The commission that cares for and manages the Kahoolawe Island Reserve is once again asking for the community’s help to ensure important funds are in the state budget so they can seamlessly continue restoration work for the island, which was formerly used as a bombing range.

Kaho’olawe Island Reserve Commission Executive Director Michael Naho’opi’i was at the State Capitol on Thursday asking state senators to include an additional $400,000 for KIRC’s operations in the budget so they can travel from Maui to the island, ensure there is electricity and drinking water there and care for their unpaid volunteers who need to be fed and housed at the base camp while performing essential restoration work.

Naho’opi’i said via phone from the Capitol that not many people realize that what they are doing is sort of “running a small city” on Kahoolawe, where they have to provide water, electricity and shelter.

There is baseline funding of $213,000 in the state budget for the commission, but that just takes care of 14 staff members and rent for KIRC, which has its administrative offices in Wailuku and its boat facilities in Kihei. That is why KIRC is seeking the additional $400,000, as it has other expenses that are crucial to the operation that are not accounted for in the $213,000.

A call out to the community was made recently when the House Finance Committee earlier this month did not include the additional operating funds for KIRC’s facilities on Kahoolawe.

Naho’opi’i is hoping that the Senate includes the funds in its version of the budget. A public hearing on the budget was held in the Senate Ways and Means Committee Thursday morning in Honolulu. The committee deferred the measure until March 30.

He said the funding will help greatly as KIRC’s boat that used to go to and from the island has been out of commission for around three months and its desalination system on the island sustained damage to its water piping from swells over the summer.

The funds will help get workers to Kahoolawe to fix the system.

He said KIRC has been able to go back and forth to the island with the help of others who have loaned them boats and commercial entities such as Trilogy who have taken workers to the island.

But, “it’s not the same without our landing craft,” he said, noting they are unable to take certain types of cargo to the island.

Coming out of the pandemic last year, Naho’opi’i said KIRC saw around 300 people go to the island to work and volunteer, though it’s still far less than the 800 or so workers and volunteers who visited during pre-COVID times.

Naho’opi’i is hoping to get 400 to 500 people over this year.

Visitors and volunteers include youth, environmental and community groups. The volunteers help restore and revitalize the island and in turn they also learn about the ongoing restoration work and the island itself.

Last year, KIRC and its volunteers completed the 2021 Hakioawa Operation and Maintenance Plan, which was supported by funding through the state Department of Health’s Clean Water Branch. The 18-month project involved reducing sediment load and improving water quality in the Hakioawa Watershed by installing 20 check dams, along with inspecting and repairing wattles and irrigation lines that had been installed in the area during the previous DOH project. All of this was done in a 37-acre site.

Other projects are slated to go this year, Naho’opi’i said.

In 1994, Kahoolawe was officially transferred from the U.S. Navy back to the state of Hawaii.

After ordnance clearance and some environmental restoration projects were completed, the Navy gave the state control of access to Kahoolawe in 2003. With support from DOH, KIRC has been responsible for the restoration and sustainable management of the island until it can be transferred to a Native Hawaiian entity to manage.

The island is currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Future plans for the commission include an education and operations center in Kihei, but that will be much further down the line.

For now, Naho’opi’i has his eyes focused on the present, to “work on the operational money first.”

* Staff Writer Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.