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9-4-10 - Sept. 4th (Saturday), from 3:00 - 5:30 PM Join us at the Mad Hatter Tea Party, a gathering to benefit the Hawai'i Kai wetland project at the O'ahu Club. RSVP to Kaumaka Wong at kaumakawong@yahoo.com or #221-0555. $15.00 per person
 Sport you favorite hat, bring your own tea cup, shop the silent auction, enjoy tasty finger sandwiches, decadent sweets and tea! Come learn about the history and restoration efforts of our wetland project and the rehabilitation of the endangered 'Alae'ula nesting grounds.
View Clear Photos of Oahu Club Wetland Photo#1 Photo#2 Photo#3
5-8-10 Oahu Club Wetland Field Trip from 9AM-11AM Saturday! Flyer Below Link
Please Come To Our Meet and Greet Sponsored by Livable Hawaii Kai Hui and the Maunalua Fishpond Heritage Center. Learn about the OAHU CLUB WETLAND! You have always know about this serene wetland area next to the Oahu Club that is located below the ancient palms at the base of Mariner's Ridge. Learn about the history and biology of this environmental treasure. It is a nesting ground of endangered `Alae `Ula. Renowned experts to speak - Mr. Ron Walker, former head of the State Division of Forestry and Wildlife and Ms. Marjorie Zieglar, President of the Conservation Council of Hawaii. Come to the Oahu Club Lawn By The Pond. Seating is limited. Please R.S.V.P. to mardilaprade@aol.com
HAWAII KAI WETLANDS
4-2007 - recent HouseConcurrent Resolutions HCR126 & HR100 have been deferred in committee.
Posted on: Saturday, August 19th, 2006..............written by Diana Leone
http://starbulletin.com/2006/08/19/news/whatever.html
Permit being sought to dump dredge on stilt habitat in Hawaii Kai marina
Question: What ever happened to the Hawaii Kai Marina Community Association's plans to put dredge material on islands occupied by endangered Hawaiian stilts?
Answer: The association continues to pursue a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit that, if approved, would allow maintenance dredging of the marina over 10 years.
The corps will not issue a permit until the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reviews "a bathymetric and topographic map of Rim Island 2 being prepared by applicant," corps spokesman Dino Buchanan said.
The Fish and Wildlife Service must approve the plans as acceptable for the birds.
The map will not be ready until the fall, said Steve Carr, president of the community association.
Some Hawaii Kai residents have objected to the association's plan to put some dredge spoil on Rim Island 2, because the 4-acre island has become a habitat for the stilt since the last time dredge spoil was placed there in 1995-96.
The Hawaiian stilt, or aeo ("one who stands tall"), is a distinctive black and white bird, usually with pink legs. An estimated 1,200 to 1,600 birds remain in the wild, and they have been on the U.S. Endangered Species List since 1970.
The main threats to their survival have been the destruction of their wetland habitats and predation by animals.
The island provides a place where dogs, rats and cats cannot get to the birds, which lay their eggs on the ground, wildlife officials say.
Carr said the marina entrance to the ocean desperately needs dredging but that the association has promised to put that dredged material on nearby beaches. The association hopes not to have to put dredge spoil on Rim Island 2, but does not want to rule it out and believes it can be done without disturbing the birds, he said.
"We've got more than the birds to worry about," Carr said. "We have the residents, too."
This update was written by Star-Bulletin reporter Diana Leone.
Posted on: Thursday, July 20, 2006 By Suzanne Roig Advertiser - East Honolulu Writer
Hawai'i Kai battle: birds vs. dumping
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060720/NEWS11/607200349/1021/NEWS
HAWAI'I KAI — A proposal to dump dredged material on an islet in Hawai'i Kai Marina that's home to endangered Hawaiian stilts is creating a tug of war between area residents who maintain that the 3-acre islet should be off-limits and a marina group that wants to use it as a disposal site.
Three years ago, the Hawai'i Kai Marina Community Association began seeking a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to use two islets in the marina area to store dredged material. After submitting the application, Hawaiian stilts, or ae'o, were spotted nesting on one of the islets.
Ensuring that the birds are protected in a suitably sized habitat, some area residents say, is well worth the permit process delay. Association members, charged with managing and maintaining 13 miles of waterways, counter that the more time the process takes, the more sand and silt will build up in the marina, particularly along the main accessway at the mouth of the marina under the Kalaniana'ole Highway bridge.
The association wants permission to dredge any time it needs to over a 10-year period and dump the dredged material on either Rim Island 1 or Rim Island 2, rather than obtaining Army Corps of Engineers permission for each maintenance dredging.
After the last dredging at the mouth of the marina, completed about three years ago, sand was used to replenish the beach at Portlock, and the three bays under the bridge were opened up for waterway traffic. Today about 1 1/2 bays are open, said Steve Carr, Hawai'i Kai Marina Community Association president.
"It's a potentially hazardous situation," Carr said. "The more openings we have, the better. People have to wait to come in and wait to go out."
Rim Island 2, an uninhabited area, is home to a wide variety of birds, including the ae'o, which likes to live in marshy mudflats free of dense vegetation and predators. Because the ae'o has been documented on the island, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was called in recently for consultation to comply with the Endangered Species Act. The bird was first spotted on Rim Island 2 in the late 1990s, Carr said.
The federal agency intends to make recommendations on a suitable habitat for Rim Island 2 that would both enable the marina association to use the islet for dumping dredged materials and protect the birds. A study and mapping of the islet's pond and mudflat areas are under way, said Gordon Smith, a Fish and Wildlife Service biologist."
When the stilts find a place they can feed and live, it's very important to protect that habitat," Smith said. "With some engineering and foresight, the association can accomplish their goal of dredging and continue to protect the habitat."
Some residents are calling for a habitat plan that would prohibit the dumping of more dredged materials on Rim Island 2.
"If it were up to me, I'd keep Rim Island 2 out of the permit," said Hawai'i Kai resident James Dittmar. "Rim Island 2 is a wonderful habitat. I want to save it as a wildlife habitat for the future generations in East O'ahu."
Nearly 20 endangered Hawaiian stilts have been spotted by residents who have written letters in opposition to dumping dredged materials on the islet to Fish and Wildlife and the Corps of Army Engineers. While the marina group has drafted a Rim Island 2 waterbird habitat management plan that addresses conservation matters, Dittmar wants the Corps of Engineers to require the association to conduct an environmental impact study before making decisions related to using the islet as a disposal site.
The marina group's designated storage areas for dredged materials are Rim Island 2, Rim Island 1 and a 2-acre parcel in the back of the valley near the Kamilo Nui farmers area, which has not yet been used. The association has said it may need to dump dredged material on Rim Island 2 because of dwindling storage space on the smaller Rim Island 1.
Hawaiian stilts — a slender wading bird that grows to about 16 inches in length with a black and white forehead and white belly — are endangered mostly because of a loss of wetland habitat. Over the years, as various mudflats have been filled in, habitats have grown over with invasive species, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service.
The Hawai'i Kai Marina, also called Kuapa Pond, was a fish pond before the mudflats were transformed more than three decades ago into waterways and future home sites. The work was done years before the federal Clean Water Act was enacted."
The numbers of Hawaiian stilts are low and we want to protect against further loss by protecting the habitats," Smith said.
Stilts can still be found throughout the Islands except Kaho'olawe. The Fish and Wildlife Service last year estimated that about 1,200 birds were on Maui and O'ahu. In addition to the Hawai'i Kai Marina, the native bird also can be found on O'ahu in Hamakua Marsh in Kailua, the James Campbell Wildlife Refuge in Kahuku and a refuge in Hale'iwa.
Chuck Johnston, a Mariner's Cove resident whose home overlooks the Rim Island 2, said he wakes every morning to the chirping of thousands of birds.
"Right before daybreak, there are so many different birds there," Johnston said. "It's a natural habitat without any predators."
Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com.
Posted: March 30, 2005
http://starbulletin.com/2005/03/30/news/story2.html Problem for the Birds - click link
 Posted on: May 2, 2005
Dredging work at marina could disturb native bird
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Writer
HAWAI'I KAI — A battle is brewing over the native Hawaiian stilt's favorite spot in the Hawai'i Kai marina.
Native stilts have settled in on Rim Island 2, bottom, in the Hawai'i Kai marina. Plans call for dumping dredged material on that islet.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
Bird lovers fear that the home of an endangered species in the marina is threatened by a dredging project by the Hawai'i Kai Marina Association.
The association oversees the maintenance and management of the privately owned marina created 40 years ago by Henry J. Kaiser when Hawai'i Kai was developed. It plans to do spot maintenance dredging around the 13 miles of waterways. The association is made up of homeowner members and representatives from the three shopping centers.
There are three places in the marina designated for the dumping of dredged material — two islands, known as Rim Island 1 and 2, and a two-acre piece of land by the farmers' lots at the rear of the marina.
The stilts are nesting in a marshy area on Rim Island 2.
"It's important that the birds will be taken care of," said Jim Dittmar, a resident of Hawai'i Kai. "This is the only native Hawaiian stilt breeding habitat from Pearl Harbor to Kane'ohe. It is free from feral cats and dogs, rats and mongoose. It is the only breeding site in all of the state which is free of these predators."
The stilt is a slender wading bird that grows to about 16 inches in length with a black and white forehead and white belly. The stilts can still be found on all the islands except Kaho'olawe, but their numbers have not increased much. Currently there are about 1,200 birds on Maui and O'ahu, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The biggest threat to the birds is the loss of the wetland habitat.
The association says it needs to dump the dredged material on the island with the stilts because the other island is nearly full and the parcel of land is too close to homes. The best place to dump is the 3.2-acre island where the stilts have nested, said Marina Association president Jaap Suyderhoud.
The last time the association dredged the marina was in 2003. Then it used Rim Island No. 1, which the association says is pretty much filled up now.
The matter is in the hands of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which must approve the association's request for a 10-year permit to dredge when it is needed. A meeting was held Thursday, but no decisions were made, said Joseph Bonfiglio, chief of the corps' Public Affairs Honolulu Engineer District.
No new meetings are scheduled, but the corps routinely meets with applicants and other agencies as needed or by their request, Bonfiglio said. The corps will issue a press release once the final determination has been made, he said.
Some residents feel there is no way the association can dump any material on Rim Island 2 without endangering the habitat of the stilts. They say the association should dump the dredged material in the other two areas.
The island, near the end of the Hawai'i Kai marina, is about 140,000 square feet and consists of wetland, mudflat and pond, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
"The corps is continuing to coordinate with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the adequacy of the Association's proposed Rim Island 2 Waterbird Habitat Management Plan that addresses conservation and protection of the Hawaiian stilts during the proposed dredging," Bonfiglio said.
The association hopes to start dredging in the fall, Suyderhoud said, starting at the mouth of the marina by the ocean and Maunalua Bay. Even though there are other areas in which to dump the dredge material, the island where the stilts have landed and nested is the best for the 40,000 yards of material over the next 10 years, he says. Half of the dredged material will be sand taken from the mouth of the marina where it meets the ocean under the Kalaniana'ole Highway bridge, Suyderhoud said. The sand taken from there will be placed back on the beach along Portlock.
The marina needs repeated spot dredging because so much runoff from rain pours into the marina during the rainy season, Suyderhoud said. If the Corps of Engineers decides not to allow the dredge material on Rim Island 2, the association will have to consider costlier methods, Suyderhoud said. Those include dumping in the ocean or using one of the other pieces of land to dry the dredge material and then paying to have it hauled away.
Some community members say that if higher marina fees are needed to preserve the birds, then they will pay, said Gayle Carr, a Hawai'i Kai resident and marina member.
"These birds are a community issue," Carr said.
The stilts appeared after a dredging in 1995 and 1996, when dredged material was stacked up on the island, he said.
"We've addressed the Hawaiian stilts," Suyderhoud said. "We've proven that we can accommodate them and they only use a portion of the island.
"These birds are not picky. They'll go wherever the picking is good."
Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com or 395-8831.
Posted on: Monday, May 2, 2005
Dredging work at marina could disturb native bird
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Writer
HAWAI'I KAI — A battle is brewing over the native Hawaiian stilt's favorite spot in the Hawai'i Kai marina.
Native stilts have settled in on Rim Island 2, bottom, in the Hawai'i Kai marina. Plans call for dumping dredged material on that islet.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
Bird lovers fear that the home of an endangered species in the marina is threatened by a dredging project by the Hawai'i Kai Marina Association.
The association oversees the maintenance and management of the privately owned marina created 40 years ago by Henry J. Kaiser when Hawai'i Kai was developed. It plans to do spot maintenance dredging around the 13 miles of waterways. The association is made up of homeowner members and representatives from the three shopping centers.
There are three places in the marina designated for the dumping of dredged material — two islands, known as Rim Island 1 and 2, and a two-acre piece of land by the farmers' lots at the rear of the marina.
The stilts are nesting in a marshy area on Rim Island 2.
"It's important that the birds will be taken care of," said Jim Dittmar, a resident of Hawai'i Kai. "This is the only native Hawaiian stilt breeding habitat from Pearl Harbor to Kane'ohe. It is free from feral cats and dogs, rats and mongoose. It is the only breeding site in all of the state which is free of these predators."
The stilt is a slender wading bird that grows to about 16 inches in length with a black and white forehead and white belly. The stilts can still be found on all the islands except Kaho'olawe, but their numbers have not increased much. Currently there are about 1,200 birds on Maui and O'ahu, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The biggest threat to the birds is the loss of the wetland habitat.
The association says it needs to dump the dredged material on the island with the stilts because the other island is nearly full and the parcel of land is too close to homes. The best place to dump is the 3.2-acre island where the stilts have nested, said Marina Association president Jaap Suyderhoud.
The last time the association dredged the marina was in 2003. Then it used Rim Island No. 1, which the association says is pretty much filled up now.
The matter is in the hands of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which must approve the association's request for a 10-year permit to dredge when it is needed. A meeting was held Thursday, but no decisions were made, said Joseph Bonfiglio, chief of the corps' Public Affairs Honolulu Engineer District.
No new meetings are scheduled, but the corps routinely meets with applicants and other agencies as needed or by their request, Bonfiglio said. The corps will issue a press release once the final determination has been made, he said.
Some residents feel there is no way the association can dump any material on Rim Island 2 without endangering the habitat of the stilts. They say the association should dump the dredged material in the other two areas.
The island, near the end of the Hawai'i Kai marina, is about 140,000 square feet and consists of wetland, mudflat and pond, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
"The corps is continuing to coordinate with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the adequacy of the Association's proposed Rim Island 2 Waterbird Habitat Management Plan that addresses conservation and protection of the Hawaiian stilts during the proposed dredging," Bonfiglio said.
The association hopes to start dredging in the fall, Suyderhoud said, starting at the mouth of the marina by the ocean and Maunalua Bay. Even though there are other areas in which to dump the dredge material, the island where the stilts have landed and nested is the best for the 40,000 yards of material over the next 10 years, he says. Half of the dredged material will be sand taken from the mouth of the marina where it meets the ocean under the Kalaniana'ole Highway bridge, Suyderhoud said. The sand taken from there will be placed back on the beach along Portlock.
The marina needs repeated spot dredging because so much runoff from rain pours into the marina during the rainy season, Suyderhoud said. If the Corps of Engineers decides not to allow the dredge material on Rim Island 2, the association will have to consider costlier methods, Suyderhoud said. Those include dumping in the ocean or using one of the other pieces of land to dry the dredge material and then paying to have it hauled away.
Some community members say that if higher marina fees are needed to preserve the birds, then they will pay, said Gayle Carr, a Hawai'i Kai resident and marina member.
"These birds are a community issue," Carr said.
The stilts appeared after a dredging in 1995 and 1996, when dredged material was stacked up on the island, he said.
"We've addressed the Hawaiian stilts," Suyderhoud said. "We've proven that we can accommodate them and they only use a portion of the island.
"These birds are not picky. They'll go wherever the picking is good."
Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com or 395-8831.
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