Bill Text: HI SCR159 | 2015 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: 1825 Malden Trails; Ewa Plains; Recognition

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-03-23 - Referred to WTL. [SCR159 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2015-SCR159-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	159
TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2015
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

urging the department of land and natural resources to recognize the historic 1825 malden trails of the ewa plains AND INCLUDE THE TRAILS IN THE NA ALA HELE PROGRAM INVENTORY.

 

 

     WHEREAS, the Malden Trails are in the ahupua‘a of Honouliuli, district of Ewa, and in ancient times provided very important well-marked pathways for defense, communication, and commerce; and

 

     WHEREAS, historically, the Malden Trails were directly linked to the Honouliuli village near the mouth of the Wai Momi River, which was the ancient cultural and political population center of Oahu; and

 

     WHEREAS, these Native Hawaiian trails provided routes for the important annual mauka-makai Makahiki processions in ancient times, guided by celestial positions honoring the Hawaiian agricultural god Lono; and

 

     WHEREAS, the important Malden Trails are referred to in the ancient one-thousand-year-old chants of Hawaiian goddess Hi‘iaka and in numerous later historic and cultural accounts of visitors who crossed the Ewa Plain, linking Honouliuli near the mouth of the Wai Momi River with Puu o Kapolei, Kahe Point, Kualaka‘i, and One‘ula on the Ewa shore; and

 

     WHEREAS, the ancient Hawaiian trails on the Ewa Plains were first identified after Western contact on Oahu by surveyor Lieutenant C.R. Malden of the Royal Navy and became known as the Malden Trails after they were published in an 1825 Oahu map edition as well as in numerous subsequent editions over the following fifty-three years; and

 

     WHEREAS, important ancient Hawaiian trails have been successfully recognized on islands other than Oahu, particularly on the island of Hawaii, where they have contributed greatly to the historic and cultural heritage as well as provided enjoyable, healthy recreational excursion routes for residents and visitors alike; and

 

     WHEREAS, while the ancient 1825 Malden Trails of the Ewa Plains still exist, today the trails are threatened by near term land development because of the lack of official recognition and notification by the Na Ala Hele Trail Program; and

 

     WHEREAS, Na Ala Hele is the state mandated trail program that is in charge of registering and assisting with the protection of historic Hawaiian trails; and

 

     WHEREAS, the 1825 Malden Trails and connecting historic sites provide important clues as to how West Oahu communities in Honouliuli, Ewa, Puuloa, One‘ula, Kualaka‘i, and Waianae were linked culturally, economically, and politically over past centuries; and

 

     WHEREAS, the historical trails identified by Malden later became ranching and carriage routes and an important part of West Oahu's one-hundred-fifty-year-old paniolo and pa‘u equestrian culture, linking economic settlements on the Ewa Plains during the Hawaiian kingdom era; and

 

     WHEREAS, the trails had an important Ewa Plain trail junction that by 1890 became the location of the Ewa Sugar Mill and Ewa Villages Plantation communities, which in turn established the rationale for King Kalakaua's chartered Oahu Railway to extend to the Ewa Mill station and allowed sugar cane to become the major economic engine of the Ewa Plains; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 1925, the Kualaka‘i and One‘ula Ewa Plain shoreline trails, due to the nearby location of the Ewa Plantation Mill and the Oahu Railway Ewa station, became incorporated as the base boundaries of Ewa Mooring Mast Field, which later became an important and historic Ewa Plain military airfield; and

 

     WHEREAS, after the closure of the Ewa Sugar Plantation and Barbers Point Naval Air Station over two decades ago, the 1825 Malden Trails continued to be used by Ewa residents and the Ewa Villages Plantation community for access to mountain and shoreline access; and

 

     WHEREAS, according to the Ewa Development Plan and Kapolei Area Bikeway Plan published by the Campbell Estate in 1991, trail ways are corridor opportunities to link major open spaces with pedestrian and bike paths where Ewa's flat terrain offers decided advantages for bicycle transportation; and

 

     WHEREAS, the 1825 Malden Trails routes that still exist also provide a link with the one-hundred-twenty-five-year-old Oahu Railway right-of-way of the Pearl Harbor Historic Trail Plan, which allows travel by foot, horse, or bike from Pearl Harbor to Nanakuli; and

 

     WHEREAS, numerous historic, cultural, and educational features exist along the current Ewa Plain trails and provide direct access to the University of Hawaii West Oahu campus, West Loch Shoreline Park, Kapolei Regional Park, Ewa Mahiko Park, and planned future Kalaeloa regional city parks; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-eighth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2015, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Department of Land and Natural Resources is urged to recognize the historic 1825 Malden Trails of the Ewa Plains and include the trails in the Na Ala Hele Program inventory; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources, Chairperson of the Hawaiian Homes Commission, Chief Executive Officer of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu, and Commander of Navy Region Hawaii.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

1825 Malden Trails; Ewa Plains; Recognition