Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park plans restoration of summit facilities

Nearly four years after earthquakes from the 2018 Kilauea eruption crippled buildings and roads at Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, the National Park Serv­ice is proposing a multimillion-dollar plan to rebuild the park’s summit region.

Among the proposed projects is the demolition of the historic Jaggar Museum and the construction of a replacement structure near the existing Kilauea Visitor Center by the park entrance.

Also planned is the demolition of the damaged Hawaiian Volcano Observatory buildings and construction of a smaller field station down the road on Crater Rim Drive.

Some $21 million already has been earmarked to the U.S. Geological Service for the summit field station, which will be shared by researchers with the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and the Pacific Islands Ecosystems Research Center.

The sister USGS units are also expected to share a new headquarters building on the University of Hawaii Hilo campus, although plans for that $60 million­-plus facility are not as far along as those for the field station.

The projects are the latest proposals to emerge from the park’s Disaster Recovery Project following a public hearing process two years ago in which four design concepts were considered for the summit area.

The public is being invited to review the latest proposal online, attend a virtual meeting and submit comments before March 11.

Two virtual meetings will be held on Feb. 24, the first from noon to 1 p.m. and the second from 6 to 7 p.m.

At the start of May 2018, Kilauea’s summit topography was transformed after magma drained from the chamber beneath Halemaumau Crater and the caldera began to collapse, triggering thousands of earthquakes that punished the buildings in the immediate vicinity.

The three-month eruption pushed 1 billion cubic yards of molten rock across the Lower Puna landscape, destroying more than 700 homes and causing an estimated $800 million in damage. The most destructive eruption in the past two centuries also caused most of the national park to close to the public for 134 days.

After the dust settled, officials estimated it would take a significant investment to resurrect the existing Jaggar Museum and the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory-­operated Okamura building and Geochemistry Annex.

More important, however, was the fact that their location is unsafe.

“The whole complex was surrounded by cracks and active faults,” park spokeswoman Jessica Ferracane said. The area, she said, continues to subside on the crater side, undermining slope stability under the existing terraces and building foundations.

The National Park Service is proposing to spend $28 million to restore the summit region in a plan that would:

>> Repair and restore access to the existing overlook area at Uekahuna adjacent to the former Jaggar Museum.

>> Realign Crater Rim Drive near the park entrance and install a roundabout to improve safety and help deal with traffic congestion.

>> Construct a visitor center building to replace the Jaggar Museum. The existing Kilauea Visitors Center will continue to serve as park headquarters but with space for indoor park programs, special events and educational programming.

Ferracane said the Jaggar Museum was built in 1927 with additions added in 1931 and 1934. It is named after Thomas A. Jaggar, the geologist who founded the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory in 1912.

The new HVO field station will be built next to the Kilauea Military Camp a little over a mile away from the old location. The new building would be nestled among an existing grove of trees next to an open grass area that includes a historic ballfield that becomes overflow parking during peak visitation. It will be a two-story structure to minimize its footprint.

Ken Hon, HVO scientist in charge, said the field station will be considerably smaller than its summit predecessor, allowing enough room to conduct on-site science and volcano monitoring near the caldera.

“We want it to be a very functional forward base, with the ability to deploy new technology. We want the space to be flexible so that it can be easily modified,” Hon said.

HVO is located in temporary offices at the Hilo Iron Works building. Eventually, the bulk of HVO’s operations will be conducted at a larger building to be constructed on the UH Hilo campus.

Ferracane said there are no plans to rebuild Crater Rim Drive to encircle the caldera like before, largely because the crater has quadrupled in size and depth since 2018.

After the latest public review, she said, the project will undergo a formal environmental assessment with the aim of starting construction as early as a year after approval and with completion in four years.

While the eruption did take its toll on the summit region, the recovery project has allowed the park to push a reset button on its key infrastructure. Ferra­cane said planners took a hard look at the placement of park facilities, and she said she expects safety and traffic congestion to improve.

“It’s an exciting project we have in front of us,” she said. “It will be better for visitors and everybody who comes to the park.”

For meeting links and information, go to 808ne.ws/3643ux7.