Mauna Kea | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

February 21, 2020 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kaluakauka

In 1793, Captain George Vancouver gave a few cattle to Kamehameha I; when Vancouver landed additional cattle at Kealakekua in 1794, he strongly encouraged Kamehameha to place a 10‐year kapu on them to allow the herd to grow.

In the decades that followed, cattle flourished and turned into a dangerous nuisance. Kamehameha III lifted the kapu in 1830 and the hunting of wild cattle was encouraged. The king hired cattle hunters from overseas to help in the effort.

By 1846, 25,000-wild cattle roamed at will and an additional 10,000-semi‐domesticated cattle lived alongside humans. A wild bull or cow could weigh 1,200 to 1,500-pounds and had a six‐foot horn spread. Vast herds destroyed natives’ crops, ate the thatching on houses, and hurt, attacked and sometimes killed people.

In addition to traditional practices in the forests (i.e. bird feather collecting, harvesting koa and ʻōhiʻa, etc,) wild cattle were hunted for consumption, as well as provisioning ships with salt beef, and hides and tallow to the growing whaling fleets replenished their stocks.

Hunting wild cattle in the upper forest where they roamed was dangerous. Bullock pits were dug to trap the animals (they were about seven or eight feet long, and four feet wide and were walled up and covered with fragile brush;) they were near established trails; cattle were also drawn to the area by adjoining water holes. When animals fall in the pits, they were unable to climb out the steep sides.

On July 12, 1834, the pits proved they can be a peril to people, too. Douglas was killed by a wild bullock at Keahuaʻai (a knoll at the top of Laupāhoehoe near the boundary of Humuʻula and Laupāhoehoe (now called Kaluakauka or Douglas Pit.)) (Maly) “In the forest under the shadow of Mauna Kea I have seen the bullock pit where the dead body of the distinguished Scottish naturalist, (David) Douglas”. (Coan)

Douglas was born at Scone, near Perth, Scotland, in 1799, and started his career, there; he was a botanist. He was affiliated with the University of Glasgow and served as botanical collector for the Horticultural Society of London. He was hired by the Hudson’s Bay Company to do a botanical survey of the Oregon region.

In mid-August 1823, Douglas was in Philadelphia looking at the plants brought back by Lewis and Clark that even then were flourishing in some American, as well as European gardens. By September Douglas was in the Northwest, looking as always for seeds and cuttings of fruit trees, as well as wild woody plants.

Even though first Menzies (1790, while sailing with Captain Vancouver) and then Lewis and Clark (1804, through the expedition through the Louisiana Purchase and to the Northwest) had collected plants in the area, they had found only the obvious. Almost every day Douglas was in the field he was finding curious plants that proved to be new to science.

One of the collections he sent back to England with a home-bound ship was the dried branches and needles of what he called “Oregon pine,” that today is known as Douglas Fir (his namesake that is now a common wood in construction, as well as the festive and adorned Christmas tree.)

For 4 years, he travelled approximately 8,000-miles throughout the Northwest, cataloging and collecting samples. He returned to England in 1827. He achieved fame in Europe for his collection, and has been referred to as “one of the founding fathers of the British forestry industry as it exists today” by one biographer.

He returned to the Northwest in 1829 hoping to convince the Hudson’s Bay Company to finance a trip to Alaska and beyond. They refused, so David Douglas sailed to Hawaiʻi, arriving here just before Christmas of 1833.

Douglas was a gifted collector, but in the field he was often in trouble. He once fell on a nail that penetrated his leg under the kneecap. He nearly drowned in a glacier-fed river, and was weeks away from civilization with little but his wet clothes. He grew blind in one eye, and his vision was slowly failing in the other.

In January 1834, he set out to “to ascend and explore Mauna Kea, as soon as possible” Having completed his trek to both Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, Douglas also visited Kilauea and then returned to O‘ahu.

In July of 1834, Douglas returned to Hawai‘i for a second trip to Mauna Kea. This trip was made via the Waimea-Laumai‘a mountain trail.

“Douglas left the vessel at Kawaihae to cross over by land, engaged a foreigner for a guide and several natives to take along his baggage. The guide accompanied him till they passed all the pit falls dug to entrap wild cattle on the north side Mauna Kea, he then left him to return.” (Lyman, Greenwell)

On July 12, 1834, while exploring the Island; “Douglas, a scientific traveller from Scotland, in the service of the London Horticultural Society, lost his life in the mountains of Hawaii, in a pitfall, being gored and trampled to death by a wild bullock captured there. (Bingham)

“This has been one of the most gloomy days I ever witnessed. … Soon after Mr. Douglas went back a short distance for something and in retracing his steps fell into a pit (into which a bullock had previously fallen) and was found dead a short time afterward. This was Sat. Morning.”

“Sunday he was taken the shortest distance to the sea side, wrapped in a hyde, put on board a canoe and brought here as he was taken from the pit. His close are sadly torn and his body dreadfully mangled. Ten gashes on his head.” (Lyman, Greenwell)

Some have suggested it was not an accident. “(T)he dead body of the distinguished Scottish naturalist, Douglas, was found under painfully suspicious circumstances, that led many to believe he had been murdered for his money.” (Coan)

While examination at the time suggested death by the bullock – “On the 3rd instant the body was brought here (Oʻahu) in an American vessel. I immediately had it examined by the medical gentlemen, who gave it as their opinion that the several wounds were inflicted by the bullock.” (Charlton, British Consul) – many remain skeptical.

As Titus Coan noted (1882,) “A mystery hangs over the event which we are unable to explain.”

David Douglas was buried in the Kawaiahaʻo Church Cemetery. A plaque on the wall of Kawaiahaʻo Church and a stone marker at Kaluakauka (near where the pit was located) commemorate David Douglas’s death.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

David Douglas sign-Cathedral Grove, MacMillan Park-Canada

Pseudotsuga_menziesii_cone-From a tree grown from seed collected by David Douglas

David-Douglas-memorial-Vancouver.

David-Douglas-Memorial-Perthshire-Scotland

May 14, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Out Of This World

Man landed on the Moon, remote rovers traversed portions of the Martian surface and now some folks are dreaming of, preparing for and testing opportunities of having humans landing on Mars.

Of course, the best way to study the Martian surface and its climate is to go there, and as a part of a necessary activity before humans travel to Mars, planetary scientists study places on the Earth that are like the Martian surface.

Before getting there, scientists need to test and experiment with terrestrial soils to best prepare for human occupation on Mars.

Soils are used in testing rover vehicles, food production and equipment maintenance.

Since voyagers will not be able to transport sufficient amounts of food on their flight, they will need to grow their own food – kind of like ET Agriculture (the ultimate in subsistence, self-sufficient farming.)

Based on soil evaluation and testing, scientists believe it is possible to grow plants on Mars in technologically advanced, controlled environments that could keep the plants warm and give the plants enough atmosphere, light and water to live.

It turns out Mauna Kea Volcano is one of the few places on the Earth that is similar to what scientists currently know about the surface and soil make-up of Mars.

Scientists have made extensive worldwide searches for naturally-occurring equivalents for Martian surface materials and have concluded that weathered volcanic ash from the Island of Hawai‘i are uniquely suitable for Martian simulants.

Mauna Kea has color (a reddish-brown,) mineralogy, chemical composition, particle size, density and magnetic properties similar to the oxidized soil of Mars.

Samples of volcanic ash from Iceland, Alaska, Antarctica, Mexico, New Mexico and Hawai‘i were collected and investigated by NASA since the 1970s.

While Mauna Kea summit has the best examples of volcanic ash similar to the Martian soils, due to sensitivity of extracting from the summit, a cinder cone (Pu‘u Nene) adjacent to the old section of Saddle Road was selected (now bypassed, due to the recent realignment between Mauna Kea Access Road and Mauna Kea State Park.)

It was found that material from Pu‘u Nene on the lower part of Mauka Kea matched Martian characteristics better than any other site tested. The material found on Pu‘u Nene has a particular composition of “palagonite” and may be unique in the world.

The ash is used by various agencies, including NASA, and also schools and private firms conducting experiments (primarily for rover studies and to determine if the palagonite ash could support plant growth) or teaching about Mars.

While I was at DLNR, after a Contested Case Hearing on the matter, we issued a Conservation Use Permit to hand quarry (using shovels) volcanic ash from Pu‘u Nene cinder cone for these scientific studies.

The Property is located in the Resource subzone of the Conservation District. Mining is an expressly identified use in the Resource subzone of the Conservation District.

Pu‘u Nene has been extensively quarried for cinders that were used, among other things, to pave Saddle Road in the 1940s; it is dominated by alien vegetation, has no archaeological or cultural sites, and there is very little native vegetation at the site.
Although the Humu‘ula saddle area itself has a storied past, there is no known Hawaiian name for Pu‘u Nene. It was, therefore, concluded that it was a modern term, perhaps given by L. “Bill” Bryan who served as manager of the Civilian Conservation Corps and as Territorial Forester on the Island of Hawai‘i between the 1930s to the 1960s.

Native Hawaiian testimonies, survey records and cartographic resources reveal that this general area of pu‘u, or cinder cone hills, are known as ‘Oma‘okoili (literally, “resting in the saddle.”)

In the hand quarrying operation, rather than extract directly from the surface, researchers extract the ash about 2-3 feet below the soil layer.

After it is quarried, it is processed by passing it through a series of stainless steel sieves to separate it by granule size into fine-grade and medium-grade ash. It is then distributed to research and educational projects and facilities.

This isn’t the first time NASA looked to Hawai‘i, and Mauna Kea in particular, for extra-terrestrial travel preparations.

During the Apollo lunar landing series, astronauts were trained on Mauna Kea and regarded the area as the most lunarlike that they had observed. (Apollo 11 was the spaceflight in which American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first to land on the Moon, on July 20, 1969.)

NASA teams have operated tools, instruments and systems on Mauna Kea; each one aimed to better understand potential space resources, limit the amount of resources humans would have to carry with them beyond low Earth orbit and also protect hardware once is gets there.

Different rovers were tested on Mauna Kea. In 2011, ‘Curiosity’ was launched and eventually landed on Mars on August 5, 2012, carrying laboratory instruments to analyze samples of rocks, soil and atmosphere, and investigate whether Mars has ever offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life.

“When NASA’s Curiosity rover began using its on-board instrument to analyze the chemical composition of the rocks and soil on Mars, the results bore a striking resemblance to those obtained during previous tests of the Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument on Hawaii’s Mauna Kea volcano.” (SpaceNews)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

NASA and its international partners are using Mauna Kea for equipment testing to advance future space exploration (NASA-Amber Philman)

Testing of equipment on Mauna Kea, a remote and cold dormant volcano on Hawaii-(NASA-Amber Philman)

Astronauts-James-A.-Lovell-Jr.-left-commander-and-Fred-W.-Haise-Jr.-lunar-module-pilot-carry-out-a-simulation-of-a-lunar-traverse-WC

Astrogeologist Dr. Jim Rice studying Mars-like features on Earth-(Courtesy NASA-JPL-Caltech)

Apollo_Astronaut_Alan_Shepard-Training_on_the_Big_Island-(pisces-hilo-hawaii-edu)

Apollo 13 Astronauts Fred Haise and Jim Lovell observe features of a lava flow during a geology field training trip-(NASA)

Curiosity – The Next Mars Rover-(Courtesy NASA-JPL-Caltech)

Self-portrait of NASA’s Curiosity rover taken on Sol 2082 (June 15, 2018)

Puu_Nene_GoogleEarth

February 24, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Humu‘ula Sheep Station

Historically, sheep-raising was one of the oldest introduced agricultural pursuits in Hawai‘i. Sheep were originally introduced to the Big Island by Capt. George Vancouver in 1793, when he left two ewes and a ram at Kealakekua.

Sheep were being raised for export by 1809 and flourished through the early part of the 20th century. Most meat was consumed locally and wool was supplied to mainland US buyers. Wool production reached its peak in 1875 when 565,000-pounds were sent overseas.

A visible remnant of the sheep industry is the Humu‘ula Sheep Station, situated at the junction of Saddle Road and Mauna Kea Access Road on the lower slopes of Mauna Kea.

The Sheep Station has historical and architectural interest because sheep raising, although never a major industry, was carried on until the last large flock in the Islands, located at Humu’ula, was phased-out in the early 1960s.

The Humu‘uIa Sheep Station Company chartered by the Hawaiian Government in 1883, was an operation of H. Hackfeld and Company.

By 1894, the company had erected large and extensive paddocks at Kalai‘eha (named for the pu‘u (cinder cone) near the site) and also had a station at Keanakolu (near where DLNR has some cabins and other facilities on the Mana-Keanakolu Road that skirts the east and north side of Mauna Kea.)

Ownership of the station then came under Parker Ranch and operations continued for years, often little known by Hawai’i residents due to its comparatively isolated location.

Sheep raising at Humu‘uIa was given‐up in 1963 and although abandoned as a sheep station, cattle ranch support activities continued until 2002, when the Parker lease expired.

The Sheep Station site contains a mix of structures and artifacts with varying degrees of historic, architectural and aesthetic significance.

Existing structures include offices, living facilities, outbuildings, work sheds, shearing sheds, holding pens and catchment facilities.

Buildings and artifacts tell an interesting architectural story and provide a historic backdrop for a contemporary rustic experience.

The site was assessed by the State Historic Preservation Division for placement on the Hawai’i Register of Historic Places.

The historian determined that the site’s architectural interest and merit lie in “structures (c. 1900) [that] are typical ranch house style but are particularly interesting for their ‘homemade’ contrived plans and arrangements, both functional and picturesque.”

The main historic building on site consists of an office and dwelling which was part of a cluster that represents the property’s rustic character. It was originally built as a men’s living cottage and, over time, converted to office and residential use.

The structure was built in stages and consists of two distinct wings, both with gable roofs. The 1973 SHPD assessment refers to the elaborate decoration of the living room with skylight, wainscoting and carved scrollwork.

Unfortunately, the building has deteriorated from neglect and lack of maintenance. A preliminary architectural inspection indicates that the building will require extensive structural rehabilitation to meet current health and safety standards for occupancy.

The good news is DHHL, owner of the site, adopted the ‘Āina Mauna Legacy Program. One of the actions called for in that Plan and its accompanying Environmental Assessment is the restoration and adaptive reuse of the Humu‘ula Sheep Station.

We are honored and proud to have prepared the ʻĀina Mauna Legacy Program planning document, Implementation Strategy and Work Plan, Cultural Impact Assessment and Environmental Assessment for DHHL.

We are equally proud the ʻĀina Mauna Legacy Program was unanimously approved by the Hawaiian Homes Commission and was given the “Environment/Preservation Award” from the American Planning Association‐Hawaiʻi Chapter and the “Koa: Standing the Test of Time Award” by the Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture and the Hawaiʻi Forest Industry Association.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

Humuula Sheep Station-1892

Humuula Sheep Station

Humuula-Register_Map-668-SC_Wiltse-1862

Aina_Mauna_Legacy_Program-Map

March 30, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Snow Play

“(A)t early morning, March 30th (1820), to the joy of our expecting little company, the long looked for Hawaii appeared in the West. The lofty Mauna Kea lifted its snow crowned summit above the dark and heavy clouds that begirt its waist.”

“As we approached, we had a fine view of about sixty miles of the NE coast of the island – the districts of Hilo, Hāmākua, and part of Kohala; and as the sun shining in his strength dissipated the clouds, we had a more impressive view of the stupendous pyramidal Mauna Kea …”

“… having a base of some thirty miles, and a height of nearly three miles. Its several terminal peaks rise so near each other, as scarcely to be distinguished at a distance.”

“These, resting on the shoulders of this vast Atlas of the Pacific, prove their great elevation by having their bases environed with ice, and their summits covered with snow, in this tropical region, and heighten the grandeur and beauty of the scene …”

“… by exhibiting in miniature, a northern winter, in contrast with the perpetual summer of the temperate and torrid zones below the snow and ice.” (Bingham)

Such was the first impression of Hiram Bingham as the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries first approached and landed in the Islands. He later (September, 1830) visited the summit region with Kauikeaouli, King Kamehameha III.

“(T)he king set out with a party of more than a hundred, for an excursion further into the heart of the island, and an ascent to the summit of Mauna Kea. To watch over and instruct my young pupil, and to benefit my health, I accompanied him.”

“(C)rossing over to Kawaihae with my family, we ascended at evening to the new inland station. When we had escaped from the oppressive heat on the shore, and reached the height of about 2000 feet, we were met by a slight rain and a chilly wind, which made our muscles shiver, though covered with a cloak, as we came within some twenty-five miles of the snows of the mountain.”

“The rain and clouds passed away as we approached the place of the sojourn of Mr. Ruggles and Dr. Judd. The full-orbed moon looked serenely down from her zenith upon the hoary head of Mauna Kea, and the ample and diversified scenery around.”

“The babbling brook, the sound of a small cataract in a glen, the rustling in the tops of the trees, at a little distance, the scattered huts of the natives in the settlement, while their occupants were hushed at midnight …”

“… and the hospitable light of a fire and lamp, beaming from a glass window of the missionary cottage pitched near the north side of the plain, over against Mauna Kea, which appeared in its grandeur …”

“… all contributed to awaken peculiar emotions, and called forth the aspiration, ‘May the Gospel and the Spirit of God dwell here, and the wilderness and the solitary place be glad for them.’”

“The excursion occupied nearly five days, though it might have been accomplished much sooner. Crossing in a southerly direction the plain of Waimea, some on horseback and some on foot, the party ascended a small part of the elevation of the mountain, and being in the afternoon enveloped in dense fog, they halted and encamped for the night.”

“The next day they passed over the western slope of the mountain to the southern side thence eastward along a nearly level plain, some seven thousand feet above the level of the sea, to a point south of the summit, and encamped out again, in the mild open air.”

“In the course of this day’s journey, the youthful king on horseback, pursued, ran down, and caught a yearling wild bullock, for amusement and for a luncheon for his attendants. A foreigner lassoed and killed a wild cow.”

“The next day was occupied chiefly in ascending in a northerly direction, very moderately. Our horses climbed slowly, and by taking a winding and zigzag course, were able, much of the way, to carry a rider.”

“Having gained an elevation of about ten thousand feet, we halted and encamped for the night, in the dreary solitudes of rocks and clouds. When the night spread her dark, damp mantle over us, we found ourselves in the chilly autumnal atmosphere of the temperate zone of this most stupendous Polynesian mountain.”

“Below us, towards Mauna Loa, was spread out a sea of dense fog, above which the tops of the two mountains appeared like islands.”

“We found it a pretty cold lodging place. … In the morning we proceeded slowly upwards till about noon, when we came to banks of snow, and a pond of water partly covered with ice.”

“In his first contact with a snow bank, the juvenile king seemed highly delighted. He bounded and tumbled on it, grasped and handled and hastily examined pieces of it, then ran and offered a fragment of it in vain to his horse.”

“He assisted in cutting out blocks of it, which were wrapped up and sent down as curiosities to the regent and other chiefs, at Waimea, some twenty-eight miles distant.”

“These specimens of snow and ice, like what are found in the colder regions of the earth, excited their interest and gratified their curiosity, and pleased them much; not only by their novelty, but by the evidence thus given of a pleasant remembrance by the youthful king.”

“After refreshing and amusing ourselves at this cold mountain lake, we proceeded a little west of north, and soon reached the lofty area which is surmounted by the ‘seven pillars’ which wisdom had hewed out and based upon it, or the several terminal peaks near each other, resting on what would otherwise be a somewhat irregular table land, or plain of some twelve miles circumference.

“Ere we had reach’d the base of the highest peak, the sun was fast declining and the atmosphere growing cold. The king and nearly all the company declined the attempt to scale the summit, and passing on to the north-west crossed over, not at the highest point, and hastily descended towards Waimea.” (Hiram Bingham)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

Mauna_Kea_Summit_in_Winter-WC

April 28, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mauna Kea Observatories

Mauna Kea started to form over a million years ago, in stages typical of all Hawaiian volcanoes. Magma rising through fissures in the ocean crust hot spot slowly built a volcanic cone of pillow lava and glassy fragments, rock formations created by underwater eruptions. About 800,000-years ago Mauna Kea rose above sea level, and intensive mountain building began.

Mauna Kea’s shield-building phase ended about 130,000-years ago. Cinder cones at the summit mark the location of subsequent eruptions, which buried a larger central caldera. Eruptions flared even when Ice Age glaciers gripped the summit. (National Geographic)

Since 150,000 to 200,000-years ago, there have been three glacial episodes. Glacial debris on the volcano formed about 70,000-years ago and from approximately 40,000 to 13,000-years ago. Mauna Kea is presently a dormant volcano, having last erupted about 4,500-years ago. (USGS)

No point on the planet reaches higher into the atmosphere than Mount Everest: 29,035-feet (unlike the hot spot that formed Mauna Kea, Mount Everest formed as the result of a convergent tectonic boundary.)

But as a geologic formation, Everest is substantially smaller than Mauna Kea. Everest begins its rise in the Himalaya at an average elevation of 19,160-feet above sea level. Its height from base to summit averages 10,000-feet. The base of Mauna Kea starts about 45-miles out from shore at a depth of some 18,900-feet, giving it a total rise of 32,696-feet. (National Geographic)

“The ancient Hawaiians were astronomers, and (they used terms that) appertained to the heavens, the stars, terrestrial science, and the gods. Curious students will notice in this chant (Kumulipo) analogies between its accounts of the creation and that given by modern science or Sacred Scripture.” (Liliʻuokalani)

“In ancient times, the class of people studying the positions of the moon, the rising and setting of certain fixed stars and constellations, and also of the sun, are called the kilo-hōkū or astrologers. Their observations of these heavenly bodies might well be called the study of astronomy.”

“The use of astrology anciently, was to predict certain events of fortunes and misfortunes, victory or defeat of a battle, death of king or queen, or any high chief; it also foretells of pestilence, famine, fine or stormy weather and so forth.” (Nupepa Hawaiʻi, April 2, 1909)

In the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) undertook fencing, road building and visitor facilities on Mauna Kea. The CCC built a stone cabin at Hale Pōhaku, which gained its name (house of stone) from that structure. The cabin at Hale Pōhaku provided a shelter for overnight hikers, hunters and snow players.

In 1943, construction of a road from Hilo to what would become the Pōhakuloa Training Area began. After the end of World War II, the Saddle Road, as it was called, was extended to Waimea, greatly improving access to the south side of Mauna Kea.

In 1961, an Executive Order by Governor Quinn set aside land on the summit of Haleakala in a place known as Kolekole, to be under the control and management of the University of Hawaiʻi which established the ‘Haleakala High Altitude Observatory Site,’ sometimes referred to as Science City. (IfA)

Observatories are an ‘identified land use’ in the Conservation District pursuant to HAR §13-5-24, Identified Land Uses permitted in the Resource Subzone include, R-3 Astronomy Facilities, (D-1) Astronomy facilities under an approved management plan.

In 1964, the first road to the summit, a “jeep road” was completed, and in July of that year, the Lunar and Planetary Station, located on the summit of Pu‘u Poli‘ahu was opened (Group 70.) The jeep road was improved in 1970, allowing much easier access to the summit.

The Institute for Astronomy (IfA) was founded at the University of Hawai‘i (UH) in 1967 to manage the Haleakala Observatory on Maui and to guide the development of the Mauna Kea Observatories on Hawaiʻi Island, as well as to carry out its own program of fundamental research.

In 1968 Governor John A. Burns established the Mauna Kea Science Reserve, and through a lease with the Department of Land & Natural Resources, the University of Hawaiʻi was granted the authority to operate the Science Reserve as a scientific complex.

The University of Hawaiʻi’s Board of Regents adopted its first master plan for the Science Reserve (Mauna Kea Science Reserve Complex Development Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement) in 1983.

The University’s 2000 Master Plan for the UH Management Area designated 525 acres of the UH leased land as an Astronomy Precinct within the 11,288-acre Mauna Kea Science Reserve.

Office of Mauna Kea Management (OMKM) was established in 2000 as part of a master plan to provide responsible stewardship of Mauna Kea, including protecting cultural, natural and scientific resources, monitoring public access, and decommissioning astronomical facilities.

Kahu Kū Mauna (Guardians of the Mountain) is a volunteer community-based council whose members are from the native Hawaiian community. They give advice on Hawaiian cultural matters affecting the UH Management Areas. They review proposed projects and give their input to the Mauna Kea Management Board.

The 1983 plan included seven areas in the Science Reserve that were designated as Analysis Areas. The 2000 update of the Master Plan enabled the refinement of the Telescope Siting Areas within the Astronomy Precinct, to include all existing observatories, proposed redeveloped facilities and new facility sites.

The areas were anticipated to provide suitable observation conditions with minimum impact on existing facilities, wekiu bug habitat, archaeological sites and minimal visual were selected.

The astronomy precinct, where 13-existing telescopes are located, delineates the area of development of astronomy facilities, roads, and support infrastructure. (The remaining 10,763 acres are designated a Natural/Cultural Preservation Area in order to protect natural and cultural resources within the UH Management Areas.)

The 13-telescopes with the Mauna Kea Astronomy Precinct include:
• UH-Hilo 0.6-meter (24-inch) (1968)
• UH IfA 2.2-meter (88-inch) (1970)
• NASA Infrared Telescope Facility, 3.0-m, (1979)
• Canada-France-Hawai‘i Telescope, 3.6-m, (1979)
• United Kingdom Infrared Telescope, 3.8-m, (1979)
• Caltech Submillimeter Observatory, 10.4-m (1987)
• James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, 15-m, (1987)
• Very Long Baseline Array, 25-m (1992)
• Keck I 10-m, (1992)
• Keck II 10-m, (1996)
• Subaru Telescope, 8.3-m, (1999)
• Gemini Northern Telescope, 8.1-m, (1999)
• Submillimeter Array, 8x6m (2002)

(The Hubble Space Telescope’s mirror is similar in size to that of the UH 2.2 meter telescope — the second smallest telescope on the mountain. However, Hubble’s position, orbiting the Earth, gives it a view of the universe that typically far surpasses that of ground-based telescopes.)

With today’s technology and the fiber optic communications system, many of the studies occurring at these observatories can be operated remotely either from Hale Pōhaku, off-mountain Hawaiʻi locations (Waimea, Hilo), or via the Internet.

The mid-elevation facilities at Hale Pōhaku have typically been associated with support of astronomers, dating back to times when all facilities were operated by on-mountain astronomers and technicians.

Today, the Onizuka Center for International Astronomy located at Hale Pōhaku has living facilities for up to 72 people working at the summit. Also located at the center are the Visitor Information Station and other support buildings. The station is managed by the Institute for Astronomy’s Mauna Kea Support Services.

In 2006, ʻImiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaiʻi was completed. The 42,000-square-foot exhibition and planetarium complex is located in the University of Hawaiʻi’s Science and Technology Park. It was designed specifically to promote the integration of modern astronomical science and the Hawaiian culture.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger