06-08-2018, 08:10 AM
And one of our questions will be: Do we engage in some ecosystem modification to help nature on its course, so as to make stark lava more inviting for human activities?
On (new) Kalapana beach for many years now people have carried out coconuts which sprouted and are now growing into a new grove. On the left of the trail most of the way out you'll even see a ficus that someone planted years ago.
All this makes the Kapalana beach much more inviting (at least most of us think so).
- - - -
As far as modifying the shoreline to create new swimming areas, I won't get into that now, but make several points:
1) Unfortunately for human recreation, most lava sea cliffs are sheer drops into deep water and do not allow safe swimming. Nor does lava generally move in unusual configurations such as we have in Hilo, where a long curved arm of lava created wonderfully protected Richardson Ocean Park.
That is a rare event; we should not expect it to occur in Puna. Probably more than 99% of Puna is girded by steep inhospitable shoreline.
2) In 1975 a powerful earthquake struck the Puna coast.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975_Hawaii_earthquake
It dropped the Puna shoreline by up to 12 feet, helping to create the famous Drainpipes surf spot 3/4 mile south of Kaimu Bay. Surfers from around Hawaii Island drove to the Kapalana area to surf Drainpipes until its loss around 1990.
The earthquake also affected recreation in Kapoho Bay and at the tidepools. (Maybe someone has recollections of the changes at these sites.)
So unfortunately earthquakes (highly destructive) are probably the only force of nature that will create a nice new safe swimming bay or new tidepools on the Puna shoreline....
On (new) Kalapana beach for many years now people have carried out coconuts which sprouted and are now growing into a new grove. On the left of the trail most of the way out you'll even see a ficus that someone planted years ago.
All this makes the Kapalana beach much more inviting (at least most of us think so).
- - - -
As far as modifying the shoreline to create new swimming areas, I won't get into that now, but make several points:
1) Unfortunately for human recreation, most lava sea cliffs are sheer drops into deep water and do not allow safe swimming. Nor does lava generally move in unusual configurations such as we have in Hilo, where a long curved arm of lava created wonderfully protected Richardson Ocean Park.
That is a rare event; we should not expect it to occur in Puna. Probably more than 99% of Puna is girded by steep inhospitable shoreline.
2) In 1975 a powerful earthquake struck the Puna coast.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975_Hawaii_earthquake
It dropped the Puna shoreline by up to 12 feet, helping to create the famous Drainpipes surf spot 3/4 mile south of Kaimu Bay. Surfers from around Hawaii Island drove to the Kapalana area to surf Drainpipes until its loss around 1990.
The earthquake also affected recreation in Kapoho Bay and at the tidepools. (Maybe someone has recollections of the changes at these sites.)
So unfortunately earthquakes (highly destructive) are probably the only force of nature that will create a nice new safe swimming bay or new tidepools on the Puna shoreline....