HONOLULU - Federal stimulus funds will pay for a $7.3 million visitor center and replacement administrative building at the Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge.
Barbara Maxfield, the external affairs chief at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service-Pacific Islands in Honolulu, said Monday this will be only the second FWS visitor center in the islands. There is one on Kauai.
The administrators now work out of a trailer half the size of one badly damaged by smoke and water in a fire in November 2006. For storage, the service uses shipping containers.
The new combined building will have about 6,700 square feet and will replace the temporary structures plus provide space for interpretive exhibits and a meeting room. It also would have more parking.
Parking is so limited now that refuge manager Glynnis Nakai requests groups of 20 or more to call ahead.
Groundbreaking is at least a year off, Maxfield says. No additional staff is proposed, but Maxfield says the refuge has an active volunteer group that could use the visitor center.
The proposed location is at the turnoff to the refuge from Mokulele Highway. The land is owned by Alexander & Baldwin Inc. The service is planning to ask for a donation of land.
The refuge was established two decades ago through the donation and sale of land by A&B. A spokeswoman Monday said that the A&B Foundation has since provided several grants to support the goals of the refuge, and that A&B also provided additional property for a parking area for the boardwalk.
A&B is "pleased" to learn of the funding and is "working closely with (the FWS) on this matter."
The Pacific Region of the FWS announced 94 projects costing a total of $37.2 million to be funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The Maui project is the biggest new construction announced for the region. The bulk of the stimulus monies are going for capital improvements and deferred maintenance at wildlife refuges, fish hatcheries and laboratories from Midway to Idaho.
Nationwide, stimulus funds totaling $280 million have been allocated to the Fish and Wildlife Service. Of these, $115 million is to be spent on new construction, repairs and retrofits to reduce energy consumption, and $165 million will be spent on habitat restoration, maintenance and capital improvements.
Kealia Pond is one of the few natural wetlands remaining in the islands. The refuge covers 691 acres and is home to the endangered Hawaiian stilt (aeo) and Hawaiian coot (alae ke okeo). It is adjacent to Kealia Beach, which is a nesting ground for the endangered hawksbill turtle (honu ea).
On the Net:
*?Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge: www.fws.gov/Refuges/profiles/index.cfm?id=12531
*?Department of Interior stimulus spending: recovery.doi.gov
