Confidential coastal hazard screening for Iwi Kūpuna burial sites

Protecting Iwi Kūpuna from Coastal Hazards: Confidential Hazard Screening for SHPD and the Island Burial Councils

Provide SHPD and the island burial councils with a confidential screening of where Iwi Kūpuna burial areas along Hawaiʻi's sandy shorelines face coastal erosion, rising and tidally saturated shallow groundwater, and nearby cesspool contamination, now and under sea level rise, with each hazard mapped separately. Iwi Kūpuna interred along Hawaiʻi's sandy shorelines are increasingly exposed by erosion, and SHPD and the island burial councils have limited capacity to get ahead of it - a problem the Legislature asked DLNR to address in HCR 122 (2025). Methods are developed and in peer review, and the team already runs the wave, erosion and groundwater models, so funds are spent within the year. Each burial council receives a simple ranked list and map of its highest-risk shorelines, plus a notice whenever a survey finds new exposure. All outputs stay restricted to SHPD and the burial councils under a data agreement. Appropriate to the University of Hawaiʻi (UOH 100), SOEST Climate Resilience Collaborative, in partnership with DLNR SHPD and the Island Burial Councils. Estimated cost: $400,000 in FY28, with an optional $75,000 in FY29 for post-swell surveys.