Kahoolawe commission outlines restoration work, transfer options to sovereign Hawaiian entity

Mike Naho'opi, executive director of the Kahoolawe Island Reserve Commission, told the Office of Hawaiian Affairs Committee on Investments and Land Management on March 5 that the commission is focused on restoration, cultural access and preparing the island for eventual transfer "once a federally and state recognized native Hawaiian sovereign entity" is in place.

Naho'opi said the reserve and the two-mile surrounding waters are governed by statute and limited to "Native Hawaiian, cultural, spiritual, and subsistence practices, preservation of its archaeological, historical, cultural significance and resources, restoration and education," and that commercial activities are prohibited on the island. He described the commission's mission as involving communities in restoration so "we are not only restoring Kahoolawe, we are restoring our own people."

The briefing highlighted three practical priorities: ongoing restoration of 28,000 acres of devastated landscape, island operations and infrastructure, and advance planning for a transfer of management. Naho'opi said the commission currently runs base-camp logistics on the island (power, reverse-osmosis drinking water, communications and transport), ocean management for roughly 85 square miles of ocean, and active programs including native-plant restoration, seabird reintroduction,…