Brush Fire

Monday, Aug 22nd, 2005 by Andy | Leave a Comment
Filed under: Journalism

With only a half-inch of rain so far this month, it was only a matter of time until something caught fire. Last night, we noticed an orange glow in the sky, after sunset and brighter than the usual lights of Lihue. Driving to the edge of the neighborhood, we gathered with others to watch the fire on the other side of the Wailua river, in the old sugar cane fields between the highway and Kalepa ridge. As a new homeowner, I was glad the widest river in the state was between our house and the fire.

Later, I hiked up the Sleeping Giant trail to get a better view:

KalepaFire

According to the newspaper, the fire started near the highway on the left, around the Wailua River marina. Driven by the wind it spread uphill to the right and south, away from the photo. I was certain it would go up the ridge, but fortunately, the vegetation was still moist enough. At the bottom, you can see the lights of the Wailua Houselots neighborhood where we live.

While hiking, I could see how dry the vegetation was and realized how vulnerable a hiker would be in a wind-driven fire. I felt barely reassured by the fact that the neighborhood is well-watered.

A fresh start

Wednesday, Aug 17th, 2005 by Andy | 1 Comment
Filed under: Blogging

After promising to write more, I wrote even less. I can’t blame work this time.

So, along with other changes going on around me, I’m rededicating myself to this blog. Actually, I do have a lot of ideas and photos to post here so I just need to get into the habit of doing it. I also need photos: reading my last post, I realize it was almost criminal to mention Wailua Beach without posting a photo. I’ll fix that next time we go.

Vote for Me

Tuesday, May 3rd, 2005 by Andy | 1 Comment
Filed under: Activism

Sorry for the dearth of posts, I’m just finishing up a big project for my day job. So now I’ll have more time to devote to Kaua`i.

Actually, that is one psychological drawback about working remotely as I do: it seems like much of my energy is focused away from Kaua`i. I’m here working via email and phone line, but I don’t interact much with the island when work weighs down. Maybe that’ll change as I get more time: to celebrate the near end of the project, Sonja and I went to the beach for lunch yesterday. Wailua beach was surprising calm and the snorkeling there, usually impossible because of the waves, was quite good. We saw about 4 turtles.

Anyways, in order to solve to problems of not being focused on Kaua`i and of having too much free time after work, I’ve decided to become more active in the local Sierra Club group. While this means more hiking, and hopefully becoming a hike leader, it also means more activism. After seeing my efforts on the Wailua Hydro project, I was invited to run for a vacant position on their executive committee. These are the people who attend government meetings to defend environmental causes. Here is my ballot writeup:

After living and hiking in France and California for many years, Andy and his wife moved to Kauai to be closer to nature. Andy would like to start an eco-tourism business here, but for now he works remotely as a technical writer for Silicon Valley. He just bought a home in the Wailua Houselots but still finds time to hike and camp.

Andy’s vision for Kauai is to preserve and protect the natural areas and the public’s access to them. Andy feels we need to fight back encroachments and keep trails open. He believes some growth is good, but the Sierra Club should develop a vision to channel future developments. Andy’s pet peeves are overgrown trails and helicopter noise.

In the Eye of the Beholder

Wednesday, Mar 23rd, 2005 by Andy | 3 Comments
Filed under: California, Development

I often wonder what it that attracts people to Kaua`i, what makes them vacation here and then want to move here. Of course it’s exotic, but what is hiding behind that word? Kaua`i is tropical, not cold, very different from the mainland, and I think that difference is the natural beauty of the landscape. Not that that the mainland is not beautiful, but I think it’s fair to say that Kaua`i is one of the more spectacular places with the least human intrusion (in the US) that you can get to on a commercial flight.

But is the landscape only beautiful to me? I tend to think it is a universal trait of humans to see beauty in nature, but maybe it is only in the urbanized ones, and in the end not really all of them.

So, can a freeway be beautiful?

Sign saying 'Junipero Serra, the world's most beautiful freeway'

That’s the I-280 Freeway leaving San Francisco. The sign is located just after the Highway-1 exit. Here’s an almost artistic photo of the same area. It has elegant lines, a pleasing curvature, some nice lines leading to the vanishing point, could it be beautiful?

Off-ramp exit of I-280 in San Francisco

Or is it just the concrete intestine of a giant asphalt hemorrhage in a place where natural beauty gave up the fight long ago?

Except for a few stretches with passing lanes, there are no 4-lane highways on Kaua`i, and I’m sure that makes a difference in the overall balance of beauty.

Hydro Good or Bad?

Wednesday, Feb 23rd, 2005 by Andy | 7 Comments
Filed under: Activism, Environment, Maps

OK, here we go. This is the issue, or rather the incident that made me want to start blogging about Kaua`i.

Back in December, I saw a government notice in the newspaper about some company applying for permits
to build a hydroelectric plant on Kaua`i. Alternative, renewable energy is good, especially for an island that
runs its generators on ever more expensive imported oil. It would be ideal to use the energy we have, and falling water is usually abundant here.

Fortunately, such proposals are available for public scrutiny, and I went searching for the documents online
at the Federal Energy Regulatory Comission (FERC docket P-12534). Buried in one of the PDFs is the following key diagram:

Map of the proposed hydro-electric project

So the proposed dam and reservoir is immediately (about 1000 feet) upstream of the Wailua Falls, just outside the Wailua River State Park. There are plenty of reservoirs on Kaua`i leftover from the days of irrigating sugar cane, so one more isn’t a big deal. Still, you’d think they could use one of the existing ones (I hope to report on the Alexander Reservoir after an upcoming Sierra Club hike). More seriously, the flow over the falls will be greatly reduced, even stopped in times of drought, as is currently done with catchments above 800-foot Waipo`o Falls in Waimea Canyon. And I don’t want to be an alarmist, but any crack or failure in the earth filled dam will silt up the pool below the falls.

The second impact on the public will be the destruction of the South Fork of the Wailua River due to the placement of the powerhouse and it’s access road. The map shows it directly along the river or perhaps on a private land enclave within the State Park. This is an undeveloped area of forest and riparian habitat, lush, green and natural as seen from the lookout on Kuamo`o Road. The natural trace of the river will be interrupted by the powerhouse, and the pristine banks will be cut through by its access road (not shown on the proposal map).

As if that weren’t enough, the power transmission lines and their inevitable access road are mapped straight over a forest reserve on Kalepa Ridge. Again, this is a mostly unspoiled natural feature that is visible to everyone from the major highway between Lihu`e and Kapa`a. Who knows, maybe this will open up Kalepa ridge to hiking, but why can’t we get a trail without a powerline–there’s a novel concept.

I hope I’ve shown that there are major flaws with this hydro-electric project as proposed. Does that mean that hydro-electricity is bad? Not at all, just that this landscape-intensive source needs careful thought and placement. Hopefully, there will be chances for public input, time for redesign, and hopefully relocation of this project. We need hydro-electricity on Kaua`i, but like all the development that’s proposed, we also need to think about where we put it and how we integrate it into our landscape.

I have to add that our bureaucracies seem to be doing their jobs because the Hawaii Department of Health and the US Department of the Interior filed comments notifying the applicant about the environmental regulations that apply.

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