EIS outlines improvements for Waianapanapa

The Maui News
Tuesday, March 27, 2007

HANA - A final environmental impact statement has been issued on a 20-year master plan for Waianapanapa State Park in Hana that provides for a new access road, upgraded restrooms and sewage-handling systems, new cabins, and protection of cultural resources.

The improvements also include a larger parking area set back from the coastline to accommodate the heavy daytime traffic loads, with a new interpretive center to provide information on the natural, historic and cultural resources found in the 110-acre park.

Most of the impacts from implementation of the master plan would occur during the construction phases, but the impact statement said the state Parks Division will require mitigative measures to prevent erosion or damage to cultural and natural resources of the park.

A new access road will also remove traffic from a narrow residential roadway that now serves the park as well as homeowners in the area.

The plan indicates there also will be efforts to better protect resources, such as the native opae, or shrimp, found in the wet caves at the park. The plan proposes to seek to remove alien guppies that were introduced in the cave waters and apparently are attacking the native opae ula, a small red shrimp that is believed to be the basis for a legend associated with the Waianapanapa caves.

Established in 1968 with the acquisition of 25 acres from Hana Ranch, the park was expanded in 1978 with 105 acres of state land conveyed to the Parks Division. The park includes outdoor campgrounds as well as 12 cabins equipped with toilets and kitchens, available for daily rental. The park provides access to a coastal trail that runs from Hana Bay, east to the Hana Airport and Ulaino to the west.

According to the impact statement, the park redevelopment would be handled in three phases at an estimated cost of $2 million. Actual work and costs will depend on design specifications and availability of funding.

The initial phase will include improvements to meet legal requirements for access to the disabled, replacing cesspools with septic systems, protecting burial sites, removing alien plants and the guppies from the Waianapanapa caves, and providing for an expansion through a transfer of additional state lands to the Parks Division.

The master plan will require a series of additional approvals, including a conservation district use permit from the state Board of Land and Natural Resources, a special management area permit from the Maui Planning Commission and permits from the Health Department for discharge of runoff during construction.

The impact statement prepared by Wilson Okamoto Corp. is pending acceptance by the governor and the Office of Environmental Quality Control.