With management of the Mauna Kea summit coming under mounting criticism, the Board of Land and Natural Resources on Friday will hear the results of a report that gave the University of Hawaii mixed reviews for its oversight of the mountain.
The independent evaluation was commissioned last year by the Department of Land and Natural Resources to determine whether Mauna Kea is being effectively managed by the
university.
UH leases the 11,000-acre Mauna Kea Science Reserve through DLNR. It is home to some of the world’s most important telescopes and is a center of controversy as the proposed home of the next-generation Thirty
Meter Telescope.
Honolulu-based Ku‘iwalu consulting sought input from officials and the public during its seven-month examination focusing on how the university is carrying out the management actions found in the Mauna Kea Comprehensive Management Plan.
The evaluation found that UH has made progress in implementing most of the plan’s management actions and that it appears the natural and cultural resources on Mauna Kea are being effectively managed.
“We heard many comments that the cultural and natural resources on the state conservation lands on Mauna Kea are some of the best managed and protected lands in the entire State,” the report said.
However, it also found that the university failed to adopt administrative rules for the summit on a timely basis, and that it failed to properly consult with and engage Native Hawaiians on matters related to cultural and resources issues and
decision-making.
The university responded to the report with a statement that said it remains committed to improving
its stewardship of the
mountain.
In regard to the timeliness of the administrative rules, the statement said some delays were out of its control, but it acknowledged that rule-making could have been completed sooner.
UH was authorized to
establish rules to protect the mountain’s resources
in 2009, the same year Mauna Kea’s management plan was approved. But rules did not go into effect until 2020.
Some of the delays were connected to a 2012 lawsuit as well as a 2015 order by Gov. David Ige to stand down on the rule-making process, a mandate that stretched for three years.
As far as reaching out to Native Hawaiians, the statement said 90 meetings were held during the latest restructuring. “Attempts to discuss these changes with Hawai‘i Island kia‘i were made but were largely
unsuccessful.”
Kia‘i leader Noe Noe Wong-Wilson said she agreed with the report’s findings regarding the
university’s failure to
reach out to the Hawaiian community.
“It’s especially critical
to find out what that community thinks,” she said. “They’ve never done that as far as I know.”
The land board established the science reserve with buffer areas to protect astronomical research atop Hawaii’s tallest mountain in 1968. The lease expires at the end of 2033.
Last week House Speaker Scott Saiki called on the university to end efforts to obtain a new lease. He said a new management structure was necessary because of UH’s “inability to appropriately manage cultural practices, resources and education.”
Saiki said the House would introduce a resolution to begin the process of looking for a new management structure for Mauna Kea.
Elsewhere, a lawsuit brought by the Office of
Hawaiian Affairs aiming to wrest some control of the summit away from the university is being litigated in First Circuit Court.
