Friday, August 2, 2019. Imagine the Unimaginable

In the mode of

noho i waho...a maliu   be outside...pay attention

or perhaps in this instance, fly outside, pay attention.  Before last summer, who wouldʻve couldʻve imagined what happened?  Collapsing, erupting, lūʻōniu-ing, shaking seeming endlessly.  We knew and understood a bit of what had happened through centuries; various violently explosive eruptions tossing rocks and ashy bits hither and yon, blanketing landscapes, including the site of my home here at Keaʻau ma uka.  

lithic tephra strewn

at her whim unexpected

ma uka to ma kai

Lithic = rock, tephra = volcanic products falling from the sky...bigger and more than we witnessed and experienced during The Three Months.

And today is the Piha Makahiki (One Year) since our last lūʻōniu, rockfalls fortuitously captured on an HVO webcam at 11:55am on August 2, 2018:

USGS HVO

Down at Kapoho, in that cone we now know as Waiapele, was cradled a lake known by some as Green Lake.  Traditionally, according to an old map, both the cone and lake were Waiapele.

First, as pele was flowing into Waiapele, 

then, after the filling, both photos by friend Andrew Richard Hara:

And then that old map, Registered Map 366 from the State Survey Office at the Department of Accounting and General Services:

And a screenshot of part of the legend above.  The map was drawn by FS Lyman, after his survey in February 1880.  The Lyman family has had charge of land at Kapoho for generations.

And now, the Unimaginable part...or mayhaps not so much Unimaginable as Unexpected...

As if to compensate for the loss of Waiapele at Kapoho, there has been recently observed a waiapele held in the bosom of Kaluapele, at the very bottom of Halemaʻumaʻu.  May wonders never cease.

We have a tendency, especially in these times of expected hyper-quick response times via social media and email, not to pay too much attention.  We must move on to the next new thing, before we even become accustomed to this new thing.  Observations over centuries, decades even, canʻt possibly account for all eventualities and possibilities.  Imagine...

This new wai is likely a waiwelawela, heated by elemental subterranean fires, its color from various minerals and chemical reactions...

HVO Volcano Watch, August 2, 2019

This, from HVOʻs above noted Volcano Watch column, taken on August 1, 2019:

Look really good at the very bottom, that sort of jade-colored dot.  Thatʻs it.  A friend suggested that it might be meteoric water.  Wait...lest we start rumors of a meteor or asteroid having caused the formation of Halemaʻmaʻu, "meteoric" in this usage is Definition #2, as below:

me·te·or·ic

Learn to pronounce

adjective

1. 1.

   
   

   relating to meteors or meteorites.

   "meteoric iron"

   • 
     

     
     
2. 2.

   GEOLOGY

   relating to or denoting water derived from the atmosphere by precipitation or condensation.

And we recall this, posted on Big Island Video News on June 7, 2019, and the paragraph following, posted here previously.  The dark streak appears to originate at the opening of a lava tube exposed just below the caldera floor, view is toward the south:

According to USGS Research Geologist Don Swanson, “What I have dubbed a “black streak” on the caldera wall is flowing water. The water comes from a shallow perched aquifer impounded by dikes in the southwest rift zone. Water flows southward along and in the sand flat below Crater Rim Drive but is stopped by the dikes, which form a dam. For one of several reasons (increasing water pressure, failure of wet sand, small rock fall), water breaks out of the aquifer and pours into the caldera. This phenomenon was first noted on July 4, 2018, and has been observed repeatedly since then. There are at least two different sites for such water flow, both just north of the southwest rift zone. The flowing water has eroded ravines or gullies that resemble cracks. Water flow generally lasts several hours and then stops as water in the aquifer is depleted. But, days to weeks later, water reappears.”

Might these two phenomena be related?  Maybe itʻs that the greenish water in Halemaʻumaʻu trickled down though that smoothish slope of fine talus after exiting a lava tube buried in the wall.  The wai may be "wai hī"...

wai hī

n. Water oozing as from a precipice or trickling down. Lit., purging water.

Maybe lehu (ash) and fine rock dust have accumulated at the bottom of the lua forming a more or less impenetrable layer, maybe, maybe, maybe...

Tools available today (helicopters, drones, webcams, telescopes, and whatla) allow us to peer where we couldnʻt in past eras.  Who knows if waters were held in Kaluapele before?  We know stories of Kawaiakapāoʻo in or near Kaluapele, in which a legendary goby fish was said to dwell.  We hear of waterfowl having sported in ponds at Kūkamāhuākea, the broad area where steams rise along Crater Rim Drive (known today as Steaming Flat), and there are likely other stories of waters in the summit region of Kīlauea.  

And of course today, we enjoy the waters of Erick as they fall, knowing that rains cause life here in the rain forest, and we are thankful that they are unaccompanied by strong winds.

Raindrops trickle down the glass of the tower at HVO, perhaps eventually wending their way to, and enlarging the pool in Halemaʻumaʻu.   

Iʻve been hither and yon too these past weeks, and Iʻll leave you today with this:

A lei kokio, flowers gathered from a cultivated tree at the home of friends on Maui.  The pua, in my perhaps not-so-humble opinion, are the most spectacular of any of our kamaʻāina species.

With that, prayers for safety and warmth for those at Puʻuhuluhulu...

As always, with aloha,

BobbyC

maniniowali@gmail.com

Wednesday, July 10, 2019. What are we learning?

The rains of Barbara have passed without incident, and we dry out under partly cloudy skies, in humid airs.  Till next time.  The rain pretty much washed much of remaining lihilihi lehua (stamens) out of trees and onto roofs, gutters, the ground, etc.  With "The Bloom of 2019" nearly over here in the Volcano area, ʻapapane have mostly departed too it seems.  

After all...we clean and tidy up.  A friend was sweeping his garage roof, so as to ensure cleaner catchment water, and remarked on the "dreadlocks" that fell to the ground.  Tangled masses of lihilihi managed to stay in the bottoms of corrugations of the piula (metal roof...or totan in local Japanese).  And how could I resist?

The lehua obsession continues.  Weʻre waiting for seed pods to open so we understand approximate timing from bloom to seed.  Stay tuned for more on that.  

And a not-so-smooth segue to more learning...

flowing lava flows

repeatedly flowing through

centuries now still

And then I realized...not all realize, understand, appreciate realities.  A simple listing of dates does precious little to inform.  And so 1790, 1840, 1955, 1960, 1977, 1983-2018, are numbers without context.  And for that I sincerely apologize.  I get on a roll and blather on, expecting readers to be on the same page or wavelength, and of course that expectation is wrong.

So.  Thisʻll be a little foray.  Sketchy, but still a foray, back in time.  Without an understanding, however basic, of eruptive histories and consequences, of geography, of Pelehonuamea, of society, population patterns, and demography, of planning and land use patterns, and of Politics, how can actions with consequential future consequences be explained and justified?  Iʻd argue that "Because I said so" shouldnʻt, wouldnʻt, couldnʻt fly these days.  And past posts have explained, I trust, some of all this.  But people donʻt often read, much less understand Why? or Why Not?  So briefly, here we go...

First, tools:

The Geologic Map of the Lower East Rift Zone of Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii, by Richard B. Moore and Frank A. Trusdell, 1991.  DOI, USGS Miscellaneous Investigations Series, Map I-2225. 

Link to download Map I-2225


A USGS Lava Hazard Zone Map, with addenda by the County:

Lava Hazards and Communities

Bishop Museum Memoirs, Volume II, Number 4:

Brigham, 1909, The Volcanoes of Kilauea and Mauna Loa

And of course there are many others, but there are too many to list here.  

The Goal and Objective?  To inform and educate, so "we" donʻt keep repeating, ad nauseum, the errors of the past.  I know..."What makes you think youʻll succeed when all of this has been repeatedly ignored in the past?"  Hmmmm...Gotta try?  Iʻm a really stubborn Potagee?  Iʻm optimistic that somewhere, someone will "Get It".  One "Get":  Look at the map above.  Embraced between Highway 132 and Highway 130, is a tight grid of roads in the Purple area.  

Hereʻs an enlargement, with apologies for pixellations:

That tight grid in Purple is, of course, Leilani Estates, in the ahupuaʻa of Keahialaka.  In Lava Hazard Zone 1.  The entire subdivision.  And yes, LHZ1 is The Worst, The Most Hazardous.  Oh.  And the entirety of Highway 132 in "In The Purple" too.

The LHZs were created based on past eruptive behavior.  Dedicated scientists spend years in the field, arduously sampling, analyzing, and mapping flows.  Most of them work for, or are affiliated with, The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, in operation since 1912.  Their publications are numerous, published after rigorous review by peers (other scientists), and are an unequalled source of information regarding the geology of Hawaiʻi nei.  They know what theyʻre talking about.  But it seems that no one asks them, or if they do, answers are dismissed.  Or maybe thereʻs a language barrier.  Sometimes science talk doesnʻt translate easily into regular people talk.

OK, Bob.  Donʻt get sidetracked and start ranting.  Unproductive...

Geologist Robin Holcomb summarized:  90% of Kīlauea has been covered by fresh flows during the last 1,100 years.  If we accept recent archeological reports, Hawaiʻi was settled between 1200AD and 1275AD, based on radiocarbon dating of charcoal.  If we allow some slack in those dates as Pat Kirch has suggested, round it back to 1000AD.  So nearly all of Kīlauea has been resurfaced since who are now Native Hawaiians arrived.  As far as I know there were no big settlements on Kīlauea until...the 1960s?  Go read or browse "Land and Power in Hawaii" by Cooper and Daws.  Seems to me that Native Hawaiians were pretty smart in not investing in major infrastructure on Kīlauea.

So about that list of dates...These are mostly screenshots of the Geologic Map of the Island of Hawaii by Wolfe and Morris, 1996, as well as brief summaries from various publications.

1790:

In 1790, a notable event was the explosive eruption at the summit of Kīlauea which killed many in the army of Keōua, a rival to Kamehameha.  The map above depicts several branches of 1790 lava on the LERZ.  Two entered the sea SW of Kamaʻili, a big one at MacKenzie, another paralleled the rift but did not enter the ocean.  The sequence of events at the summit and at the LERZ is apparently not understood, though they sure seem similar to 2018, to 1840, to....

1840:

According to Titus Coan, a missionary based then in Hilo, Kaluapele had been filling, and for several days before (or longer?) the entire floor was in a state of intense ebullition.  Coan and others state that a rift eruption began on May 30, 1840 when a fissure opened at ʻAlae, a crater that was near what is today Maunaulu.  Fissures also opened on Kānenuiohamo, a small lava shield adjacent to and north of Makaopuhi, marked by the white crescent above.
[a hmmm note:  A definition of "hamo" is "To thrust through or split asunder, as with a spear].
Kānenui doing nui work, paha?  Or not... As I say:  I wasnʻt there and canʻt know or understand why many place names were bestowed.

In short order, a series of fissures opened down rift, the primary ones Pāhoa-side of Lava Tree State Monument, whose "trees" were formed in 1790.  "Terrific floods" of lava came out and entered the sea at Nānāwale, forming the Sand Hills (littoral cones) we know today.  Estimates were of streams a half to two miles wide.  The eruption lasted about a month, and was of very high volume, perhaps similar to what we saw last year.  1840.  Oh.  After that eruption, it was noted that the lava lake in the caldera had dropped 340 feet.  Hmmmm.  Oh too...a village at Nānāwale, presumably near the shore, was inundated and destroyed.

1955:

This one lasted 88 days.  Hmmmm.  About 24 (!) vents were spread over nine miles of discontinuous fissures.  6 miles of road were covered, resulting in the complete cutting off of access by land to Kalapana and surrounding communities.  Good thing they knew how to handle...  Twenty one homes were destroyed and 3,900 acres buried.  Sugar cane fields, farms...gone.  Oh.  And a new pit crater formed across from Mr Niiʻs house (USGS Photo, Jerry Eaton):

1960:

Kinda small by comparison, at 4 square miles, but nevertheless impactful.  Thirty six days were more than enough to bury the villages of Kapoho and Koaʻe.  About 100 homes, as well as stores, Kapoho School, a Waiwelawela (Warm Springs), Ipoho Lagoon (Higashi Pond) all gone.  Cinder was a notable byproduct.  Itʻs still being mined, and in the process Puʻu Laimana (Lymanʻs hill) the main vent, has been nearly obliterated.

1977:

A rift eruption threatened Kalapana, lasted 18 days, but flows did not make it to the ocean (the left-hand flow in white, above), nor did they destroy any homes.  The vent was named Puʻukiaʻi (guardian hill).  

1969 - 1974:

The Maunaulu flows in orange...while no homes were destroyed - the flows were entirely within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park - The Chain of Craters Road was buried, as were numerous important cultural sites:  trails, habitation caves, kauhale (residence complexes), etc.

1983-2018:

The Puʻuʻōʻō and Kupaianaha eruptions: 182 structures, mostly homes, in Royal Gardens, Kapaʻahu, Kalapana; Harry K Brown Park, Punaluʻu (Queenʻs Bath), Wahaʻula, Moa, Punaluʻu and other heiau, numerous other important cultural sites, the Kamoamoa Campground, Puʻumanawaleʻa and its petroglyphs, etc etc etc...All gone.  Entombed and "preserved", but gone.

And of course, in 2018...I shanʻt enumerate the losses at Keahialaka, Kapoho, Mālama, Ahalanui, etc etc etc.
And in 2019, how can we possibly contemplate, and worse, actually spend tens of millions of dollars to Recover, reBuild...  Mayhaps IʻM the one who simply doesnʻt get it.

Comments and/or corrections, as always are welcome.

Off to the market...

As always, with aloha,

BobbyC
maniniowali@gmail.com

Sunday, July 7, 2019... a segue into Perplexed Befuddlement (again)

Another sunny summer morn up here.  Breezes rustle lau ʻōlapa, hāpuʻu fronds wave lazily, hatches are mostly battened for forecast rains, and life is generally good.  Up here.

The Apoplectic Outrage last time was triggered by that youtube video I linked to, posted of drone footage over the Highway 132 (re)construction.  That route from Lava Tree State Monument to 4Corners at Kapoho. Todays Perplexed Befuddlement, I just (!) realized, is because I canʻt understand why that more than a few people (many, though thankfully not all, in Island of Hawaiʻi County government) canʻt seem to "get" or understand the import of the workings of Pelehonuamea last summer.

Iʻve been emailing with various folks in the County, hoping for an "Ah-HAH" moment of sorts.  By either of us.  They in the County are on a roll, bulldozing, and likely paving a replacement for Hwy132 over its previous route.  And Iʻll guess that County, having stated as much, is planning to do the same for Pohoiki Road from Lava Tree State Monument to Pohoiki.

Repaving/Reconstruction/Re-Whatever is being paid for, as far as I can understand, by Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) funding to the tune of tens of millions of dollars.  Maybe $12,000,000 for HWY132, and $30,000,000 for Pohoiki Road.  Gotta love all those zeroes.  FHA funds come with, not strings, but heavy duty ropes attached.  FHA doesnʻt say hereʻs a bunch of money.  GoFix.  They say hereʻs a bunch of money.  And by the way, the fixing has to be to our standards.  You cannot make a little gravel road over the surface of still-warm pele so lava-locked residents can access their properties and livelihoods.  Cannot.  You gotta make a BIG road.  Two lanes, wide shoulders, with appropriate grades and sightlines so people can go fast.

Because the County accepted tens of millions of dollars, they are locked-in to building-to-standards.  No matter that HWY132 is along the middle of the axis of the lower East Rift Zone.  Thatʻs OK.  Itʻs Federal money, not ours.

Oh.  And because FHWA issued a finding, under 36CFR800, of "No potential to cause effects", we thankfully donʻt have to be concerned that road-building will bother the still-warm body of Pele, or that the route(s) of the roads pass many wahi pana (legendary places).  There will be no effects.

36CFR800 Protection of Historic Properties

CFR = Code of Federal Regulations.  I am far from expert on matters of law, but when in doubt about issues, "Read The Law" is my mantra.  I recall that a Historic Property does not have to be officially "listed", it simply has to qualify for listing for protections to apply.  And yes, many of these matters may be subjective.  

The BOLD above are mine.  Think:  For IIA: the Event is The Eruption.  For IIB: Signifinant Person = Pele.  For IID:  Significant Information = Helping us understand the workings of Pele.  Think:  Religion = Pelehonuamea  "A religious property" = the pele (lava flows).  They were certainly of historical and exceptional importance.  Or so I thought.  But of course in Bureaucratlandia, maybe not so much.

Alan Downer, the Administrator of State Historic Preservation Division, on May 3, 2019, wrote to Michael Yee, Planning Director, County of Hawaiʻi, about the construction activities on highways in Puna ma kai.

Mr Downer states "The project area...involving road restoration through fresh lava rock.  ...grading activities to facilitate the restoration of lava inundated roads along Highway 132...Highway 137...and Pohoiki Road."  Too, Mr. Downer states that "While historic properties may have been present within the vicinity of the project area, the new lava has completely inundated any remnants that may have remained on the land near the current project area."  So of course the importance, the mana associated with any of those sites...pppfffttt.  Evaporated, disappeared, buried, as if they never existed, and are of no consequence.

The letter also states that "The FHWA indicated...that...the proposed undertaking is a type of activity that does not have the potential to cause effects on historic properties, therefore the agency has no further obligations under NHPA Section 106."

warm pele lava

deep gashes through her body

no matter build road

To summarize Federal, State, County:  Only get fresh lava rock, no moʻ historic sites, go  make roads.  Oh.  Highway 137 is the coast road between Kapoho and Pohoiki.  Sounds like thatʻll be reopened at some point too.  

Why?

I did not read, in any of emails and other documents, any reference, at all, to Pelehonuamea.  No.  Reference.  At.  All.  Learning from and talking with kumu (teachers and mentors) over the years, it was made abundantly clear to me that lava, both molten and hardened is the body of Pele.  So it follows that Pele should be respected.  Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park (all National Parks) view geologic features as worthy of protection.  And Hawaiʻi Volcanoes went further, with a policy specifically barring visitors from poking sticks into molten lava (the body of Pele) and disturbing her.  But bulldozers arenʻt sticks so thatʻs OK?  Oh right.  The lava isnʻt molten.  Itʻs hard.  And the smoking wooden power poles along the PGV road?  Weʻll replace with metal, or insulate the wood ones.  Itʻs All Good.

I also learned that still-warm flows indicate that Pele is present.  Not only till vegetation starts to grow on fresh pele, does Pelehonuamea begin to yield to her younger sister Hiʻiaka, the regenerative elemental who brings plant growth to her sisterʻs works.

But none of this matters, because, as the following two Questions/Answers I sent/received from Public Works states, none of that matters.  People need to access their properties, no matter what.

Does anyone understand or believe that lava is a body form of Pele, and that disfiguring a fresh lava flow in this fashion is, at best, disrespectful?

Yes, many throughout our communities including folks working in government ‘understand or believe that lava is a body form of Pele, and that disfiguring a fresh lava flow in this fashion is, at best, disrespectful.’ However, the County also has an obligation to the displaced residents to restore County roads providing access to their homes and businesses as part of the ongoing recovery efforts to help bring a sense of normalcy to people’s lives.  

Does anyone understand that this work is on the axis of the East Rift Zone, and at some point in the future will be buried again?  How is the expense justified?

The County has received tremendous community feedback by those that live in lower Puna and whose lives were directly impacted by the loss of Highway 132, to reopen this crucial thoroughfare so that residents could return to their homes and businesses. Fellow Big Island residents with homes and farms that have been land locked by lava have voiced great relief about being able to once again reach their farms (livelihoods) and homes.

My consternation comes from my thinking (obviously wrong-headed) that the County couldʻve/shouldʻve found monies to make basic temporary access roads - gravel, limited to residents - to allow access to properties.  Yes, I understand the challenges of doing that.  Kamaʻāina and Malihini like GoLook.  But I have to believe that there are solutions to challenges.  County couldʻve provided access without having to deal with the cumbersome requirements and strings attached to Federal funds.  Look at the simple, inexpensive, light-on-the-land route that PGV built.  Look at the rip-and-tear highway the County is building.

Of course we need roads, of course we need housing and infrastructure, and I am NOT saying donʻt build anything on lava.  But after decades of renaissance-ing Native Hawaiian culture, should not we be doing better?  Should we not be considering effects related to Pelehonuamea, ESPECIALLY after the profoundly historic events of The Three Months?  Apparently not.  How sad is that?

So it seems that "Recovery" means getting people back to where and how they were.  Sure thing...Return to The Land.  No problem.  Lava Hazard Zone 1?  Who cares?  We saw homes, farms, properties, roads, infrastructure inundated or otherwise damaged in 1790, 1840, 1955, 1960, 1977, 1983-2018.  Eruptions, lava flows, earthquakes, subsidence, tsunami, theyʻre all good.  Weʻll show the world our Resolve and Resilience and RECOVER.  What an amazing thing!  Then thereʻs that cliche phrase:  Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over, and expecting a different result.  Or something like that.  Wouldnʻt be so bad if Recovery didnʻt cost millions and millions of dollars.

But must be:  Iʻm wrong-headed, I donʻt understand, pua ting da people, gotta kōkua.

Meantime, aftershocks of the M6.9 rattle my nerves, Maunaloa just got an upgrade, and may the gods help us all if Pele moves house and visits Maunaloa.  Then what?  I canʻt see that any lessons were learned last year.  When Maunaloa erupts, that may turn out to be another catastrophe.  Oh, but thatʻs OK.  Weʻll Recover.

Remember these graphics?  I know...How can we forget...

Just gotta

Be outside...Pay attention     Noho i waho...A maliu

And PLEASE read, review our histories, educate yourselves...

Look under: Updated Overview of 2018

Just under "HVO News (archive)"

As always, with aloha,

BobbyC

maniniowali@gmail.com

Tuesday, July 2, 2019...Apoplectic Outrage...

ummmm...  OK...  Too much???  OK.  Maybe a phrase less angry-sounding will pop into my head.  But in the meantime...

Iʻve been remiss in communicating regularly.  As Iʻve likely said before, a year ago there was an urgent sense of urgency.  Our worlds were violently disrupted, we were agog, trying to make sense of the works of Pelehonuamea, and no one knew...no...one...knew what was to happen moment to moment.  To say it was disquieting would be a big understatement.  And then the first week of August, She paused.  And we were left to pick up the pieces, to try to reassemble our realities, and resume living what passes for normal lives.

And then there was talk of Recovery.  And FEMA money, and this aid and that aid.  And apply here and go there.  And wait and pray and fix what we can and in some cases, sue for compensation.  And how quickly some moved on.  And others still wait.  Particularly those with properties, homes, and livelihoods landlocked in seas of dark fresh pele.  They wait(ed) for the cumbersome wheels of bureaucracies to turn, groaningly, toward resolution of some sort.

And the folks at PGV (Puna Geothermal Venture) bulldozed a temporary road over the pele.  Judging from aerial photos and video, itʻs a relatively tidy affair.  Providing basic access - a bumpy drive over a gravel road to sanctuaries hither and yon - but access nevertheless to properties of grateful landowners in a large kīpuka.  And I imagine the cost for that endeavor was relatively low.  Relatively.

And I was calling and visiting various County offices in Hilo in attempts of garner information about the Recovery.  What does that mean...Recovery?  If Recovery means Weʻll Rebuild! Bigger! Better! I say NO!  How much will it cost...Recovery?  Many assured that the Recovery, much of it, will be paid by FEMA or Federal Highways, or even The State.  Itʻs OK.  We have Federal Funds.  As if those Federal Funds conveniently fall from the heavens.  We donʻt even have to bother plucking bouquets of money off the money tree (Dracaena marginata).  Money appears and we spend it.  Like this screenshot from Big Island Video News:

The figures above were presented at a meeting of our County Council on June 18, 2019.  Not having other, detailed information, Iʻll hazard guesses:  

Hwy137 TA refers to the road built over three fingers of lava between MacKenzie State Recreation Area and Isaac Hale (huh-leh) Beach Park at Pohoiki.
Kipuka Access might refer to a short road over fresh lava into a small kīpuka ma uka of IHBP on Pohoiki Road.
Highway 132 TA is the road from Lava Tree State Monument to Kapoho
Pohoiki Road TA, Iʻll guess is the road from Lava Tree SM to IHBP.

Cool:  Various pots of money; one pot doesnʻt have the burden of funding the Recovery.
Curious:   HWY132 is buried for about 3 miles.  Pohoiki Road is buried for about 2 miles.  GoLook and clickmeasure on the Civil Defense lava flow map.  Remember that one?
How come get 1 (one) mile LESS on Pohoiki Road, but the cost is 3 (three or tʻree) times MORE?

Itʻs all so very confusing for a non-engineer non-County Budget person like myself.

I have to wonder: who exactly benefits from the Federal largesse?  Contractors?  Did they bid?  The County? 

And the Biggest Wonder:  Who in their right mind spends tens of millions of dollars (Oh...I forgot...itʻs Federal Money.  No need worry.) on Rebuilding Recovery Roads on land that a year ago was being reshaped by incomprehensible pūʻiwa-inducing floods of pele?  Who?  And Who in the County questions these expenditures?  Our budget-cautious and fiscally responsible County Council?  Staff in various offices?  Mayor Kim whose kuleana it is to manage these monies?  Who?  

And at the risk of stating what might not be obvious to many, including purse-string holders:
Highway 132 is being rebuilt, recovered, temporaried for now along the middle of the axis of the East Rift Zone of Kīlauea, the most active volcano in the US.  In Lava Hazard Zone One.  The worst.  The most hazardous.  Really?  Really.  Yes, I empathize with property owners in the kīpuka.  They should have access.  Could a gravel road work?  How many properties, exactly, are lava-locked?  What are their valuations?  How many reside there?  Were all structures permitted?

Too good:

YouTube Drone Video Day 22 of HWY132 re-something

And a screenshot from the above video:

An observation:  The PGV road (upper right) is cut shallowly into the flow.  It is relatively narrow, with, as far as I can see, tidy edges.  Kinda reminds me of the Chain of Craters Road in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.  I grant that my memory these days is often flawed, but I seem to recall when CoC was rebuilt after the Maunaulu eruption, heavy equipment drove one way down the hill to minimize scarring adjacent fresh lava flows.  But I digress.  

I am sickened by the video.  Large amounts of cut/fill.  I get one frickinʻ BIG machine anʻ I goinʻ GO!  It hurts me.  I love lava.  I love its textures, its colors, its smell, how it sounds when you walk over it... Although advertised and touted as a Temporary Road (a gravel road accessible by two-wheel drive vehicles, per The County definition), sure looks like 132 will be a pretty nice ride.  On the East Rift Zone.  In Lava Hazard Zone One.  Parts are in an engineered ditch, so views will be obscured, but why quibble?  After all, Iʻm not an engineer.  And Iʻm absolutely positive that the $12,000,000+ expended will be worth it.  After all, itʻs not our money.  Itʻs Federal money.  Really, Bob???  You still apoplectic?

And then there are phrases such as "Aloha ʻĀina" brah.  Mālama ʻĀina, bruddah and tita.  Be Pono yʻall.  What do those words mean?  Because Iʻm not on Social Media, Iʻd love to be able to understand current context.  

On this USGS map dated 1930, we can see and learn about locations of now inundated cherished places.

I adore the name "Halekamahina": House of the Moon.  Who, how, when, why it was named is likely lost to The Ages.  It and other wahi pana, those storied places.  "Kaholua o Kahawali"...go read "Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes" by Westervelt.  Warm Spring, or one of the Waiwelawela commemorated in chant.  Kūkiʻi, where it is said ʻUmi built a heiau from which Kalākaua took stone(s) used in the construction of ʻIolani Palace.  Waiakea...same name(?) as the Waiākea in Hilo, that broad expanse of water.  And the easternmost Kumukahi, still the easternmost, even after all what we witnessed last summer.  Where the rays of the sun first kisses the shore of Hawaiʻi nei.

And the village of Kapoho.  And Kapoho School from which porch my family and I watched the 1960 eruption.  The Kapoho where grew vanda orchids from which timeless lei were and are fashioned, though vanda are no longer grown in Kapoho.

These places, all subject to eruptions and lava flows, earthquakes, coastal subsidence related to those phenomena [(Ka-poho, Poho-iki) poho = depression, sunken area], tsunami, and other elemental happenings, all these places were loved and tended by residents, who were often tied genealogically to the land.  Aloha flowed.  And now??? Auē!

It seems to be all about Money.  How sad is that?  But Bobby...thatʻs reality now.  Really?  Who said?

And this popped up this morning, sent by a friend on Maui:

Comic Book Kīlauea

Havenʻt read or digested it, though I knee-jerked unfavorably at "Hawaiʻian".  "Hawaiian" is not a word in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi and so does not get an ʻokina.

OK then.  So.  Maybe not so apoplectic after venting, but still pissed...at extremely poor communication on the part of The County, at extremely poor design/build/spend because we can; at a lot of things, including The Media for not asking hard questions and sorting out and educating The Public about these messes.

And plus my left knee is itai.  Ata-ritis.  And falling down and making it worse.  But...but...the sun is shining, Iʻm warm, and though weʻre reaching the end of our bloomings, ʻapapane still melodiously sing outside.  And how cool is this:  ʻaʻaliʻi start to finish (shared by ML):

(L to R):  pua wahine, pua kāne, hua, ʻanoʻano (female flowers, male flowers, fruit capsules, and one lone black seed in the dry pod).  All gathered in a short distance last week.  "When do ____ bloom?"  Or fruit?  When they feel like it.  Kāhili ginger up here started flowering two weeks ago.  Used to be late August or early September.  Not even the white or yellow ginger down the highway are blooming yet.

ʻŌhiʻa ʻai keʻokeʻo (white mountain apple) bloomed in Waiākea uka in mid-April, 

and in late-June, about 10 weeks later, fruit are falling.  Junk the pictures, but you get the idea.

And because I adore lehua:  mamo and ʻāpane neighbors:

And, finally, this, from the skies of Waimea:

Slowly... Take a deep breath... Slowly... Exhale...

As always, with aloha,

BobbyC
maniniowali@gmail.com