A settlement last week between the state and Yue-Sai Kan, a Chinese-American Brigham Young University-Hawaii grad and popular TV entertainer who’s been called “The Oprah of China,” marks the latest twist in a years-long saga of development, environmental degradation and questionable historic “preservation” at Kahuku Point.
In the latest twist, Kan has donated her 4.71 acres at Kahuku Point to the North Shore Community Land Trust (NSCLT). Her offer was accepted by the Department of Land and Natural Resources on July 12 to settle a $1,547,500 claim levied against her.
It’s a welcome outcome that should be applauded as an incremental win for Hawaii species and habitat threatened by development, climate change and sea level rise. However, the state must remain vigilant to ensure that additional unlawful destruction of protected habitat or historic sites does not occur.
More than $1 million in claims remain pending against other property owners, who along with Kan belong to a condominium regime at the property. The land in question is a well-known nesting area for albatross and also provides vital coastal habitat for the endangered Hawaiian yellow-faced bee. Both species were harmed by unlawful and environmentally outrageous actions undertaken on behalf of the property owners, including a veritable Hawaii chainsaw massacre of bee-sheltering trees and plants, and the outright killing of Ho‘okipa, an albatross mom who had been tending to her unhatched chick.
The DLNR determined that a worker intentionally killed the Laysan albatross, which was in the path of an unauthorized wrought-iron fence across the property — now removed — that separated mating pairs and interfered with nesting behaviors.
Other habitat-devastating “landscaping” activity included chopping down more than 100 heliotrope trees and clearing of naupaka that served as one of the few known remaining habitats for the endangered Hawaiian bees, and spreading of mulch — a particular concern as mulch may disperse palm-killing coconut rhinoceros beetles, which have been rapidly advancing across Oahu.
Contested case hearings or mediation are pending against eight additional individuals or limited liability corporations with property interests in the condominium regime. Investigating agencies have recommended against mediation, and the Board of Land and Natural Resources must avoid compromise on these violations to discourage additional destructive acts. Meaningful penalties must be levied against all culpable parties.
Conservationists and historic preservationists have repeatedly alerted state officials of violations on the private parcel, a historic and environmentally sensitive tract of coastal land known as Marconi Point. It’s an area of intense interest for history buffs and those interested in the development of wireless communications: site of the Marconi Wireless Telegraphy Station, briefly the world’s most powerful base for telegraph messaging, utilizing technology developed by Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi.
Kan’s donation will allow her 4.71 coastal acres to be added to an adjacent NSCLT restoration project on Turtle Bay Resort property, preserving it for conservation. Kan’s acknowledgment of responsibility, as well as her generous offer of a tract in settlement, were praised by the Sierra Club as “a historic and monumental step forward for conservation and wildlife rights,” to be “supported and celebrated” — and that it is.
Preservationists, alongside the state, must now build on this victory to ensure that future use of the land remaining under private control is also managed to comply with all pertinent laws. Both natural and national history are at stake, and the remaining Marconi structures, which have been nominated to the National Register of Historic Places, also demand protection.
