Tell Maui County Council: Protect ʻIwi Kūpuna – Renew the Moratorium Against Sand Mining

4 thoughts on “Tell Maui County Council: Protect ʻIwi Kūpuna – Renew the Moratorium Against Sand Mining”

  1. Thank you to all who ate part of this renewal of support for the humane treatment of Hawaiian ancestral burials and cultural sites and the preservation of the one of a kind inland sand dunes. It is where I call home and so much of it has been leveled to put sand on places like Sprecklesville which I knew as prime black crab grounds because of the black rocks on the beach. Now the precious sand with my ancestors bones is choking the reef. It was never a good idea to put inland sand to create a beach.
    We are smarter than that

    May we learn to be respectful of those who lived here before us and good stewards of the ‘Aina. Make Maui a place of Aloha ‘Aina!

    Clare Apana Malama Kakanilua and Iwi Protectors Maui

  2. Protect our Iwi Kupuna. Protect their final resting place. Protect their right to rest in peace just as everyone’s loved ones right to be left undisturbed is protected.
    Extend the moratorium on sand mining and make it permanent. No more sand mining. Respect the sanctity of the grave. Protect Kakanilua and the sand dunes of Wailuku.
    Mahalo.
    Kamuela Kala’i
    aliiokama3@gmail.com

  3. In addition to the text below provided by the Sierra Club of Maui, I would like to ADD the following with a view that it be communicated not merely to the Maui Council, but as well to the ENTIRE Maui government – i.e., ALL STAFF MEMBERS!

    With sincere respect, I would like to suggest that Maui has forfeited the very three (3) principles upon which her culture was based as far back as 353AD – i.e., aloha, ohana and pono.

    Indeed, Maui is not even “close” to pono and a sense of ohana these days, and the blame for that owes both to its entire governing serving an “in-bed” relationship to ever increasing spec-marketed tourism, construction and realty … i.e., the “menage`a trois for the erosion of any formerly “unspoiled” community.

    Truth is, its present notions of what “community” and “sustainability” are are not only in gross error, they are central to the self-destruction of this precious island!

    Indeed, “community” is NOT a function of how many houses or businesses are built – rather it is a function of heartfulness (i.e., “aloha”)! Too, one must ask in the realm of “sustainability” … “WHO gets to be ‘sustained’?” Indeed, do the “homeless” sleeping in parks or on the street get to sustain their present lifestyle – thus rendering “sustainability” a privileged item for the top 1%?

    Point being, the present false notions of “community” and “sustainability” exist in an “inverse” relationship with what they are supposed to represent. To wit – ever increasing construction actually erodes forever the depth of community or any sense of real sustainability!!!

    With all due respect, “Maui needs to get back in pono before she becomes yet another version of Honolulu or any of the so many other over-crowded, increasingly heartless truly “spoiled” former paradises.

    In closing, Maui has been termed “Mother Maui” and “Womb of the Universe”. Raising this question to every single member of this city government INCLUDING the Mayor … can you honestly say the way Maui County Government operates has “honored” this truly one-of-a-kind “Mother” and “Womb” throughout this Earth?

    Hardly! Thus I urge you to step up to pono, ohana and true aloha – BIG TIME!

    Keolalani Koaloha
    Responsible Citizenry

    ******

    I am writing to ask that the County’s Moratorium on Sand Mining of Central Maui Inland Sand (Ordinance #4804), signed into law by Mayor Arakawa on January 19, 2018, be renewed.

    As stated in the original ordinance, the moratorium’s purpose is to “establish regulations for mining inland sand to protect Maui’s environment and limited natural resources and prevent the disturbance of Hawaiian historical, cultural, or archaeological sites, and unmarked human burial site.” These goals have not been met, and therefore I urge you to ensure this moratorium does not expire.

    In the past six months, the community has breathed a sigh of relief, knowing the ?iwi k?puna buried in these precious dunes are safe, for now. If this moratorium were to be lifted, the mining that has destroyed burials and cultural sites will be allowed to begin again, and this would once again cause immeasurable anguish to the community and cultural descendants of this place.

    The in-land sand dunes should be protected forever because of their historical significance. The Maui Community Plan calls for the protection of cultural resources; the Council could use this community document to justify the extension of the moratorium indefinitely. At the very least, this moratorium should remain in place until all unmarked burials and cultural sites are protected.

    Please take swift action to ensure the moratorium does not lapse in July.

    Mahalo nui loa.

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