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#KeepWetlands #WorldWetlandsDay Join us - visit WorldWetlandsDay.org Page 001 We are not powerless against climate change Wetlands help us cope CO2 Absorb & store carbon Reduce floods Relieve droughts Reduce storm surges and protect coastlines Stop the loss of wetlands! Restore Conserve Use wisely Don’t drain Don’t build over Don’t degrade 35% of the world’s wetlands have been lost since 1970. Together we must work to conserve and restore these amazing ecosystems, which help us prepare for, cope with and bounce back from the impacts of climate change. #KeepWetlands #WorldWetlandsDay Join us - visit WorldWetlandsDay.org Page 002 Table of Contents Adobe Page # 1-2 Stop Draining Wetlands 3 Table of Contents 4 Summary 5 The Key to Coping with Climate Change 6-7 Kawainui - Hamakua Marsh Complex / Ramsar Site 8 Ramsar Boundaries and Wetland Type 9 City & County of Honolulu - Tax Map 10 FEMA Flood Risk - Zone Map 11-24 Current Photographs - Makai Hamakua Wetland 25 Dept of Land & Natural Resources Signage 26 Kailua Topographical Wetland Map - 1943 27 Kailua Aerial Photograph - early 1950s 28-35 Global Wetland Outlook - Executive Summary 36-46 Environmental Protection Agency Legal Action - 2002-07 Rev12/26/2018 The latest version of this Full PDF Document may be downloaded from this site: http://www.kailuaheagroup.com/kawainuihamakua-marsh-complex/ - or - use your browser to open: www.thehamakuagroup.com then click the menu item: Kawainui/Hamakua Wetlands Page 003 - Summary - The Hamakua Wetland makai of the Hamakua Drive Bridge: This area has been over time and remains today a functioning natural wetland. Wetlands are ecosystems which develop within and stabilize their natural environments. Wetlands function includes: - mitigate floods - return water during dry periods - importantly, sequester CO2 - if they are left to grow and thrive - but, pour that CO2 back into the atmosphere - if destroyed - provide the environment for continued plant and animal diversity This Hamakua Wetland function includes: - cleanse stormwater runoff prior to its flowing downstream into Kawainui Stream / Kailua Bay - provides a home for recognized endangered Hawaiian waterbird species In addition, we are now continually being reminded of increasingly severe climate risks. Risks which are approaching now with increasing rapidity. Island status makes us particularly vulnerable. Any development at this Wetland site will degrade it’s environmentally stabilizing function, which we may well need. Wetland destruction is unwise, reckless and puts us on the wrong side of history. Each year more natural wetlands are being destroyed, 35% worldwide since 1970 and at an increased rate since 2000. In Kailua only pieces remain of the original Hamakua-Kaelepulu Wetlands. To allow these remnants to continue working for us we don’t have to buy them, or build them. All we need do is NOT destroy them. If we can muster that leadership, these remaining Wetlands will continue to watch our collective backs, for FREE. Let’s accept the reality the 21st century has arrived and the responsibilities it now thrusts upon us are largely a result of our previous short-term mindsets. Our first responsibility surely is to protect our local lands. Thankfully preserving this local Wetland also provides long-term global protection, all at zero cost to us. State sponsored Wetland development on the other hand requires millions of taxpayer dollars, sacrifices the Wetland’s proactive steadying role, and benefits only those few who might use it for recreation. A large imbalance in value received. I submit the State of Hawaii formally 1) adopt the current Hamakua Wetland (TMK: 420030290000 and 420010550000) as a community and global natural asset, to be maintained as is, 2) fold the Wetland into the existing 2005 Ramsar Certification and Kawainui-Hamakua Complex Master Plan, and 3) with private dollars and effort finally remove the mess left by Coluccio Construction and under guidance from the DLNR/DOFAW install a modest system of non-disruptive interpretive boardwalks. Robert Gratz Kailua, Hawaii Page 004 Earth’s Wetlands: The key to coping climate is with climate change changing Temperatures are rising, Wetlands are a natural Wetlands naturally absorb oceans are warming, snow solution and store carbon and ice are melting and sea levels are rising faster The frequency of disasters worldwide has Peatlands, mangroves, and seagrass more than doubled in just 35 years, and store vast amounts of carbon. Peatlands than recorded during any 90% of these disasters are water-related. cover about 3% of our planet’s land and previous century. Increased Even more extreme weather is predicted store approximately 30% of all land- amounts of carbon dioxide going forward. Wetlands play a significant based carbon – twice the amount than all (CO ), methane, and other role in stabilizing GHG emissions and the world’s forests combined. Wetlands 2 blunting the impacts of climate change. are the most effective carbon sinks on greenhouse gases (GHG) in Earth. the atmosphere due to human activity are the reason. Wetlands buffer coastlines from extreme weather We must not drain our Coastal wetlands such as salt marshes, wetlands mangroves, seagrass beds, and coral When drained or burned for agriculture reefs act like shock absorbers. They (as wetlands often are) they go from The global reduce the intensity of waves, storm being a carbon sink to a carbon source, surges, and tsunamis, shielding the releasing into the atmosphere centuries 60% of humanity who lives and works community of stored carbon. CO2 emissions from along coastlines from flooding, property drained and burned peatlands equate to damage and loss of life. is acting 10% of all annual fossil fuel emissions. Wetlands reduce floods and The level of CO2 in our We must conserve and atmosphere has increased relieve droughts restore our wetlands 40% since pre-industrial times. Inland wetlands such as flood plains, Strategies that address climate change To limit the impacts of climate rivers, lakes and swamps function like must include the wise use of wetlands. change, the global community sponges, absorbing and storing excess We’ve already lost 35% since 1970. rainfall and reducing flood surges. During via the Paris Agreement is Individuals, communities and govern- dry seasons in arid climates, wetlands ments must work together to protect seeking to stabilize and reduce release stored water, delaying the these amazing ecosystems, which help GHG emissions, and limit the onset of droughts and minimizing water us prepare for, cope with and bounce increase in global average shortages. back from the impacts of climate change. temperature this century to below 2°C. #KeepWetlands #WorldWetlandsDay www.worldwetlandsday.org Page 005 Ramsar Site Wetlands of International Importance awainui and Hämäkua @Marsh Complex in Kailua, O‘ahu was designated a Ramsar site in February 2005. Sacred to Hawaiians, Kawainui Marsh is the largest remaining emergent wetland in Hawai‘i and the state’s largest ancient freshwater fishpond. Located in the center of the caldera of the Ko‘olau shield volcano, the marsh today provides primary habitat for four of Hawai‘i’s endemic and endangered waterbirds. The marsh stores surface water and provides flood protection for Kailua town. Ramsar Hämäkua Marsh is a smaller wetland that is historically connected to the adjacent Kawainui Marsh. It also provides significant habitat for Hawai‘i’s endangered waterbirds. ostering worldwide wetland conservation is ;the primary goal of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. First signed in 1971, this international treaty promotes conservation activities that also incorporate human use. Participation in the Convention brings nations together to improve wetland management for the benefit of people and wildlife and promote biological diversity. www.ramsar.org www.ramsarcommittee.us Page 006 he Ramsar designation for the IKawainui and Hämäkua Marsh Complex was accomplished through the efforts of many community groups, especially Hawaii’s Thousand Friends, and government agencies, such as U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. • Kawainui-Hämäkua Marsh is the largest existing wetland in Hawai‘i, encompassing 850 acres from Maunawili Valley toward Kailua Bay. • Kawainui was developed as a 450- he Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International acre fishpond by the Hawaiians Importance promotes wetland conservation throughout the who settled the Kailua ahupua‘a. T world. There are more than 1,600 Ramsar sites in over 150 • The Kawainui-Hämäkua Marsh countries, including 22 sites in the U.S. Many of these sites are provides habitat for Hawai‘i’s National Wildlife Refuges (NWR). four endangered waterbirds: ae‘o (stilt), ‘alae ke‘oke‘o (coot), ‘alae 1. Izembek NWR, Alaska 1986 ula (gallinule), and koloa (duck). 2. Forsythe NWR, New Jersey 1986 • Kawainui is eligible for listing on 3. Okefenokee NWR, Georgia & Florida 1986 the National Register of Historic 4. Ash Meadows NWR, Nevada 1986 Places due to the many significant cultural sites, including Ulupö and 5. Everglades National Park, Florida 1987 Pahukini Heiau and lo‘i kalo. 6. Chesapeake Bay Estuarine Complex, Virginia 1987 • The Hawai‘i Division of Forestry 7. Cheyenne Bottoms, Kansas 1988 and Wildlife has wildlife habitat 8. Cache-Lower White Rivers, Arkansas 1989 restoration projects underway in the marsh complex. 9. Horicon Marsh, Wisconsin 1990 10. Catahoula Lake, Louisiana 1991 11. Delaware Bay Estuary, Delaware & New Jersey 1992 12. Pelican Island NWR, Florida 1993 13. Caddo Lake, Texas 1993 14. Connecticut River Estuary, Connecticut 1994 15. Cache River-Cypress Creek Wetlands, Illinois 1994 16. Sand Lake NWR, South Dakota 1998 17. Bolinas Lagoon, California 1998 18. Quivira NWR, Kansas 2002 19. Tomales Bay, California 2002 20. Tijuana River National Estuarine, California 2005 21. Grassland Ecological Area, California 2005 22. Kawainui and Hämäkua Marsh Complex, Hawai‘i 2005 Page 007 Kawainul and Hamakua Marshes Oah11, Hawaii ,s... ◄5;.J ,s-U'lO"' •?744 o• ..,.. ·- t'U 46 ':t Sc.. .cs 1601XX> � N � [Cs1tebouncl.lry Wetl1nd Type f'fl'c/fl< - Palu"1me.