Protect Kahoolawe Ohana

Protect Kahoolawe Ohana
NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat data from the U.S · Public domain · source
Name	Protect Kahoolawe Ohana
Formation	1980s
Founder	Walter Ritte, George Helm, Tommye "Kohala" Keawe
Type	Nonprofit
Location	Kahoʻolawe, Hawaiʻi
Focus	Cultural rights, environmental restoration, native Hawaiian sovereignty

Protect Kahoolawe Ohana is a Hawaiian grassroots organization that led direct-action protests and sustained advocacy to end military use of Kahoʻolawe and to restore the island for native Hawaiian cultural practice and ecological recovery. The group emerged amid wider movements involving Native Hawaiian sovereignty movement, Hawaiian Renaissance, and environmental activism tied to figures and organizations such as Patsy Mink, Daniel Inouye, Bernice Pauahi Bishop, ʻĪlioʻōloiʻa and institutions like the University of Hawaiʻi and National Park Service. Its actions intersected with federal legislation, military policy, and legal disputes that involved courts including the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and agencies such as the Department of the Interior.

History and founding

Protect Kahoolawe Ohana formed during the 1970s and 1980s when activists including Walter Ritte, George Helm, and others organized voyages to Kahoʻolawe to protest bombing practices by the United States Navy and support revival of native practice tied to chiefs and aliʻi like Kalākaua and Liliʻuokalani. Early occupations and landings echoed precedents set by groups such as the American Indian Movement and civil disobedience actions inspired by the Civil Rights Movement and environmental campaigns by Greenpeace and Sierra Club. Protesters staged events that drew media attention from outlets like the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and involved collaborations and confrontations with figures such as Neil Abercrombie and members of the Hawaiian Civic Club network. The movement gained momentum as it engaged with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the State of Hawaiʻi, and federal lawmakers including representatives who later supported hearings in the United States Congress.

Mission and objectives

Protect Kahoolawe Ohana articulated goals centering on cessation of bombing, cultural reclamation, and ecosystem restoration rooted in traditional practices of aliʻi and kahuna. The organization’s objectives resonated with broader efforts by entities like Kamehameha Schools, advocates in the Native American Rights Fund, and cultural practitioners associated with the Bishop Museum and ʻIolani Palace. Objectives included fostering access modeled after precedents in indigenous stewardship such as the Maori co-management arrangements in Aotearoa/New Zealand and legal frameworks influenced by treaties like the Treaty of Waitangi elsewhere in the Pacific. The group sought to influence policy at venues including the United States Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs and administrative bodies such as the Federal Aviation Administration when ordnance disposal activities intersected with airspace and safety.

Conservation and restoration activities

Following cessation of active bombing, restoration efforts on Kahoʻolawe involved soil remediation, erosion control, and native species reintroduction in collaboration with partners including the Army Corps of Engineers, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Nature Conservancy, and academic programs at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa. Cultural revegetation efforts echoed projects by the National Tropical Botanical Garden and seed banking initiatives like those at the Smithsonian Institution and Kew Gardens. Techniques included contouring modeled after traditional Hawaiian fishpond and loʻi kalo engineering seen at sites managed by the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary and conservation science informed by scholars at institutions such as Stanford University and University of California, Berkeley.

Cultural and educational programs

Protect Kahoolawe Ohana emphasized Hawaiian language, chant, and ceremony taught by kūpuna and practitioners whose work resembled curricula at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo and programs at the Kamehameha Schools. Educational outreach involved collaborations with museums like the Bishop Museum and cultural centers such as the Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives and included workshops similar to those conducted by ʻAha Pūnana Leo and the Hawaiian Language College. Programs promoted mele, hula, navigation traditions related to voyaging by organizations such as the Polynesian Voyaging Society and exchanges with Pacific groups like Fiji Museum and Cook Islands Cultural Centre.

Legal actions and advocacy

The group’s advocacy intersected with litigation and legislative campaigns that implicated the United States Department of Defense, the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii, and lawmakers including senators who debated measures in the United States Senate. Legal outcomes influenced the transfer of stewardship mechanisms akin to arrangements in the National Historic Preservation Act and consultations under the National Environmental Policy Act with input from the State Historic Preservation Division. Advocacy drew support from legal allies in organizations such as the Native American Rights Fund and academic legal clinics at the William S. Richardson School of Law.

Organization structure and funding

Protect Kahoolawe Ohana operated as a grassroots collective and later coordinated with formal entities such as the Kahoʻolawe Island Reserve Commission and nonprofit fiscal sponsors similar to The Nature Conservancy in Hawaiʻi. Funding streams included private donations, grants from philanthropic sources like the Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate and foundations patterned after the Ford Foundation and Packard Foundation, and cooperative agreements with state and federal agencies including the Department of Defense for remediation. Volunteers and interns often hailed from programs at the University of Hawaiʻi system and service organizations resembling the AmeriCorps model.

Notable campaigns and controversies

Major campaigns included civil disobedience voyages that paralleled actions by groups such as Earth First! and high-profile confrontations that prompted investigations by committees in the United States Congress. Controversies involved debates over ordnance clearance standards set by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and environmental assessments overseen by the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as tensions with military stakeholders like the United States Navy and political figures such as Linda Lingle and Ben Cayetano. Disputes also arose over access, stewardship, and cultural protocols akin to controversies at other indigenous sites managed under joint stewardship frameworks, including those involving the Ancestral Lands Trusts and international cases before bodies like the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Category:Non-profit organizations based in Hawaii Category:Native Hawaiian organizations Category:Environmental organizations based in Hawaii