State shows good sense in plan to upgrade parks
It's heartening to look out over the landscape of a new year, even one as economically bleak as 2009, and see hope for growth and improvement in some of Hawai'i's most valuable treasures: its natural resources.
The new blueprint for improving and maintaining state parks and marine facilities provides reason for that hope. The state Department of Land and Natural Resources last week unveiled a five-year plan, one that's crafted to be sustainable despite declining tax revenues.
The proposal would enable the investment of $240 million in upgrades and repairs to dozens of state parks, shorelines, trails and harbors, many of which have taken a beating from increased use by residents and tourists and spotty maintenance.
The Legislature should support this plan, even in tight fiscal times. It's to be financed by bonds, with loan payments covered through existing and proposed revenue streams.
So the state isn't proposing a sudden expenditure of $240 million; that total would come over time by borrowing money and making improvements designed to help generate new revenues. This includes income from lease rents, commercial and park fees — the latter to be paid by tourists, not residents.
Lawmakers should give the approval DLNR needs to proceed with key elements:
DLNR will need to monitor economic developments carefully, because they will affect the capacity to raise the rents, fees and other revenue streams that support the plan.
Secondly, the department needs to be creative in finding public and private partners in the improvements, including expansions to educational programs that explain the resources to visitors.
But from the looks of it, DLNR is open to such creativity and is thinking through the economic challenges, penciling in conservative financial projections in its plan.
There's much to like about this businesslike approach to resource management, which includes a regular maintenance program that will extend the life of the improvements — thus protecting the investment.
And the planned repairs and replacements are being bundled together so that there will be marked improvement at the targeted locations. Visitors will be much more willing to contribute user fees to a park that's visibly undergoing a facelift.
Finally, the various divisions of DLNR are cooperating in projects that cross bureaucratic bailiwicks — trails that intersect parks, for example — with the goal of enhancing the resources that are Hawai'i's most precious, and most bankable, assets.
Simply scanning the list of places to receive this care underscores the importance of the initiative: Nu'uanu Pali, Ka Iwi, 'Iao, Makena, 'Akaka Falls and Koke'e, to name only a few.
These are truly places of beauty, treasures that we want our children and grandchildren to know and cherish as we do.
