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PATH conducted additional field discovery last week and located all of the trail above Haleakala Highway up to the Haleakala National Park boundary! Here is PATH’s president and founding member, Dr. David Brown at the Haleakala Trail gate at the boundary with the Haleakala National Park.

PATH also located many ahu (rock cairns) placed by the Territory of Hawaii in 1905. Here is PATH’s surveyor, Anthony Crook, obtaining a GPS coordinate for one of the ahu.

“Open the Gates” T-shirts for sale for $30 (good portion of it tax deductible). Bumper stickers $5.00. Four cool colors: purple, grey, green, blue. Men’s and women’s styles. Show your support by ordering one today! Just email us through the contact box in the sidebar. (Consider making an even larger donation, and in the process give us some big mileage with Haleakala Trail.)

PATH president and founding member Dr. David Brown modeling the new T-shirts in front of the gate blocking Haleakala Trail from pedestrians.

The Board of Land and Natural Resources recently signed an agreement providing for at least some hiking on Haleakala Trail, albeit limited and guided. While Haleakala Ranch voluntarily entered this agreement, it would not have happened without the consistent pressure placed on the Ranch and the State by Public Access Trails Hawaii. This pressure is like a crack in a dam. It’s the beginning of something bigger. You can help:

• Sign up to walk the trail (info below); tell all your friends to do the same; let the State know that you have a strong interest in new trails.
• Tell the state you want more opportunities to hike Halekala Trail (right now its only promising two hikes per year!).
• Buy a t-shirt or a bumper sticker from PATH and show your support for opening the trail all the way (see separate entry on this).
• Make a donation (use the link on the right hand side of the pathmaui.org website, or send it to PATH, 2525 Kahekili Highway,Wailuku, HI 96793-9233). PATH is continue to pursue litigation against the State and Ranch and needs your financial support.
• Sign up for our email list (right side of pathmaui.org site).

Here’s the State Na Ala Hele information about the guided hikes. Or you can call trail specialist Torrie Nohara at 873-3508.

Here’s the Maui News story on the new hikes.

Haleakala Trail hit the front page of the Maui News today in a story entitled “Hikers will follow old pathway to summit.” Read all about it.

Check out the Maui Times story here.

On Friday the Board of Land and Natural Resources heard you! Thanks to an overwhelming number of people submitting testimony, the Department of Land and Natural Resources was forced to admit that there was significant interest in the reopening of Haleakala Trail.

We’re a busy society. However, your decision to take the time to pen a note to BLNR made the difference. The state is opening the trail to limited access as the result of “US,” all standing together, fighting for people rights and public access.

This is a tough fight. Haleakala Ranch refuses to open access despite the overwhelming evidence of a public trail. The state refuses to protect the people’s rights. We will continue to need your support, as well as others, so please stand firm, and also share the story with others.

Stay tuned and we’ll keep up the good fight on our side. A lot of work is happening as we move toward trial set for January 2013.

PRESS RELEASE

May 13, 2012

State Establishes First Access to Haleakala Trail in Decades

At its meeting on Friday, May 11, 2012, the Hawaii Board of Land and Natural Resources approved a memorandum of agreement with landowner Haleakala Ranch Company (HRC) to restore limited access to the public.

The MOA will provide a minimum of two hiking events each year “on such dates and during such times as the [HRC] shall determine in coordination with DLNR.” The MOA requires the state to protect HRC and its employees from liability. It also requires DLNR to establish a hike information and reservation system for the hikes.

BLNR received written testimony from at least 60 people, almost all objecting that the MOA did not provide sufficient access. Attorney Tom Pierce, representing PATH, stated in written testimony, “In essence, DLNR’s Request is asking BLNR to abdicate its statutory duties and violate its own rules, including asking BLNR to put the rights of HRC ahead of the public’s rights – something that has already been occurring for at least a decade.” Access proponents, among them members of the Oahu-based Hawaii Trail and Mountain Club, gave similar oral testimony during the lengthy hearing.

Access proponents also challenged the safety concerns raised by DLNR staff and HRC employees, such as roving cattle, rough terrain, and activities related to removal of gorst, an invasive weed. PATH responded in its written testimony that the trail was engineered by the Territory of Hawaii to provide safe access for inexperienced tourists, and that numerous public trails run through cattle ranches, without problem.

During the hearing some BLNR members expressed their concern with the two hikes per year minimum and encouraged DLNR and HRC to assure that those interested in hiking would be given the opportunity to do so. It remains to be seen whether DLNR and HRC will take the members’ request to heart.

Meanwhile, the pending lawsuit filed by PATH against the state and HRC continues with trial scheduled for January 2013. “On Maui, the state is closing many more trails than it is opening,” explained PATH president, David Brown. He summarized, “This case is about requiring BLNR to follow its legislative mandate to protect public lands, and obtaining respect from private landowners who deny public access over clearly public trails.”

For more information, go to: http://pathmaui.org/, or email PATH at pathmaui08@gmail.com, or follow PATH on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pathmaui.

Of course Haleakala Ranch Company supports the DLNR’s recommendation that BLNR sign the memorandum of understanding limiting access to a few dozen people per year — its representatives wrote it! But get this, the Ranch is telling BLNR nobody is interested in the trail: “[Attorney Tom] Pierce alleges that Haleakala Ranch has denied the public access; in fact, except for Mr. Pierce’s clients, no one has asked Haleakala Ranch permission to use the trail.” (You can read the Ranch’s submittal here.) First of all, its a public trail. That should mean the public doesn’t have to ask the Ranch permission to use it. But let the BLNR and the Ranch hear loud and clear that you want Haleakala Trail returned to the people. Here’s the BLNR’s clerk’s email address: Adaline.F.Cummings@hawaii.gov. Here’s the Ranch’s “activity” site with an email link. Let the Ranch know there’s a lot of people who want their rights restored.

Friends, we need your help. The lawsuit filed by PATH last year against the state and Haleakala Ranch continues to move forward. However, in what can only be called a misguided and desperate attempt at damage control, the Department of Land and Natural Resources is recommending to the Board of Land and Natural Resources that it sign a memorandum of agreement drafted by Haleakala Ranch to protect its interests, not yours.

The MOA would permit only a handful of people to hike the trail per year at a time designated by the Ranch. Does that sound like public access? We don’t think so. DLNR says this kind of limited access is okay because it believes nobody much is interested in using the trail. Do you disagree? Do you want to hike this trail? If you do then, we need you to say so and prove DLNR wrong. But you have to speak your mind this week. Here’s how, and it only takes a minute:

Submit written testimony to BLNR clerk by no later than May 10 at this email address: Adaline.F.Cummings@hawaii.gov

Or, show up for the hearing at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, May 11, at the DLNR Board Room 132 on the first floor of the Kalanimoku Building at 1151 Punchbowl St. (The Board Room is located on the makai (ocean) side of the building.)

Tell BLNR they need to make this trail a priority, that the state should not let a private landowner trample on the public’s rights. (Also look at the other talking points below)

Do you want more info? Continue reading →