Michael Naho'opi'i. - Photo: Lisa Asato

Interview by Lisa Asato / Ka Wai Ola staff

Michael Nāho'opi'i's new post as executive director of the Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Commission begins another chapter in his 15-year association with the island. In 1993 he became the first Native Hawaiian naval officer assigned to Kaho'olawe, overseeing the 1980 Navy-Protect Kaho'olawe 'Ohana consent decree and the island's turnover to the state in 1994. He also served as senior project manager for two subsequent cleanups necessitated by 53 years of Naval target practice, and is a longtime member of the nonprofit Protect Kaho'olawe 'Ohana.

Nāho'opi'i shared some thoughts on KIRC in an interview with KWO, portions of which appear here.

KWO: The first time you set foot on Kaho'olawe you were a 15-year-old Kamehameha Schools student, and you met leaders like Uncle Harry Mitchell, Uncle Les Kuloloio and Dr. Emmett Aluli, who is now KIRC chairman. Do you remember your first impressions of the island?

MN: Oh yeah, I still even have my journal from it. That was in '81, and we were the first student group to go out there to Kaho'olawe. I remember a lot of goats, and it was really barren. There was no grass, some kiawe trees and we stayed in Hakioawa, where the PKO stay now. I remember the first poles of the hale (that PKO built) had just gone in the ground. … And it was neat because you could still walk around and you could feel like people from ancient Hawai'i were living there because you could see everything that they left behind. Like they stood up and walked away. Here's all their tools, and here's the area where they ate and this is the area where they camped. It was all still there. Nothing was touched.

KWO: More than two decades later, you're heading KIRC, the state agency charged with managing the reserve while it is held in trust for a future sovereign entity. What's new?

MN: Our primary strategic goal now is to secure funding for the future. … (We're) actually going to change the way we operate. I've already spoken to the staff. Each program now has to start thinking about being self-sufficient – we can do any project you want if you can get the money for it. ... So we'll cut the waste, we'll make ourselves more sustainable.

KWO: Sustainability is part of your goal?

MN: We're looking not just energy but we're looking sustainable everything we do. … The more things that we can utilize on island, the less we have to bring in, the less we have to take off, less we have to depend on helicopters and boats and fuel. It's like running a whole city out there and trying to do all the projects we have, efficiently.

KWO: You recently took your first official trip to Kaho'olawe as executive director. What did you do there?

MN: I went to observe the operation, check to see how things were running. I built half that base camp when I was in the Navy so I'm familiar with the operations. … I also went up to help out with the Helm 'Ohana. George Helm's family came back to Kaho'olawe for the first time since George had passed away in '77. They went with the PKO, and it was part of their closure with the whole issue with George. … They came up and they wanted to see the island, so I helped drive around and facilitate, just volunteer, help out. (George Helm and Kimo Mitchell disappeared off Kaho'olawe in 1977 while protesting the bombing.)

KWO: Will full restoration of Kaho'olawe happen in our lifetime?

MN: Right now we have an end vision, but we don't know how we're going to get to that very long-term end goal. So I had this exercise for my staff: If we had all the money that we ever needed, what would we need to do to get to that vision? I have a wall in my office of Post-It notes of the different projects that we would do to get to the end. So I figure if we just pull down the Post-It notes that we think we can do in the first, second, third, fifth year, eventually we'll pull down every single Post-It note off the wall, and we can all go home. (Laughs)