Mauna Kea Oral History Appendix - Office of Mauna Kea Management

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[looking at the map] It’s got the acreage too. Is this the fence line
That’s the fence line, that’s correct. Nice to look at
Yes.
And even all the way out to Ke‘ämoku here’s Mauka Horse, California. Evidently, they
used to keep the pipi or something over here I guess, that were getting ready to ship out
or something. Ram, Lower Horse, Honolulu, for where they would ship out to Honolulu.
Pu‘u Päpapa, here’s Pu‘u Hïna‘i down here. This whole big section, see all the fence line
from the highway like that.
Pu‘u Päpapa.
His brother Yutaka knows all these places.
Over here this side…okay. Dry land.
‘Ae. Really interesting though, yeah.
Yes. You know the dry land was hardly used in the past, olden days. Very poor grass.
They used to get the false pili grass. And the false pili grass, there’s hardly any left now.
We introduced a new grass there, we called ‘em buffalo grass.
Yes.
And the buffalo grass is good for cattle.
Good feed, yes.
But, however, it’s the same location where the fountain grass loves.
Oh, fountain grass.
Same type of land that fountain grass loves. So the fountain grass is really giving ‘em,
taking over the land.
Yes, it is. You know what’s hard about it is when it burns, fast, plenty of fuel yeah
Yes.
Underneath. And so any of the native things…and you know like your ‘ohana who
passed away a couple of years ago out on the mountain. They would still go gather
köko‘olau like that, ‘a‘ali‘i
Yes.
When the fire comes through, all of the native things go
Go, uh-hmm.
You know what happened again, going back to the changing of management on the
ranch or any company. There’s certain minor little things, seems like minor problems,
they overlook
That’s right.
Every time, when new management comes in, in this case like Parker Ranch, the weed
control was the least…
Concern.
…Importance to that person. There are other bigger things, worth more, so the little
things are neglected. So the fountain grass has been completely neglected. In 1960,
there was no program whatsoever, no labor, not a single person was assigned to control
fountain grass. He openly stated that, he said “We are spending too much time, we’ll
never get control of this fountain grass, that program ends right here.”
Mauna Kea– “Ka Piko Kaulana o ka ‘Äina”
Kumu Pono Associates LLC
A Collection of Oral History Interviews (HiMK67-050606) A:242