEREAS, CWRM recognizes taro and other traditional agriculture as an instream use and ultimately will return free-flowing water with no upstream diversion to all streams which have historically supported significant taro cultivation such streams that were diverted over a 100 years ago namely Honopū, Huelo, Hanehoi, Piʻinaʻau, Palauhulu, ʻŌhiʻa, Waiokamilo, Kualani, Wailuanui, and Makapipi; and
WHEREAS, CWRM’s decision identifies the following habitat streams (Honomanu, Waikamoi, East Wailuaiki, Kopiliʻula, Punalau/Kōlea, Waiohue, West Wailuaiki) that will have limited or no water diversions in order to foster improved habitat for native fish and other stream animals; and
WHEREAS, CWRM also notes that Waiohue and West Wailuaiki are to remain un-diverted (total flow included) as habitat reference streams and important estuaries; and
WHEREAS, after decades of legal battles and advocacy work of Nā Moku Aupuni O Koʻolau and supporting community members, change is on the horizon for the maintenance of instream flows critical to the protection of traditional and customary Hawaiian rights for gathering, recreation, and the cultivation of taro through the recognition of appurtenant rights (East Maui Decision, 21).
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs at its 59th Annual Convention in Kalapaki, Kauaʻi, in the Malama of Welehu and the rising of ʻOlepau, this 17th day of November 2018, strongly calling for all Hawaiʻi State government leaders to ensure the restoration of all East Maui streams as noted in the works of Nā Moku O Aupuni O Koʻolau Hui to benefit the long-term stewardship of East Maui forests in providing enough water to meet its primary trust responsibilities; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a certified copy of this resolution be transmitted to
the Board of Land and Natural Resources, Pelekikena of ʻAhahui Sīwila ʻo Ke Aloha ʻĀina, Nā Moku Aupuni O Koʻolau, Summer Sylva of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, 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 Welehu and the rising of ‘Olepau on the 17th day of November 2018, at the 59th Annual Convention of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs in Kalapaki, Kaua‘i.
Annelle C. Amaral, President
