Congratulations On your 100th Anniversary Hawaii Volcanoes National Park! K&R ELECTRIC, LLC 22445577 NNoohhoonnaa SStt.. •• HHiilloo •• LLiicc.. NNoo.. CC--2277553366 QUALITY, 24 HOUR, ISLAND WIDE SERVICE 557-3645 RESIDENTIAL • COMMERCIAL • SECURITY BUCKET TRUCK SERVICE MAINTENANCE • SOLAR Kyle M. Nakayama East Hawaii’’’’’’’Hawaii’s s BEST ELECTRICIAN 10 years running! Shop These Fine Merchants! PERSONAL SERVICES Balancing Monkey Yoga Center Diet Center Jin Ju Salon LV Nails Tram’s Day Spa RETAIL Diva’s Boutique Island Naturals Lanky’s Pastries Sole Comfort The Orient Connection RESTAURANTS Happy Valley Seafood Hawaiian Brain Freeze Kamana Indian Kitchen Restaurant Miwa Sunlight Café FINANCIAL Edward Jones Hawaii First Community Resource Center Hawaii First Federal Credit Union Liberty Tax SERVICES Aloha Care Bayada Home Health Care Bay Clinic Dental Clinic Genesis Chiropractic Hilo HMSA Institute of Acupuncture Keiki Dental Clinic Longs Pharmacy National Fire Protection Native Nations Education Foundation Optical Dispensers CORNER OF KILAUEA AVE. & KEKUANAOA ST. April 17, 2016 • 23 Kahuku Unit: O the beaten path There were still cattle roaming Kahuku Ranch’s pastures the first time Keola Awong saw the land. Large ohia trees shaded the rolling hills on the slopes of Mauna Loa. It was beautiful there, in a way that was tranquil and rugged. And it was a place few had had the chance to explore before, when Kahuku was a working ranch. “My first impression of that area was, ‘Wow, this is going to be a really nice addition to the park,’” Awong said. That was more than a decade ago, when Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park first acquired the Kahuku Unit: 150,867 acres in Ka‘u that spanned just about every type of topography the Big Island has to offer — lava fields, deserts, alpine and subalpine zones, shrub-land and forests. The acreage increased the size of HVNP by about 38 percent. Most people on the island still don’t know about Kahuku’s offerings, partially because the area is so new to the parks system, and partially because of its remote location off Hawaii Belt Road, just past the 70-mile marker. Awong, who started her park career as a fee collector and has been HVNP’s cultural anthropologist since 2005, was named Kahuku’s site manager last fall. The entire unit is maintained by a small team: Awong, a four-man trail crew, an administrative assistant and a law enforcement ranger. On the weekends, the team expands a bit to include two volunteers and a group of rangers offering guided hikes. The guided hikes, which kicked off last December, have helped boost visitor numbers “significantly,” Awong said. Kahuku is currently open to the public only on weekends. Its hiking trails — and one biking trail — are on old paddock and ranch roads kept clear by the trail crew; one pu‘u has a view all the way down to South Point. Every other month, there’s a youth program at the unit that focuses on teaching kids the same skills rangers have. Rangers lead guided hikes along By IVY ASHE Hawaii Tribune-Herald Hikers walk out of an excavated cinder cone in the Kahuku Unit. HOLLYN JOHNSON/ Tribune-Herald See KAHUKU Page 25
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