Kauai’s Haena State Park, along with adjacent Napali Coast State Wilderness Park, are magnets for tourists seeking a sampling of Hawaii’s end-of-the-road scenic places. Haena’s Kee Beach is a picturesque go-to for picnickers, and the trailhead for the rugged 11-mile Kalalau Trail begins in the park.
While these north shore parks are the most remote among some 50 state parks in Hawaii, visitors rapidly fill up allotted parking spaces on most days. Motorists left without a space in the limited capacity corridor resort to rampant illegal parking along a narrow highway, clogging it to the point that emergency vehicles cannot pass.
This traffic congestion headache, along with other concerns tied to an increase in foot traffic, is rightly prompting a push to set a tighter limit on the number of daily visitors admitted to Haena State Park. The state Board of Land and Natural Resources last week reviewed a master plan that would allow 900 — rather than 2,000 — visitors. Included in that proposed cap would be day hikers heading on to the Kalalau Trail.
The limit would not apply to Kalalau Trail hikers holding overnight camping permits or to local residents. These exceptions are appropriate — camping logistics involve time-sensitive scheduling; and residents pitching in with upkeep as taxpayers should have easy access.
The master plan also makes a sensible proposal for situating parking farther away from the historic state highway as well as adding an entry turnaround, shuttle stop and a pedestrian boardwalk connecting the lot to Kee Beach. Another recommendation calls for transferring the highway that crosses into the park to the state Division of State Parks from the state Department of Transportation. All of this adds up to State Parks officials gaining control over a scene that’s now chaotic and unsafe.
Slicing the visitor count by more than half is an apparent necessity at this time to establish a better balance between providing access to places where visitors can enjoy Hawaii’s natural beauty, and tending to environmental concerns and preservation of culturally and historically significant sites.
The proposed limit — which has been discussed in various community forums over a period of 10 years — also takes into account ongoing struggles to clear waste that visitors leave behind. For example, during a period of five days last June, helicopters carried close to 7,000 pounds of trash and human waste out of the Kalalau area. More needs to be done to protect this pristine site.
In Haena’s gateway area to Kalalau, the master plan envisions new structures, including a “Welcome Hale” with interpretive and informational signs, and two small, comfort stations to reduce wastewater flows at the existing Kee comfort station. If kept small-scale, these would serve as much-needed improvements.
With Hawaii’s record-breaking visitor arrivals in recent years, it’s not surprising that more tourists are venturing into the parks. They need to be educated on park protocol, and parks must be adequately equipped to accommodate visitors.
We can and should set limits on access to weary state parks. Limits are already in place at some popular outdoor attractions that previously were overwhelmed by visitors. Hanauma Bay State Park and Diamond Head State Monument, for example, now limit hours and charge fees.
Division of State Parks Assistant Administrator Alan Carpenter has described Haena’s proposed changes as a “major paradigm shift in Hawaii State Parks management,” noting that the visitor ceiling may be adjusted based on “overall negative or positive impacts.” So, proposing a limit is possible in other parks, if the quality of visitor experience is suffering or if there are significant impacts on the surrounding community that cannot be mitigated with other management measures.
In the interest of establishing an optimal access-caretaking balance for state parks, such a shift should be applauded.
