Park Open Again!

About 10 this morning Dane sent a text saying Lapakahi was officially open again. Hūlō! I hope the tourists are happy now. Though I am sure we will now be getting complaints about the ash blowing around.

I was in Kona when the text arrived. I was at the Hawaiʻi County Leeward Planning Commission meeting. Members of the Kohala Culture & History hui asked me to apply because of my planning background. I am observing to see what this commission is like.

After the meeting was over at about 4 p.m. I started my Kona errands. The 1st was to Office Max. Two weeks ago I purchased a black ink cartridge for my printer. I could not find the double cartridge that was currently in my printer; but the saleswoman said the single cartridge would work. She also said they did not carry the double, it was an online order only item. Well, it turns out the single will not fit; fortunately they took it back even though I had already opened the package.

I also went to Petco. Paʻipaʻi had so helpfully punctured the silicone mat that was keeping the water she splashed out of the new water fountain off the floor. I needed a new one. But they did not have any that were rigid plastic with sides. And I figured I was wasting my money buying a new silicone mat.

She has done this nearly every day since I set up the new water fountain. Auē!

Today she went further & tore up the silicone mat in 3 places.

My final errand was to Island Naturals; I was out of peanut butter. I brought 2 containers with me today; I grind my own peanut butter there. No additives, just peanuts!

Day Off from the Park

Since the chief had declared the fire extinguished & Luisa had decided not to open the park until tomorrow, I did not go to Lapakahi today; I let Dane handle things. After all, I am usually there only 2 half days a week (= 8 hours) & I had already put in 19 hours! Instead I chose to work around the yard. Specifically, mulching the avocado with some of the wood chips from the recent tree trimming work I had done.

Mulched a 3' radius around the avocado. Mulch pile visible at left.

There are a lot of flowers & buds. I hope I get some fruit this year!

I also worked on cleaning weeds out of the white camellia at the front of the house. I did a little under the kokutan as well. Those areas were mulched, too.

North side of white camellia weeded & mulched.

West side of white camellia weeded & mulched.

Ultimately I would like to clean out the weeds all around the kokutan. Then on the south side of the kokutan I would like to move a clump of iris over to that spot. And clean out the weeds in the mondo grass by the ramp & mulch the planting bed under the bedroom windows in preparation for the red & pink ginger. Then there is the back yard ...

Kokutan on right needs weeding & mulching. And a bonsai-style trim.

Area on right outlined by bricks needs weeding & mulching so iris can be moved here.

Mondo grass needs weeding.

This used to be a nice stand of heliconia but the pigs dug it up before I moved in permanently.

That pretty much used up the energy I had for today. I spent the remainder of the day relaxing.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Peggy, Ann, Roger, Winnie, Vickie, David, & Shawn!

Fire Pau!

In the morning there were light drizzles on & off. With the relatively clear sky to the east we had some great anuenue (rainbow)! Hawaiian culture interprets the appearance of anuenue as a good omen.

A very different scene than on Sunday!

Yesterday, when we 1st deployed the "Park Closed" sign, it was after the peak of visitors to Lapakahi. Larger amounts of incoming traffic begins about 10 a.m. & goes through about 2 p.m. It peters out after that. Then the gate for incoming traffic is usually closed at 3:15 p.m. Because of the sign, the glut of visitors beginning at 10 a.m. did not happen today; we just had a trickle. But still had that same statement from tourists that they only had a couple more days of their vacation left. Auē!

Could we have made this any clearer?

I left at just after noon; I had already been there my usual 4 hours for Tuesdays. A couple hours later Dane texted; the fire chief said they would be closing up their operations at around 5 this evening. Now we are waiting to see when Parks management determines it is safe to let tourists return. Since both Tracy & I started coughing a lot & feeling stuff in our lungs after walking along the trails adjacent to the burned area, we feel they should give it a couple more days for more ash to be blown away. We shall see what happens. 

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Jane!

Park Closed

One of the things Dane & I did today was jury-rig a "Park Closed" sign. We repurposed the A-frame signboard that the magnetic forest scene for the native birds was on, using blue tape to spell out the words. We placed it at the entrance at the edge of the asphalt, out of the travel lane but far enough out so it could be seen by tourists before they turned in to the park road. Incoming traffic did diminish, but it did not totally cause all tourists to turn away. Many people driving in would get out of their car & walk up to us to tell us they only had a couple more days of their vacation left, sort of like it was a magic phrase that would make the active fires disappear. 😕

We added the orange cones to draw attention to the sign.

I had arrived at Lapakahi State Historical Park this morning just before 8 am; I passed one of the tanker trucks that was just leaving. The tanker returned a short while later after having refilled its tank. Dane arrived about 15 minutes later; he brought breakfast for the both of us & poi donuts for the firefighters. After breakfast, I walked the park trails, documenting the extent of the burn & the damage done. This diagram uses the map from the Lapakahi brochure as its base so it does not show the entire park, only that portion where the trail is. You can see how the road & the trails helped hinder the spread of the fire.

When I got back to the parking lot, I debriefed with Dane on the extent of the damaged area. I let him know that most of the burn was restricted to the north side of the middle trail & Papa's Hale was not affected. The numbers referred to in the photos indicate points of interest on the trail map.

Area by culvert under Akoni Pule Hwy where fire appears to have started.

From culvert under Akoni Pule Hwy, aka Hwy 270, looking southerly.

From culvert, looking westerly.

From gate, looking southerly. Compare with yesterday's photo of this same area.

From gate, looking westerly.

Going down hill, towards visitor center. Compare to photo on 02/11/2024.

Shrub easterly of visitor center appears to be worst damage immediately adjacent to building.

Panorama from MLCD sign, looking westerly to easterly.

Panorama from “Trail/Road” sign, looking westerly to easterly.

A kiawe tree burnt by the fire has collapsed across the service road. It is still smoldering.

Panorama from near #18, looking northerly to southerly.

Panorama from near #15, looking easterly to westerly.

Panorama from near #11, looking northerly to southerly.

Panorama from near #5, looking northerly to southerly.

Ash on floor of visitor center. Ash has also settled on other surfaces.

While Dane & I were talking I noticed a couple of tourists walking in to the parking lot & heading for the trailhead. Dane got out to talk to them; they thought even though the gate was closed it was okay for them to park there & walk down. We were both amazed by their arrogance at thinking the closed gate did not apply to them. We moved our vehicles up to the gate to stop tourists from going around the gate. And also to monitor it and let the firefighters in & out as needed.

Later I sent an incident report to Luisa (about the fire, not the tourists); I tried to attach the photos but the file was too large. I ended up downloading the photo pages to a zip drive to give to Dane tomorrow so he can take it back to the office & download it for Luisa. The map showing the approximate burn area & the photos are from the incident report that I submitted.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Glenda, Leah, & Heather!

Fire at Lapakahi!

As I was approaching Lapakahi State Historical Park this afternoon from the south, I noticed a plume of white smoke being blown makai (seaward) as I was near Mile Post 12. The entrance to Lapakahi is at MP 14. As I got closer, I was pretty sure it was Lapakahi that was burning; my consolation was that the smoke was white which means steam. Which means someone was pouring water on the fire. As I crested the last low rise I saw that there was a fire truck near the entrance gate, spraying water on the makai side of the entrance road; Lapakahi was indeed on fire! There was a 2nd truck on the highway by the culvert also spraying water on the makai side of the road.

Near Mile Post 12, looking northerly at white smoke from fire at park.

Near entry gate, looking southerly at fire fighters working to put fire out.

I stopped on the opposite side of the road, took photos, & texted them to Dane. I then talked with the Hawaʻi Police Department officer who was directing traffic; he had me park on the Lapakahi side of the highway near his car & allowed me to speak with the firefighters. It appears the fire started at the roadside about 30 minutes before I came by. There were still some small hotspots near the highway & access road, and although the fire was still quite active in the vicinity, the visitor center appeared to be intact. I could not see Papa's Hale so I was not sure if it was still intact.

It looks like fire may have started near area at right edge of photo.

Looking northerly from near entrance gate.

From near entrance gate, looking westerly; visitor center near center of photo.

Fire truck at northerly edge of fire.

Helicopter doing water drop near visitor center.

Helicopter doing water drop along northwesterly edge of fire; Māhukona lighthouse in background.

By the time I left about an hour later, Wes, the captain on site, said the fire was contained & most if it had burned its way to the ocean. He said there were still  active spots on the edges that they were going to deal with throughout the evening. Wes also said they would be leaving at least one unit to keep any small remaining hotspots under control; there had been 10 trucks & 2 helicopters on site. When I returned about 2 hours later; there was hardly any smoke & most of the trucks & both helicopters were gone.

There may have been one casualty from the fire. I found a dead Gray Francolin when I stepped out of my car after I had reparked. And no, I did not run over it. I checked & found it was so fresh rigor mortis had not yet set in. It may have died from smoke inhalation since their go-to means of escape is running rather than flying. I found it about 50 feet downwind of the edge of the burning area. I hope it wasn't the differently-abled one that we have named Gimpy.

The fire at Lapakahi overshadowed the event that I was at earlier in the day. Very early! I was on the road at 5 a.m. in order to be at Hapuna by 6 to meet up with Dane. We needed to meet Tracy in Napoʻopoʻo by 8 for a coral restoration project led by the community group Kanu Koʻa.

One hour & 6 minutes before sunrise.

The Nature Conservancy had special permits to harvest coral chunks that had been broken off by a recent storm; they used it as an educational event involving the community. After pule to the appropriate gods and oli & hula about the ko'a (coral), the coral chunks were brought from the site of the damaged reef to the shore aboard a double-hulled wa'a (canoe). From the shoreline to the preparation tent, the container with the coral chunks was transferred hand-to-hand the same way the ancient Hawaiians moved rocks miles from their source to the final building destination.

The halau waits for the ceremony to begin.

Lining up to bring koʻa chunks to preparation tent.

At the preparation tent special band saws were set up for community members to help cut the koʻa chunks into smaller approximately 1" square pieces; the older dead parts on the bottom were also removed so the piece was about 1/2" thick. The pieces were carefully sorted so that all pieces from a chunk could be later placed together. 

Preparation tent.

Tracy cuts a piece of koʻa under watchful eye of biologist.

After the chunks were cut in to pieces, the trained biologists took the koʻa pieces back to the damaged reef area where spots had been prepared to receive the transplants. Special epoxy was applied to the prepared surface & a piece of koʻa was placed on the epoxy. Koʻa pieces from the same chunk were placed 1 to 2 cm apart, allowing them to grow together & form a larger koʻa head in a shorter amount of time; if pieces from different chunks were placed near each other they would not grow together unless they had the same genetics. Community participants snorkeled at the surface, watching the biologists work.

Transport box holding koʻa pieces ready for transplanting.

Overall it was a great collaborative event involving The Nature Conservancy, Hawaiʻi State Department of Land and Natural Resources (which is why we were there), Hoʻāla Kealakekua Nui, Hawaiʻi and Palmyra TNC, & the lineal descendants from the area & caretakers of the Hikiaʻu Heiau. Although just letting the trained biologists do the work would make for a much faster & more efficient process, involving the community provided for a great educational & community-building event. Dane & I left just after noon & headed back to Hapuna. I was intending on getting in a quick nap before dinner. Oh well. 🙄

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Paul, Greg, & Justine!

IASA #3-3

Jane & I spent an afternoon birding in back yard. An 'io flew over her!

 

IASA #3-2

Jane's plane was supposed to land at 11:30am in Kona. But runway repair not done yet, she  spent as much time in HNL as she did in the air! Auē!