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The Seven Pools at Oheo Gulch are part of Haleakala National Park on the island of Maui. Not only are there several pools available for swimming and diving and some fine waterfalls but there is also a very special campground that is available to anyone without permit for up to 3 nites a month.

The campground is limited during 3 day weekends when heavy usage is anticipated. At those times the campground will be closed to additonal campers once the campground is full.

EDITORIAL

Currently the National Park that manages this area is planning to start charging a $10.00 per carload fee to enter the Oheo-Seven Pools area. The hope is to raise up to $1,000,000 to use towards eradicating an unwanted plant called Miconia.

There seems to be general agreement that this Miconia is a terrible scourge and it squeezes out the natural vegitation and some animals too. Miconia can grow up to 40 feet high.

Unfortunately this $10 fee is not a fair way to collect money to get rid of Miconia. The Miconia is a statewide problem and getting rid of it should be an expense born by the whole state.

The Seven Pools are a refreshing break on the long drive around the East Side of Maui. Also they have the only public restrooms in the area. Tourists will have to drive another 45 minutes to Hana to find other public restrooms. It is certainly not fair to charge $10 for this little respite on this very long drive.

Current funding of $500,000 per year has not been able to rid the island of Miconia. There is only a minimal chance that any Federal Agency will do better with $1,000,000. In fact in can be expected that much of the current $500,000 in funding will dry up if it is expected that the feds are going to do the job.

Please let others know that this $10 fee idea is a bad idea if you agree with this editorial.

If the Federal Government decides to go thru with this crazy plan it will be interesting to see if they put up a big fence around this area to keep people out (unless they pay the fee).

All Salt Water beaches in Hawaii are public property according to State Law. There are a couple of small Salt Water beaches in the Seven Pools area. Will the Federal Government ignore State Laws in order to collect these fees? How much will the Federal Government spend to collect these fees? I expect the labor cost alone to be about $160,000 per year when you include labor costs, retirement benefits, medical benefits, etc. for the hired help. Then there will be the cost of fencing in the area.

There are areas that are sacred to the Hawaiian People within this zone. Will they have to pay a fee too? If not, will they have to get some special identification to get in without paying a fee. If the Hawaiian People can get in free but other have to pay will this be a racial issue?

I sure hope the Federal Government comes up with a lot of good answers before they do this.

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