HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.R. NO.

33

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2004

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

RECOGNIZING THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE ALA WAI WATERSHED KULEANA PROJECT VOLUNTEERS.

 

 

WHEREAS, the ancient Hawaiians respected and cared for their precious fresh water resources as a matter of basic survival in these remote islands, and every Hawaiian, regardless of status, took an active part in maintaining and conserving this limited resource; and

WHEREAS, water stewardship remains an integral part of our Hawaiian culture and education, passed from generation to generation through the custom and law of "E malama i ka wai" ("cherish the water"); and

WHEREAS, sustaining high water quality is vital to all communities in our State and is the responsibility of all citizens, community organizations, schools, private entities, and government; and

WHEREAS, the Kuleana Project is an environmental protection pilot project that aims to educate adults as well as children, the future stewards of our watersheds, on the connections between our practices and their consequences, and that events which take place in the upper reaches of our ahupua'a impact the regions below, all the way to the ocean; and

WHEREAS, the Kuleana Project is sponsored by Malama o Manoa in partnership with the Hawaii Nature Center, University of Hawaii's School of Ocean, Earth Science & Technology, Cooperative Extension Service, and Malama i Ka Aina, and is funded by a grant from the City and County of Honolulu Board of Water Supply; and

WHEREAS, the Kuleana Project has involved 12 schools, 24 teachers, over 950 schoolchildren, members of the Boy Scouts of America Troops 1, 33, and 42, the Sierra Student Coalition, and more than 200 other community volunteers, and has empowered Hawaii's youth to become teachers, through conducting pre- and post-surveys from September 2003, through January 2004, of more than 1,000 households in the ahupua'a of the Ala Wai watershed, from Manoa's Koolau mountains to the ocean off Waikiki, to document and teach water conservation and pollution prevention practices to residents of the ahupua'a; and

WHEREAS, the success of a project can be measured in many ways, one of which is the commitment to making a difference in one's community shown by the tireless efforts and motivation of Kuleana Project coordinators Helen Nakano, Daniel Dinell, Kozen Kaneshiro, and Naomi Ohta, and the strength and durability of the community-school liaison "gofers," the heroes behind the scenes who each adopted a school, assisted its students and teachers in conducting the program and providing materials, project kits, area maps, survey forms, reference materials, and brochures; and

WHEREAS, the Board of Water Supply recognized that the Kuleana Project is an outstanding model for all other watersheds in the State and is creating a manual and training materials to be used statewide to empower our children to teach their communities about water conservation and non-point source pollution, as an effective, non-offensive way to honor and maintain the Hawaiian values of kuleana (responsibility) and kokua (cooperation) practiced in the traditional ahupua'a system of water management; and

WHEREAS, the Kuleana Project has inspired the neighborhoods comprising one ahupua'a of the Ala Wai watershed with a renewed appreciation and perspective for our fragile environment and its limited natural resources, and can serve as a model for other communities statewide and nationally to empower their children to learn about, and take personal responsibility for, good water use practices and reducing the pollution of our most precious resource; now, therefore,

 

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2004, that this body hereby commends the exceptional achievement of the Kuleana Project and congratulates and honors its organizers, community volunteers, and especially the students for creating a model program to protect and preserve our watersheds in the spirit of "E malama i ka wai."

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title:

Recognizing the Ala Wai Watershed Kuleana Project volunteers.