Kaho'olawe is the smallest of the 8 main volcanic islands in the Hawaiian Islands. It is located west of Maui and south of Lana'i and is 11 miles long by 6 miles across (45 sq. miles area). The highest point, Lua Makika, is 1,477 feet above sea level. The island is rather dry because its low elevation fails to generate much orographic precipitation from the northeastern Trade Winds.
Kaho'olawe was used as a gunfire and aerial bombardment target, and a defense training area by the United States Navy from around 1941 until May 1994. Popular sentiment in Hawai'i against this practice eventually prevailed, and the Navy has been attempting to complete a cleanup of unexploded ordnance from the island. Ordnance remains buried or resting on the island surface. Other items have washed down gullies and still other unexploded ordnance lies beneath the waters offshore. In 1981, the entire island was included on the National Register of Historic Places.
The island is slated to be given back to the Hawaiian people. In 1993, Congress passed a law that "recognized the cultural significance of the island, required the Navy to return the island to the State, and directed the Navy to conduct an unexploded ordnance (UXO) cleanup and environmental restoration" [1]. The turnover will officially be made on November 11, 2003, but the cleanup will not be completed by then. Although the U.S. Navy was given $400 million and 10 years to complete the large cleanup task, work has progressed much slower than anticipated.
In 1993, the Hawai'i State Legislature established the Kaho'olawe Island Reserve, consisting of "the entire island and its surrounding ocean waters in a two mile radius from the shore. By State Law, Kaho'olawe and its waters can only be used for Native Hawaiian cultural, spiritual and subsistence purposes; fishing; environmental restoration; historic preservation; and education. Commercial uses are strictly prohibited. The Legislature also created the Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Commission (KIRC) to manage the Reserve while it is held in trust for a future Native Hawaiian Sovereignty entity" [1].
After the cleanup is finished, the restoration of Kaho`olawe will require a strategy to control erosion, re-establish vegetation, recharge the water table, and gradually replace alien plants with native species. Plans will include methods for damming gullies and reducing rainwater runoff. In some areas, non-natives will temporarily stabilize areas before the planting of permanent native plants.