What have we learned from this storm. (Iselle)

[punaticbychoice]

HOTPE:
I think you may have it exactly right.
What to do now and for 2016 elections?

[pahoated]

quote:

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Originally posted by kalakoa
that the power grid is fragile.

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Is your skull fragile because it can be split open by a falling albizia branch?

All these albizia are on private lots and the albizia was introduced and planted by private citizens. Now, with the constant population turnover, those original mainland transplants are gone but their "dream" lives on, and the new transplants want the government to take care of the problem, all the while whining and complaining bitterly about the intrusion of the government. Makes no rational sense.

If HELCO could get easement rights 100 feet into private lots alongside powerlines, went in, cut down and spiked the albizia over 100 feet, the grid interruptions would decrease significantly.

The lesson should be that this island is prone to earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, typhoons, and eruptions. Disaster preparedness should be a top priority. The second is that albizia is an introduced and invasive species, that eradication of this invasive needs to be raised in priority and funding. Eradication of invasive species would start solving many problems.

"We come in peace!" - First thing said by missionaries and extraterrestrials

[punaticbychoice]

pahoated:
A realistic and correct assessment I think.

[terracore]

It would be easier to bury the lines than eradicate the trees. It's inconvenient to bury lines in lava rock, not impossible. Helco managed to bury their fuel lines okay.

[Rob Tucker]

I was trying to advocate burying the lines on Hwy 130. They are going to be trenching anyway when they widen the roadway. No go from HDOT.

[leilanidude]

The power lines from Waikoloa Village all the way to Kona sure had no problems getting buried.
It sure would be nice to drive along 130 and actually see Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea without power lines being in the way.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

punaticbychoice-
I'm a businessperson, and know very little about the workings of government. So this may be a naive suggestion:

Perhaps someone who is retired, or a group of retired people could organize themselves into an Albezia Liaison Committee. It would no doubt be difficult for all project participants (county council members, state senators, tree cutters, volunteer groups of albezia girdlers, native tree nurseries and planters) to organize and meet, so the Albezia Liaison Committee would see to it that information is shared among all parties in the project, and relay questions and answers between the various groups. They would see to it that the money goes to eliminating albezia trees, not to guys with clipboards studying the problem until the money runs out.

[Wao nahele kane]

Next time... buy more diesel for the backhoe and make sure everyone knows the priority road to clear.

[alaskyn66]

An Albezia elimination committee or task force is an excellent idea.

When in Rome.. Do as the Romans do....

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

I read this excerpt from Henry David Thoreau's diary, written almost 150 years ago:

August 16, 1856

What a variety of old garden herbs - mints, etc. - are naturalized along an old settled road, like this to Boston which the British travelled! An infinite novelty. All the roadside is the site of an old garden where fragrant herbs have become naturalized, - bergamot, spearmint, elecampane, etc.
I see even the tiger lily, with its bulbs, growing by the roadside far from houses. I think I have found many new plants, and am surprised when I can reckon but one.
A little distance from my ordinary walk and a little variety in the growth or luxuriance will produce this illusion.

By the discovery of one new plant all bounds seem to be infinitely removed.

-Henry Thoreau

It can be a wonderful experience when you find a new plant on a walk, or in a friend's garden.
The albezia trees are not that new plant. They steal the old growth virgin forest from us. They rob the ecosystem of moisture with their extensive lateral roots, and capture nearly all of the light with their giant canopy. It's difficult for most plants to compete with them for the resources necessary to grow. It's nearly a mono-crop. If Monsanto were farming albezia trees there would be protests and council resolutions.

The albezia forest has taken away our sense of wonder. There is nothing new to see there. No discoveries to stumble across when you walk there. Just piles of branches on the ground to trip over.