Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 21, Number 11, 1 November 2004 — Who controls Mauna Kea? [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Who controls Mauna Kea?

Although the Office of Mauna Kea Management and its ranger program have proven to be significant improvements in the University of Hawai'i's management of Mauna Kea, some believe that the issue of who has the authority on the mountain must be settled. „

OHA Native Rights Advocate Heidi Kai Guth explained that according to state administrative rules, the University of Hawai'i, as the lessee of the ll,288-acre scienee reserve, must have its master plan for the area approved by the Board of Land and Natural Resources,

the lessor of land - as has Photo: courtesy of uh ifa been done for past Mauna Kea management plans. The problem, Guth said, is that university's June 2000 Mauna Kea Science Reserve Master Plan, whieh called for the creation of the OMKM, has never been approved by the land board. "Therefore, in essence, the university is monitoring itself on the mountain," she said. In addition, she said that because the BLNR has not approved the master plan, the Department of Land and Natural Resources never transferred the authority to enforce state laws and rules for the state land to UH. However, Sam Lemmo, the administrator of DLNR's Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands, said that the master plan is an internal university document that was not expressly prepared for the land board's review or approval. "There is no pending request for the

BLNR to approve the master plan; there's nothing running in that direction," he said. OMKM Director Bill Stormont said that Mauna Kea, as a conservation district with surrounding state reserve lands, does fall under the jurisdiction of the DLNR. He said, however, that the DLNR does not have sole responsibility. "We have worked closely with the loeal DLNR enforcement division to ensure that when our staff sees even

potential violations, one of their officers ean respond ASAP. It's already happened several times," Stormont said. Weighing in on the authority issue, Mauna Kea ranger Trevor Anderson says that not having the power of enforcement ean be an advantage. When he talks to visitors, he

said, he does his best to provide them with information on the perils of the mountain and then offers suggestions. "I make a concerted effort to use mindful language," Anderson said. "I don't say, 'you can't do this, you can't do that.' I encourage people to do things and hope they make good decisions. And when people cross that certain line, we eall the cops." In an attempt to answer the authority question, two resolutions in the 2004 Hawai'i state legislative session requested the state auditor to conduct two evaluations on the mountain: one on the feasibility and necessity of the creation of a science reserve authority, and the other on the necessity of implementing a new project approval process for the management of Mauna Kea. Both resolutions passed the Senate but died in the House. ■