Wednesday, May 8, 2019. (Not?) Paying Attention, Part the Second

So.  Iʻm happy I left when I did yesterday.  Left to my own devices, the telling couldʻve easily gone off the rails.  Instead, I enjoyed the morning walk, and still the abundance of lehua bloom is an amazement.  As Iʻve said, the polymorpha - ness of the flowers are subtle in their many shades of red, the length of lihilihi (stamens), the numbers of individual flowers per cluster, etc.  Lehua come in many colors from the deepest red to the palest yellow, but in the park, at least along routes frequently traveled, live only the red ones.  

Not being the best photographer, I still wanted to share the following.  Iʻm learning how long from bud to seed.  The first picture was captured on April 24, 

and this one on May 4, ten days later:

Stay tuned for the release of seeds, pictured in an earlier post.

Spent three hours walking talking and enjoying with two friends, one a photographer.  A real one.  She was enthralled with the multivaried likolehua, as I was hunting for minute pūkiawe blooms.  

And a freshly unfurled frond of hāpuʻu pulu, shocking in its bright green youth.

In the same neighborhood are a few hāpuʻu ʻiʻi, this shot by cg, whom I met on the road Saturday last.  Note the stiff black hairiness of its clothing.  

Very very different than soft golden pulu of...hāpuʻu pulu.

Growing up, I often heard hāpuʻu pulu called "the wahine one", and hāpuʻu ʻiʻi "the kāne".  Now I know them to be different species.  And there are apparently hybrids.  Iʻll try remember to get a pic of one of those that I know.

And now a segue...back to the spending of money to "fix" things...

All  those pretty colors on the USGS Flow Map I posted yesterday are the historic flows.  "History" in this case being since 1840.  The Geologic Map of the Lower East Rift Zone displays a mosaic of a lot more colors; to me an indication of activeness of Pelehonuamea.

Geologic Map of the Lower East Rift Zone of Kīlauea

When the link opens, click on one of the products on the right-hand side.  I seem to always use the "Print Optimized PDF".

And as a refresher, hereʻs a screenshot of portion of the above map:

Keahialaka is at the center, with the streets in Leilani Estates displayed too.  Each color represents a distinct flow or a family of flows, by age.  

And another refresher, the Lava Hazard Zone Map, also compiled by USGS:

 USGS Lava-Flow Hazard Zone Map

And, a closeup of the area between Hilo and Pāhoa.

Kindly note, on the above image, the line drawn from Pāhoa eastward toward, and including Kumukahi, the place where the sun rises first in Hawaiʻi nei, the easternmost point in our archipelago.

Said line is Highway 132, the road from the "Y" at Lava Tree State Monument to the "4 Corners" intersection at Highway 137, the coastal route.   Please note, dear reader, that Highway 132 is ENTIRELY within Lava Hazard Zone 1.  If you are familiar with that road, youʻll perhaps know or remember that it was cut by a spatter rampart during the 1955 eruption.

And yet a third rendition with descriptive notes regarding Zones 1-3.

Another vivid memory I have of The Three Months is that of an older, presumably retired haole couple, who lived in Leilani Estates.  They were interviewed for a TV news program.  Their home was inundated, and the woman said something to the effect:  I thought Zone 1 was The Best!

Auē!  The foregoing maps and notes are my attempt to collate information and help inform and educate all, including government officials responsible for decision-making, affected residents, and persons in the general public, about the geologic realities of choosing to live on, or build infrastructure on, the Lower East Rift Zone of the most active volcano in the country.

Knowledge about Lava Flow Hazards must be the starting point for any discussions about rebuilding anything down there.  Itʻs not about Federal Money, State Money, or County Money, all of which (does it need to be said???) comes out of our pockets as taxpayers.  Itʻs not about Temporary or Permanent roads, itʻs not about whether Bob wants to rebuild his house at Kapoho Beachlots, or anywhere else in the region.  Decision-makers must have the will, the foresight, the knowledge and intelligence, to make really difficult decisions about the future of Puna ma kai.  And residents and property owners MUST understand the realities, and most importantly, the decades, centuries, and millennia of histories of Pelehonuamea and other elementals such as Kānelūhonua, he of the quaking earth, who are ultimately in charge of our collective fate.  Note too that lava flows are not the only geologic hazard of concern.  Severe earthquakes are often related to coastal subsidence as has been documented many times over the last two hundred years.  

So.  Please.  Read, learn, think, consider...and share this with friends and acquaintances.

As always, with aloha,

BobbyC

maniniowali@gmail.com