{"id":2448,"date":"2026-07-10T07:35:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T07:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=2448"},"modified":"2026-07-10T07:35:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T07:35:15","slug":"council-member-residents-protest-new-kalaupapa-hiking-tours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=2448","title":{"rendered":"Council member, residents protest new Kalaupapa hiking tours"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<section>\n<p>MOLOKA\u02bbI (HawaiiNewsNow) &#8211; More than 20 Moloka\u02bbi residents protested the restart of tours to Kalaupapa on Thursday morning, as the National Park Service launched a new hiking tour to the site where people with Hansen\u2019s disease were once banished from society.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=2446\">New Hawaii law expands coverage for colorectal cancer screenings<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Maui County police were dispatched and said there were no arrests. <\/p>\n<p>The group included longtime activist Walter Ritte and Maui County Council member Keani Rawlins-Fernandez, who said she shut a gate to the trail.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryone was behind me. I stood in front and then I just, I grabbed the gate and I just shut it. I said no,\u201d Rawlins-Fernandez said.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t stand aside and watch as federal agencies just walk all over my community,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>After some discussion, the tour continued. The group said there were 12 people on the tour, including a National Park Service ranger and Kalaupapa National Historical Park Superintendent Nancy Holman.<\/p>\n<p>Holman has previously said the new hiking tours have been in the works for years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are excited to offer visitors an opportunity to learn about and be inspired by Kalaupapa,\u201d she had said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=2444\">Hawaii students to help draft national AI policy at Boston fellowship<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The park superintendent had also previously said the hiking tour is geared toward Moloka\u02bbi residents. A request for comment sent Thursday had not been returned as of publication.<\/p>\n<p>The Kalaupapa tours were briefly suspended following the death of patient Meli Watanuki, whose company was the only permitted commercial tour operator.<\/p>\n<p>The twice-weekly, $20 hiking hiking tours take visitors along a steep trail down to Kalaupapa and are held on Thursdays and Saturdays.<\/p>\n<p>Ritte vowed to return to the start of Saturday\u2019s tour.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know exactly what we\u2019re going to do, but we\u2019re not going to allow them to rough shod their projects over the island of Moloka\u02bbi,\u201d Ritte said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were worried about the negative impacts, not only on Kalaupapa, but on Moloka\u02bbi in general,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=2442\">First Alert Forecast: Passing trade wind showers; warm July afternoons<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More than 20 Moloka\u02bbi residents protested the start of National Park Service Kalaupapa hiking tours Thursday, citing concerns about negative impacts to the community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2447,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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