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This website is your information portal to everything you need to know about Kahoolawe. You'll find everything from background and history, to news, articles, pictures, and much more.
About Kahoolawe
Kahoolawe is the smallest of the 8 main volcanic islands in the Hawaiian Islands. It is located 11.2 km (7 miles) southwest of Maui and southeast of La-nai and is 18 km (11 miles) long by 10 km (6 miles) across. Total area is 115.595 km² (44.63 mile²). The highest point is the crater of Lua Makika at the summit of Puu Moaulanui, which is 450 m (1,477 ft) above sea level. The island is relatively dry because the low elevation fails to generate much orographic precipitation from the northeastern trade winds and it is located in the rain shadow of Maui's 3055 m (10,023 ft) high East Maui Volcano (Haleakala). More than one quarter of the island has been eroded down to saprolitic hardpan. Read More »
History
Sometime around 1000, Kahoolawe was settled, and small, temporary fishing communities were established along the coast. Violent wars among competing chiefs laid waste to the land and led to a decline in the population. Kahoolawe became a male penal colony sometime around 1830. The law making the island a penal colony was repealed in 1853. An 1857 survey of Kahoolawe reported about 50 residents, about 5,000 acres (20 km²) of land covered with shrubs, and a patch of sugar cane.
From 1910 to 1918 the Hawaiian Territorial government designated Kahoolawe as a forest reserve in hopes of restoring the island through a revegetation and livestock removal program. The program failed and leases again became available. In 1918, the skilled Wyoming rancher Angus MacPhee with the help of Maui landowner Harry Baldwin leased the island for 21 years. In 1941, MacPhee subleased part of the island to the Army. On Dec. 8, 1941, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Army declared martial law throughout Hawaii and took control of Kahoolawe.
In 1976, a group of individuals calling themselves the Protect Kahoolawe Ohana (PKO) filed suit in federal court to stop the Navy’s use of Kahoolawe for military training, to require compliance with a number of new environmental laws and to ensure protection of cultural resources on the island. On March 18, 1981, the entire island was added to the National Register of Historic Places. In 1990, President George H. W. Bush ordered an end to live-fire training on the island. Read More »
Articles
On Kahoolawe, November 2006
Saving Kahoolawe, November 2006
Restoring Kahoolawe, August 1996
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Gallery
