Nearly five years after acquiring it, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park will solicit public feedback this year about what it should do with the “Great Crack” in Ka‘u.
In August 2018, the National Park Service purchased 1,952 acres of land in Ka‘u for $1.95 million as part of a bank foreclosure sale.
The most prominent feature of that land is a 6-mile-long fissure in a lava field along Kilauea’s Southwest Rift Zone that reaches as much as 60 feet wide and 60 feet deep in some places — commonly referred to as the Great Crack.
Since then, HVNP has managed the land as a backcountry parcel, allowing hikers to access and camp on the property with a backcountry permit, but prohibiting the use of motor vehicles. HVNP spokeswoman Jessica Ferracane said several native flora and cultural resources such as petroglyphs on the site would be adversely affected by off-road vehicles.
Ferracane said the park had previously tried to solicit public opinions about the property, but was interrupted.
“In spring 2020, we ended up postponing the public meetings we had planned about the Great Crack because of COVID-19,” Ferracane said. “We did encourage people to write letters to us about it, but we only got one. That one was in support of preserving it.”
With the worst of the pandemic over, HVNP is trying again this year, Ferracane said. Although the specific date is still to be determined, HVNP will hold public meetings this summer to determine the future use not only for the Great Crack property, but also an adjacent property called Ala Wai‘i.
Ferracane said the National Park Service purchased the 2,750-acre Ala Wai‘i property for $2.3 million last year.
Both properties have coastal land and are used as fishing grounds for some fishers, Ferracane said.
No rangers are present on the parcels, although HVNP conducts some work in the area, such as removing invasive grasses that could fuel wildfires.
Beyond the future use of the properties, Ferracane said the meetings this year could also determine another name for the land.
“‘Great Crack’ obviously isn’t a Hawaiian name,” Ferracane said, suggesting that community members might have insight about traditional names for the massive fissure.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
