Final Comprehensive Conservation Plan - U.S. Fish and Wildlife ...

Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge
Comprehensive Conservation Plan
Obtain Section 106, Hawaiian cultural, and diversity training for Refuge staff to enhance protection
and appreciation of cultural resources.
Within 1 year develop guidelines for approval of and a compatibility determination for Native
Hawaiian cultural activities on the Refuge.
Identify Native Hawaiian groups or cultural practitioners within the Refuge ahupua‘a lands to
cultivate an understanding of important historic sites and cultural resources.
Conduct a comprehensive cultural resources investigation of both units.
Develop interpretive programming relative to cultural and historic sites; including developing
interpretive products in partnership with Native Hawaiian groups.
Rationale:
The Refuge contains cultural/historic resource sites that have been inventoried in areas where
management actions could have impacted cultural/historic sites. This inventory will continue to
ensure protection of these important resources. The Refuge allows cultural/historic resource
investigations of sites by universities, researchers, students, and/or cultural practitioners. This
information adds to our understanding of sites on Refuge lands. Within 1 year, Refuge staff will
develop guidelines for approval of and a compatibility determination for Native Hawaiian cultural
activities on the Refuge, including collecting medicinal plants, visiting/utilizing caves with cultural
and spiritual significance, and performing traditional ceremonies. Refuge staff will coordinate with
Regional staff, the DOI solicitor’s office, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and interested parties in
development of these guidelines.
Refuge volunteers gain appreciation and respect for Native Hawaiian culture by helping to preserve
the culture and land through restoration projects. In a traditional Native Hawaiian context, there is
no division between nature and culture. The land, water, and sky were the foundation of life and the
source of the spiritual relationship between people and their world. Native Hawaiian traditions
express the attachment felt between the Native Hawaiian people and the earth around them. “Native
traditions describe the formation (literally the birth) of the Hawaiian Islands and the presence of life
on and around them in the context of genealogical accounts. All forms of the natural environment–
from the skies and mountain peaks, to the watered valleys and plains, to the shoreline and ocean
depths–are the embodiments of Hawaiian gods and deities” (Maly 2001).
The land divisions known as ahupua‘a were claimed by the king and chiefs in the Mahele of 1848.
Seldom visited, except by travelers between ahupua‘a, bird feather collectors, hunters, and canoe
makers, the ahupua‘a highlands were generally undeveloped in architectural terms. The ahupua‘a
for HFU are Maulua Nui, Honohina, Hakalau, Makahanaloa, Pāpa‘ikou, and Paukaa. For KFU, the
ahupua‘a are Kalāhiki and Ho‘okena.
The ‘ōhi‘a-koa zone was used by Native Hawaiians for specialized resources including bark for
making fishing nets and māmaki to make kapa cloth. Native Hawaiians may have used the area for
temporary camps while collecting natural resources or en route to a higher elevation adze quarry
and associated surface work sites. Native Hawaiians had knowledge of shelter caves, overhangs,
and water sources. In the dry māmane woodland, pili grass may have been collected as a special
resource for thatching structures, as well as māmane wood for making adze handles, house posts,
and hōlua sleds. Within or above the māmane zone, nēnē, ‘u‘au, and koloa maoli may have been
Chapter 2. Refuge Management Direction 2-41