The fight to preserve Kauai’s Salt Pond is shaping up to be a defining moment for modern Hawaii.

The area itself is small, just a point of land along Kauai’s south coast with no million-dollar development for miles.

The number of people directly affected is small, just 22 extended families who farm the salt patch every day.

But the conflict is clearly drawn between a profit-driven tourist business that has a long history of being a bad neighbor and the modern descendants of Hawaiian salt makers still practicing the ancient methods in the only salt pans in Hawaii that still exist.

As one woman put it, this is about social justice.

Last Tuesday, the Kauai Planning Commission heard public testimony on Maverick Helicopters’ applications for permits for building restrooms, an office trailer and a concrete slab to hold a larger fuel tank on land next to the salt patch, which is fed by underground, naturally occurring wells. Some of the requests are for after-the-fact permits, meaning the work, and the potential damage, has already been done.

As speakers told the Kauai Planning Commission, salt farming is a traditional practice that has survived only in the low parts of the shoreline at Hanapepe, which are subjected to the noise, smell, traffic, debris, runoff and chemicals of the tour helicopters.

After the meeting, Kauai Mayor Derek Kawakami talked about restoring “balance” for Hanapepe Salt Pond.

But it’s clear that restoring balance for the area doesn’t mean trying to finally regulate the tour helicopters that operate nearby. It’s more like getting all the companies out of there and leaving the salt patch a quiet, revered place.

No one from Maverick Helicopters spoke at the Planning Commission meeting. No one from Maverick has spoken to the salt makers. Instead, the company sent a press statement — the same statement to every reporter in town who asked them questions. In it, Maverick calls the area “Port Allen Airport” as opposed to Burns Field or Salt Pond or Puolo Point, and points out the area is “federally funded and public.”

While that isn’t wrong, it paints a picture of the area that doesn’t line up with reality.

“Port Allen Airport” isn’t an airport. There’s no TSA, no flight control tower, no terminal, no one to watch the place or regulate the operations. It is a single runway 2,450 feet long that was established for the Army Corps of Engineers in the 192os, though the military doesn’t use it anymore. There’s a commercial heliport at Lihue next to the airport. Salt makers are saying Maverick should move there, which seems like a reasonable option, and that the old Puolo landing strip should be used for emergencies only.

The 22 families who make the salt are about the most open, generous people you could ever meet. They welcome nonrelatives to come and learn to work in the salt pans. No school group or scout troop that asks to visit is ever turned away. The salt is given for free in great quantities with the understanding it will be shared beyond the original recipient into the hands of many more.

Their hard work and devotion is not for profit. It is for aloha.

The Planning Commission granted the salt makers intervenor status, and this fight is heading to a contested case hearing. Now is the time for social justice warriors, native rights supporters and anyone who loves the humble, beautiful work of earnest, generous people to step up.

The salt makers need attorneys. They need help to establish their nonprofit. Hawaii is at a crossroads and the Hanapepe salt patch needs to be preserved and protected once and for all.

Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.