Mälama Mokupuni: Caring for Our Island Environment
Telling the Story of the Archipelago By Rachel Laderman
KeOlaMagazine.com | January - February 2019
When the 6.9 earthquake rocked Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park on May 4, 2018, it seriously damaged park buildings and infrastructure. The park had to close until the volcanic action settled down, reopening on September 22. During those nearly five months, the interpretive staff needed a place to keep doing their job, explaining what was happening, and answering visitors’ questions—how can I see the lava? Where can we go? In searching for sites to reach the public, the park rangers set up information tables at busy tourist points around Hilo, such as the airport and Pacific Tsunami Museum. Their chief venue was Mokupāpapa Discovery Center (MDC). Located along downtown Hilo’s bayfront, MDC allows people to virtually explore the northwest Hawaiian Islands, a 1350-mile string of islets and atolls that is part of Hawai‘i, protected as the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (PMNM). “Think about it—Mokupāpapa Discovery Center is a remote facility interpreting resources that people can’t go to visit,” says Ranger Dean Gallagher, with the Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park Service Interpretive Division for 11 years. “This is exactly the role the Park found itself in.” MDC has many attractions, including a 3,500-gallon saltwater aquarium and numerous displays, with themes from monk seals to wayfinding.
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A Natural Match Starting in May, Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park (HVNP) rangers set up temporary offices and displays at MDC. They gave daily presentations on current volcanic action using “Liquid Galaxy”—a large Google Earth screen that allows you to “fly” over the ocean and alight on any point to have an immersive experience. “The cooperation and welcome we received by the staff at Mokupāpapa Discovery Center was incredible,” says Ranger Dean. “With the rangers here, we offered a comprehensive site for learning of the origins of the island chain, from erupting over the hot spot to sinking below the ocean over a thousand miles away,” says Andy Collins, manager of MDC. Andy has been with MDC since 2001, when the upper end of the island chain was first established as a Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve. This unique designation still exists as a political layer underneath the broader protections of the PMNM, which is jointly run by NOAA, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and the State of Hawai‘i.