More than a million people enjoy the beach parks in the coastal community of Keaukaha on Hawaiʻi Island every year, according to Waiʻuli We Count.
Volunteers with Waiʻuli We Count, a grassroots-led data collection effort, sat at pop-up tents at Waiʻuli and Lehia Beach Parks over the past year as part of a larger stewardship effort in Keaukaha.
"Waiʻuli Park is just one. Lehia is just one. The whole coastline needs management and care. So that’s our ultimate goal to ensure that our state and our county and that multi-billion dollar tourism industry is accountable for what they do in these spaces," said Susan Champeny, the project coordinator for Waiʻuli We Count.
Data collected by the group found that Waiʻuli Beach Park sees an average of about 950 people a day, which has raised concerns over capacity limits and ocean safety — especially for visitors.
Commercial tour companies are also having a noticeable impact with limited parking space available for large buses. The group tallied at least 17 companies new to Waiʻuli since December.
However, Champeny said there are other factors at play.
"Island’s population’s doubled. We have less parks than we had before. You know it’s not like the parks are growing on trees. Loss of like Pohoiki and Kolekole for years at a time don’t improve matters either," she said.
"Our own local impact is pretty heavy duty, you know? You can’t have double the number of people on the island and not have the resources to get hammered."
Champeny said the long term goal is to establish a sustainable stewardship program for the Keaukaha coastline. In the short term, the group is looking for funding to continue data collection and implementing recommendations based on that data.
