It sometimes amazes me how some things I heard or had seen as a child I can remember as clearly as if it was yesterday. Things I never gave much thought or even interest at the time. It had come and gone as quickly as the wind or a rising tide. We live out our lives alone. We enter it alone and leave it alone. We all have a trail to follow. It may all seem strange or even puzzling. But there is a plan. For along this path there are others following close by. Some enter this path before we do and leave it before we do. We are all however moving in the same direction. But there is someone there watching us all the while. Some of us call him the “Great Spirit”, some call him “Ke Akua”, or “Jehovah”, “Ala”. He has many names. He is there to keep us on the trail like a mother watching a child. There will be times in our lives when we will have an opportunity to meet those who are on the same path. We may gently bump into each other without even knowing, providing the “mana” we each need to keep going. We only need to recognize them when we see them. I have known many……….this is the story of one such person……His name is Alan Ziegler.

I met Alan Ziegler (right, at his home in Kailua) a number of years ago when I attended one of his site tours at an 8-acre sinkhole preserve in Campbell Industrial Park. I think it is something less than 8 acres although it does bear his name today as the “Alan Ziegler Preserve”. Much of what I have been sharing over the past few years in these cultural essays has to do with the historical period of the Hawaiian occupation of these islands. There is very little that anyone knows for sure prior to this period. Much of it is speculation. I am sure that there must have been some work and research prior to the arrival of these people from the southern latitudes whoever they might have been. However it wasn’t until I met Ziegler that I had come to learn and appreciate much of what had occurred prior to these southern arrivals. He had opened a whole new world to me. Perhaps the only thing that I was aware of was that the early people lived and evolved in isolation from the rest of the world. That is the same story for our native plants and animals. The closest land was perhaps 5,000 miles away. For this reason they evolved without any natural defenses. The people evolved without any of the immunities or defenses to illnesses such as the common cold. They ate very little red meat and their diets consisted mainly of plants and fish. Their filtered water was clean and fresh whether it was gathered at its source or in sinkholes. The distance the water traveled from the mountains to the sea whether it was on the surface in depressions or through the porous Ewa limestone karst was short. Some of us may be familiar with the many native plants, birds, animals and insects that existed, many of which today are extinct. This was the world of Alan Ziegler. The prehistoric world of Alan Ziegler’s Hawaii.

It is perhaps at this point that I think it might be a good idea to help all of us understand this ancient place named Kanehili and its relationship to Ziegler’s Ewa Karst. There are several unique aspects of this place that defines it in terms of its geographic region. It is important to understand that when Mailikukahi structured the Moku and Ahupua’a geographical boundaries it was all done in terms of water. The “Wai ‘O Kane”, or “Waters of Kane”, as it travelled on its path from the mountains to the sea. There are exceptions though. In most situations the waters of Kane travels along natural depressions formed in its huakai or journey to the sea. Although Kanehili is believed to be an Ili and not an Ahupua’a, it does not have any surface dissection upon which water would pass. An Ili is a comparatively smaller land division than an Ahupua’a. The geology of the Ahupua’a of Honouliuli or that portion that makes up the Ewa Plains is an interesting one.

The Ewa Plains, which Kanehili is a part, was formed during the Ice Age when the sea level was at a higher elevation. When the ocean receded it left an emerged coral reef that extended from Waikiki to Waianae. As fresh water passes over or beneath the coral limestone it dissolves the limestone, leaving behind either a surface dissection or caves or a system of karst. In the area of the Ewa Plains or today’s Kapolei there are only 2 surface dissections, one is the Honouliuli Gulch and the other is Kalo’i Gulch. In ancient times the water of Kalo’i Gulch reached the ocean as evidenced by this surface dissection on the surface coral limestone. Honouliuli Gulch still has a seasonal stream and a permanent stream in the area of the West Loch Golf Course. The Kalo’i disection was filled in during the sugar plantation era and discovered with the design of the North-South Road as a second route out of the Kapolei region. There are no surface dissections at the base or exit out of all the remaining gulches or valleys of the southwest portion of the Waianae Mountains. There is no surface dissection west of Kalo’i Gulch to Kahi Point. The water travelled within the porous coral limestone further developing the Ewa Karst and sinkholes.

In Malden’s Map of 1825 he identifies several water features or large sinkholes filled in with water. One of these large water features was just makai of Pu’uokapolei and one is identified as the “Spring of Hoakalei” which was a short distance from the ocean at Ku’alaka’i or today known as Nimitz Beach. We know that this was a fresh water spring from both the oral traditions in the “Travels of Pele and Hi’iaka” and a conversation I had with Kupuna Sara Kauka in a previous essay. Today’s Ordy Pond which is a short distance from White Plains Beach was also identified by Malden as a water feature. All of this is further supported by the “Travels of Kane and Kanaloa” where Kane brought forth water from the sinkholes at Kanehili with the strike of his ko’oko’o (cane).

Malden’s Map of 1825; click to enlarge

For this reason the boundary of the Ili of Kanehili does not run mauka-makai as most but rather follows the coastline where the water was found in sinkholes. Consequently most cultural thinkers feel that the Ili of Kanehili was bounded by the ocean on the south, the Ili of Pu’uloa on the east, and the Ili of Kaupe’a mauka. There is not much information about its western boundary whether it reached the ocean in the area of today’s Ko Olina. Although Pukaua is identified as a large geographical area, perhaps an Ili, the traditions indicate that Pukaua is inland along the slopes of the southwestern portion of the Waianae Mountains down to the rise that we know of today as Honokai Hale and Nanakai Gardens. Therefore it is highly possible that Kanehili may have been large and encompassed much of the Ewa Karst to include the sinkholes of the former Naval Air Station at Barbers Point, Campbell Industrial Park and Ko Olina.

It is here that the story of Alan Ziegler begins. I am sure that there are others that may have preceded him in our introduction to this prehistoric landscape. It was, however, Ziegler who introduced me to this special place in time. I admit that it is something that I had romanticized about over the years. I remember as a young boy watching a movie on our black and white TV about a place named “Shangrila”. It was a place that evolved in isolation from the rest of the world. I don’t know why but I seem to associate “Shangrila” as a place somewhere in the mountains of the Himalayas between China and India. I somehow felt Hawaii was such a place. At some point in my life I even thought that Hawaii was the “Garden of Eden” when God had cast out both Adam and Eve from the garden when Eve was tempted in taking a bite out of the forbidden apple. It made sense that in time God would cast this place off from the rest of the world. Hawaii had always been that kind of place to me. God placed it in the middle of the largest ocean on this planet. A place so special not even a human being was worthy of setting foot upon it. Perhaps this is the reason that I have always felt a fond attachment to Ziegler. He confirmed what I had always felt. This special place……..

When I first met Ziegler we all had gathered in an area close to the deep draft harbor. I recall that he may have had some volunteers from the Hawaii Audubon Society who came to assist him with his site tour on an 8-acre sinkhole preserve. He had shared with us all the work and effort it took over the years to save a small part of a sinkhole landscape that once existed from Waikiki to Waianae. Much of it over the years had been covered over with development. He was about to show us all that remained of this once extensive coral landscape. He spoke of thousands of sinkholes on the raised reef from Wai`anae to Kalaeloa, but 99 percent of the sinkholes have been lost to agriculture and development. (Photo: Alan Ziegler on an interpretive site tour with students at the Ziegler Preserve.)

Unique and extinct Hawaiian bird bones have been found in the remaining sinkholes, including the moa nalo (a flightless goose-like duck), geese, 2 species of extinct crow, a long-legged owl, a hawk, a sea eagle, gapers, flightless rails, a small petrel, and new Hawaiian honeycreepers. These birds are known only from the archaeological records, having gone extinct before 1778. They were unknown to science until their discovery beginning in the 1970s. He credited the husband and wife team of Storrs Olson and Helen James of the Smithsonian Institute for describing and naming many of these extinct birds.

Alan Ziegler also shared with our group signs of Native Hawaiian habitation in several of these sinkholes. There were sinkholes with water and those with Opaeula or tiny red shrimp. One sinkhole in particular although only a short distance from the ocean had fresh water. The water in this hole was deep and wide enough to swim in. The only sinkhole in all of the Hawaiian Islands with stalagtites and stalagmites was blown up and lies within the deep draft harbor today. We all shook our heads in horror.

We all then followed Ziegler in our vehicles to a fenced in area along Malakole at the intersection of Hanua Street. At first the only thing that was obvious was the abundance of Kiawe trees. There were also several Noni trees. The first sinkhole we visited was so deep someone had placed a ladder in it in order for one to climb down into it. (Right: Student entering a sinkhole at the Alan Ziegler Preserve)

Alan Ziegler then went down into the second sinkhole with a bucket and came back with what appeared to be a mixture of dirt and sand. He started to screen the soil in a wooden frame with a window screen. Little miniature bones the size of toothpicks became visible. Amongst the bones we saw what appeared to be the beak of a bird. Ziegler told us that it was the beak of a large extinct crow. The last sinkhole we investigated were signs of moisture.

Extinct birds of Ewa

There is however more to this story. It is not just about the preservation of a cultural landscape and the restoration of an ancient history. It is about those people who do the things to preserve that ancient past for future generations without expectation. Alan Ziegler is one such person.

In 1993 Alan Ziegler received the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Take Pride in America Award for his dedication and tireless work in the sinkholes of the Ewa Karst. He was also honored by the City and County of Honolulu City Council for his contribution in the preservation of the Ewa Sinkholes. In 1993 he also received a Senate Certificate honoring him for his work in the discovery and identification of extinct bird bones, his efforts in the preservation of a sinkhole preserve and interpretive site tours for district schools. (Left: Ati Jeffers-Fabro on an interpretive tour of the "Ziegler Preserve" with students.)

I am including in Alan Ziegler’s own words from a 1990 testimony in support of the preservation of an 8- acre preserve in the area of the Campbell Industrial Park given by him before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. It is lengthy however I cannot in my own words convey the commitment and dedication of this man except he himself. I want you to hear it in his own words…………

“I am Alan Ziegler, a vertebrate zoologist, presenting this testimony in support of these resolutions on behalf of the Hawaii Audubon Society.

In all of the Hawaiian Islands, extensive exposed area of a fringing coral reef that developed during a +25 feet sea stand of the Ice Age 120,000 years ago are now found only on O’ahu, primarily the reef remnant forming the vast ‘Ewa Plain in the southwestern corner of the island.

As soon as this elevated ocean level started to recede down to present sea level, rain and ground water began dissolving sinkholes in softer parts of the progressively exposed coral reef. As these flask- shaped cavities became larger during thousand of years, volcanic soil washed and blown down from the nearby Wai’anae Mountains to fill them. And in this layered soil was preserved a history of all the ancient plant and animal life that successfully inhabited -- and occupied or occasionally became entrapped in the sinkholes--from about 1,000 years ago through pre-Cook Hawaiian occupation times, on up to the present day.

The fossil plants are represented primarily by pollen and occasional seeds of shrubs and trees as well as by opal phytoliths from grasses. The animal remains include innumerable shells of many ancient and modern species of land snails, claws and paracase fragments of an apparently undescribed native land crab; remains of 2 bats (one new to science), and thousands of mixed bones of approximately 45 species of birds, as well as skeletal material of such introduced invertebrates as toads, lizards, mice, rats, cats, dogs, pigs and larger mammals.

The bird remains are of special interest because they include a wide variety of prehistoric native avian types never before imagined to have inhabited O’ahu: a large flightless goose and a semi-flighted Nene-like bird, both of which were preyed upon by a Hawaiian Eagle; a long legged day time owl and small fast flying hawk, representing bird-catchers because no rodents were then present in Hawaii; two types or ravens or crows larger than the present day Alala; and a number of smaller native birds, including a flightless rail, the “King Kong” Finch, “Gapers”, and others displaying an amazing variety of feeding adaptations.

Although this wide, flat, reef area with its multitude of bone-laden sinkholes was once exposed over thousands of acres between Pearl Harbor and Kahe Point, during the past hundred years essentially all of the reef has been covered with deep top soil for sugar cane fields, industrial plants, residential and resort housing, and golf courses. And, of the few hundred acres of reef with sinkholes that remain on land open to the public, almost all are already irretrievably committed to similar development.

In spite of the fact that “salvage” archaeological and paleontological excavation of a number of sinkholes has been carried out periodically over the past 15 years, the bulldozers were always so close behind that there was never time to do an in-depth analysis of even one entire sinkhole—a research venture that would allow various scientific specialist the time to adequately investigate all aspects of the geological and paleontological (and, sometimes, archaeological) features of such a unique structure. To make this type of investigation possible, at least a few dozen ‘Ewa Plain sinkholes of various sizes would have to be excluded from currently proposed development, and afforded permanent protection by a government agency.

Fortunately, there is still available for preservation a small exposed reef area of approximately 8 acres, with at least 100 sinkholes, on the northern border of the present Campbell Industrial Park. This land is currently zoned Agriculture but a recent draft Environmental Impact Statement by Campbell Estate proposes to rezone as Industrial 552 acres of their holdings, including this parcel, and develop it as part of their future Kapolei Business-Industrial Park. The draft statement recommends preservation of the 8-acre sinkhole area because of its obviously great educational and scientific value, although the means by which this preservation is to be accomplished (e.g., by dedication to the State) is not discussed in the document.

During the past several years, with the kind permission of the Campbell Estate, several hundred people including students of elementary school through university graduate level, as well as many other interested residents, have enjoyed group visits to these conveniently located sinkholes and have even had an opportunity to climb down into one and dig for a few fossil bones themselves.

Also, within the State Department of Land and Natural Resources, members of the Natural Area Reserve System Commission were favorably impressed on an inspection tour of the site and, at two recent meetings, have considered the possibility of advising its inclusion in the state-wise Reserve System, under the portion of the Commission’s mandate concerning preservation of unique geological area in Hawai’i.

Passage of the Resolutions now before this Legislative Committee would be of great aid in assuring that at least this 8-acre sample area of an irreplaceable portion of Native Hawai’i would be forever preserved for the pleasure and education of all of the State’s people, as well as for the future research benefit science world wide. Thank you very much for the opportunity to present this testimony!”

Today this preserve carries the name of the……….Alan Ziegler Preserve

At the dedication of the "Alan Ziegler Preserve". Left to right Dave Rae of Kapolei Property Development; Marjorie Ziegler (daughter of Alan Ziegler) is with the Conservation Council of Hawaii; Shad Kane, Kala Holden and Lance Holden from the Kapolei Hawaiian Civic Club.

Tags: Alan Ziegler, Kanehili, Sinkholes

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