At about 45 square miles in size, 11 miles by 7 miles at its widest and longest points, Kaho’olawe is the smallest of Hawaii's eight islands. Moa’ula Nui, the highest point on Kaho’olawe (1477 ft.), is the caldera of a volcano that created the island. At this high point, early Hawaiians trained to be navigators, studying the stars (which were a lot clearer in those days). Early Hawaiians settled on Kaho’olawe about 1900 years ago (not 1000 years as is often reported). Originally named Kanaloa or Kohemalamalama, after the god of the ocean, in addition to local fishing and farming Kaho’olawe became a primary training ground for kahuna. The island is still home to hundreds of heiaus and shrines.
In other words, long before the arrival of Westerners, Kaho’olawe was a historical, cultural, spiritual, learning and sacred place of considerable importance to native Hawaiians. In native chants describing the origins of the Hawaiian Islands, the island of Kaho’olawe is the severed tail of the lizard goddess Pu’uinaina who lost a fight with the goddess Pele over a male lover. According to legend, Pu’uinaina’s head is the cinder cone Pu’u Ola’i (in Makena) and her spine rests under the waters connecting Maui to Kaho’olawe.
Not long after the arrival of Westerners in 1778, Kaho’olawe became a place of exile for criminals kicked off Maui (only 6 miles away) because they had raided settlements on Maui and Lana’i. Several attempts at settlement of Kaho’olawe by sheep ranchers failed for one reason or another until, in 1917, a cattle rancher named Angus MacPhee signed a 37-year lease giving him Kaho’olawe for a pittance ($200 per year). The ubiquitous landowner and cattle rancher, Harry Baldwin, bought a large interest in MacPhee’s Kaho’olawe Ranch in 1922, which soon became profitable.
Baldwin and MacPhee gave a small part of Kaho’olawe to the U.S. Army for an artillery range. On December 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Navy appropriated the entire island, citing a national emergency, and began using it for bombing practice. After the war, the Navy was supposed to return the island to Baldwin and MacPhee, but no action was taken until the lease ran out in 1954.
Determined to maintain control of Kaho’olawe, President Eisenhower signed an executive order placing the island under the authority of the Secretary of the Navy. The order stipulated that the island must be restored to habitable condition once it no longer was needed by the military. That would be a tall task. Bombed more than any other place in the Pacific during and after WW II, unexploded ammunition on the island and in surrounding coastal waters made Kaho’olawe an extremely dangerous and uninhabitable place.
Kaho'olawe's sloping northern and western coasts were heavily populated by feral goats and sheep until 1988. Overgrazing by these animals destroyed the island's plant cover, causing massive soil erosion that still continues. The island loses an estimated 1.8 million tons of soil each year. Silt washing into the ocean as a result of this erosion killed much of the coral surrounding the island. Reforestation with native trees and plants is one of the ambitious long-range goals for the island.
In 1976, Hawaiian residents formed the Protect Kaho'olawe 'Ohana dedicated to voicing public opposition to the bombing of Kaho’olawe and demanding return of the island to the Hawaiian people. The 'Ohana staged several occupations of the island, leading to the arrest and conviction of a number of protestors. The 'Ohana filed a lawsuit demanding return of the island to the Hawaiian people on environmental and religious grounds.
This suit was partially settled in 1980 when the federal government signed a consent decree allowing visitors access to the island for cultural, educational, religious, scientific or archaeological purposes. In October 1990, President George Bush, Sr. ceased all bombing of the island. In November Congress established the Kaho’olawe Island Conveyance Commission to draft terms for the return of the island to the State of Hawaii.
The outcome of this and other legal and legislative activity over a period of years was: Congressional prohibition of military activity; Federal appropriation of some $400 million for clean-up measures over a 10-year period to make Kaho’olawe habitable; return of the island to Hawaii (November 11, 2003); Hawaii state legislation to close the island to public access; and creation of a seven-member Kaho’olawe Island Reserve Commission dedicated to preserving the island's archaeological, historical, and environmental resources for future generations. Surveys conducted between 1976 and 1980 found 544 archeological sites containing campsites, shrines, quarries and petroglyphs dating back to A.D. 100.
Although the 10-year cleanup program could have been managed much more efficiently, much of the island today is safe for closely controlled visits by the 'Ohana and visitors who join monthly trips for religious and cultural purposes. Almost 20,000 acres have been cleared of bombs and more than 2000 acres of it to a depth of 4 feet. More than 5 million pounds of scrap metal was collected. The undertaking was huge and complex. In 2002 close to 400 people a day were commuting by helicopters four days a week to clear the island of unexploded ordinance. More than 35% of the island will remain uncleared of ordinance. For more background and current information, see http://www.kahoolawe.org