The Shangri-la lure is apparent: Hawaii is the most isolated archipelago in the world, and Kauai’s Napali Coast is home to our largest and most remote state park. Glossy photos showcasing its velvety green cliffs, plunging waterfalls and Kalalau Beach — accessible only by an 11-mile hiking trail or by sea — have appeared in magazines and travel guides for decades.
Squatter problems date back to at least the late 1960s. Various live-in residents were evicted by the mid-1970s when the Kalalau area was folded into the Napali Coast State Wilderness Park. But keeping out the squatters has proved to be a chronic headache. In recent years — fueled by social media spotlighting the area’s natural beauty and personal watercraft delivering both illegal campers and bulky items that cannot be carried on a hiker’s back — the problem has spiraled out of control.
The state Department of Land and Natural Resources asked this year’s Legislature for six positions for the park (about $300,000 a year) before lowering its expectations to two (less than $100,000). None was funded. When DLNR asks again next year, state lawmakers must respond with adequate funding needed to address illegal camping and related environmental and cultural damages.
Last week, when DLNR announced the latest squatter roundup at Kalalau — 28 arrests during May, and more than 200 over the past two years — Curt Cottrell, administrator of the State Parks Division, said state parks across the islands are in desperate need of more funding to keep up with growing tourist use.
“We need a bigger cut of the tourism pie. Tourism is up, but we don’t get incremental increases to respond to tourism,” Cottrell said. “We promote, promote, promote, but we don’t reinvest in both enforcement and parks and forestry staffing to deal with the impacts of these increased numbers.”
He has a point. Operational funding for Hawaii’s 50 state parks, which cover 30,000 acres on five islands and are managed by 117 staffers, totals $11.4 million for the current fiscal year. That includes a $2 million slice of the state’s transient accommodation tax (TAT) — a hotel room levy. The Hawaii Tourism Authority, by comparison, has an $82 million slice of the year’s TAT pie.
Meanwhile, the state’s visitor arrivals are on pace for another record year. Arrivals are expected hit the 9.1 million mark this year, and related spending will likely exceed $16 billion. Most of these visitors will spend some time in our state parks, which need to be properly maintained — especially Napali, with its unique cultural and natural treasures under siege.
Napali Coast State Wilderness now sees some 750,000 visitors a year, most of whom take day hikes. An overnight camping permit is required for the challenging trek beyond the trail’s 2-mile mark. Last year, permits were issued for nearly 12,800 people. Upon arrival at Kalalau Beach, hikers expecting Shangri-la are often confronted by fallout tied to illegal camping.
DLNR conducts periodic cleanups through which hundreds of tons of trash and waste from overtaxed composting toilets have been airlifted out at a cost of about $1,000 an hour. During a recent enforcement effort, officers found at least 12 tucked-away squatter camps and confiscated a crossbow and other illegal items. One camp was decked out with a pizza oven, a queen-size bed, an alcohol still and a system of solar- and battery-powered lights for marijuana growing. Cottrell said outlaw pot growers are modifying heiau and taro patches to create water diversions for their plants.
While enforcement and cleanup operations will continue, overall care of the park would be more cost-effective with staff in place at Kalalau to weed out early stages of illegal camping and discourage new arrivals. (A glimpse at the cost of failing to do that is evident in this fiscal year’s price tag for helicopter rubbish removal: $72,090.)
Before years of funding and staffing reductions, DLNR’s budget included staff positions at the secluded site. For the sake of regaining control over access to a true wilderness experience for countless visitors and residents, state lawmakers must make it possible for the agency to sufficiently maintain what should be a pristine slice of paradise.
