| Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park | |
|---|---|
IUCN category II (national park)
| |
| |
 
Location in the Hawaiian Islands
| |
| Location | Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States |
| Nearest city | Hilo |
| Coordinates | 19°23′N 155°12′WCoordinates: 19°23′N 155°12′W |
| Area | 323,431 acres (1,308.88 km2) |
| Established | August 1, 1916 |
| Visitors | 1,116,891 (in 2018) |
| Governing body | National Park Service |
| Website | Official website |
| Criteria | Natural: viii |
| Reference | 409 |
| Inscription | 1987 (11th session) |
Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, established on August 1, 1916, is an American national park located in the U.S. state of Hawaii on the island of Hawaii. The park encompasses two active volcanoes: Kīlauea, one of the world's most active volcanoes, and Mauna Loa, the world's most massive shield volcano. The park provides scientists with insight into the birth and development of the Hawaiian Islands, and ongoing studies into the processes of volcanism. For visitors, the park offers dramatic volcanic landscapes, as well as glimpses of rare flora and fauna.
In recognition of its outstanding natural values, Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park was designated as an International Biosphere Reserve in 1980 and a World Heritage Site in 1987. In 2012, the park was depicted on the 14th quarter of the America the Beautiful Quarters series.
On May 11, 2018, the park was closed to the public in the Kīlauea volcano summit area, including the visitor center and park headquarters, due to explosions and toxic ash clouds from Halemaʻumaʻu, as well as earthquakes and road damage. Portions of the park, including the visitor center, reopened to the public on September 22, 2018. As of 2020, most of the park is open; however, some road segments and trails as well as the Jaggar Museum of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory remain closed to visitors.
Eruptive activity, ground collapses and explosions in the park ceased in early August of 2018, and the lull in eruptive activity at Kīlauea continues.
Environment
Lava erupting from the Puʻu ʻŌʻō vent in June 1983
The park includes 323,431 acres (505.36 sq mi; 1,308.88 km2) of land.
Over half of the park (130,790 acres (529 km2)) was designated the Hawaii Volcanoes Wilderness area in 1978, providing solitude for hiking and camping. Wilderness designation covers the northwestern extension of the National Park, including Mokuaweoweo, the summit of the volcano Mauna Loa.
In the southwestern portion of the park, a large chunk of wilderness
includes several miles of coastline and a small portion southeast of the
visitors center. The park encompasses diverse environments from sea
level to the summit of the Earth's most massive active volcano, Mauna Loa, at 13,679 feet (4,169 m). Climates range from lush tropical rain forests, to the arid and barren Kaʻū Desert.
Recently eruptive sites include the main caldera of Kīlauea and a more active but remote vent called Puʻu ʻŌʻō.
The main entrance to the park is from the Hawaii Belt Road. The Chain of Craters Road
leads to the coast, passing several craters from historic eruptions.
The road had continued to another park entrance near the town of Kalapana,
but that portion is covered by a lava flow. The park's Kahuku District
is accessible via Kahuku Road off Highway 11 near mile marker 70.
History
Aerial view of Halemaʻumaʻu, September 2009
Kīlauea and its Halemaʻumaʻu caldera were traditionally considered the sacred home of the volcano goddess Pele, and Hawaiians visited the crater to offer gifts to the goddess.
In 1790, a party of warriors, along with women and children who
were in the area, were caught in an unusually violent eruption. Many
were killed and others left footprints in the lava that are still visible.
The first western visitors to the site, English missionary William Ellis and American Asa Thurston, went to Kīlauea in 1823. Ellis wrote of his reaction to the first sight of the erupting volcano:
A spectacle, sublime and even appalling, presented itself before us. 'We stopped and trembled.' Astonishment and awe for some moments rendered us mute, and, like statues, we stood fixed to the spot, with our eyes riveted on the abyss below.
The Volcano Art Center was the Volcano House Hotel from 1877 to 1921.
The volcano became a tourist attraction in the 1840s, and local businessmen such as Benjamin Pitman and George Lycurgus ran a series of hotels at the rim. Volcano House is the only hotel or restaurant located within the borders of the national park.
Lorrin A. Thurston,
grandson of the American missionary Asa Thurston, was one of the
driving forces behind the establishment of the park after investing in
the hotel from 1891 to 1904. William R. Castle first proposed the idea
in 1903. Thurston, who then owned The Honolulu Advertiser newspaper, printed editorials in favor of the park idea. In 1907, the territory of Hawaii paid for fifty members of Congress and their wives to visit Haleakalā and Kīlauea, including a dinner cooked over lava steam vents. In 1908, Thurston entertained Secretary of the Interior James Rudolph Garfield, and another congressional delegation the following year. Governor Walter F. Frear proposed a draft bill in 1911 to create Kilauea National Park for $50,000. Thurston and local landowner William Herbert Shipman proposed boundaries, but ran into some opposition from ranchers. Thurston printed endorsements from John Muir, Henry Cabot Lodge, and former President Theodore Roosevelt. After several attempts, the legislation introduced by delegate Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole finally passed to create the park. House Resolution 9525 was signed by Woodrow Wilson on August 1, 1916. Hawaii National Park became the eleventh national park in the United States, and the first in a territory.
Within a few weeks, the National Park Service Organic Act created the National Park Service to run the system.[17] The park was officially renamed Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park after being split from Haleakalā National Park on September 22, 1961.
An easily accessible lava tube
was named for the Thurston family. An undeveloped stretch of the
Thurston Lava Tube extends an additional 1,100 ft (340 m) beyond the
developed area and dead-ends into the hillside, but it is closed to the
general public.
Park map including the Kahuku District on left
In 2004, an additional 115,788 acres (468.58 km2) of the
Kahuku Ranch were added to the park, the largest land acquisition in
Hawaii's history. Now named the Kahuku District, the park was enlarged
by 56% with the newly acquired land, which is west of the town of Waiʻōhinu and east of Ocean View. The land was purchased for $21.9 million from the estate of Samuel Mills Damon, with financing from The Nature Conservancy.
Superintendents
National park superintendents:
|
|
Historic places
Wilkes Campsite on Mauna Loa
Several of the National Register of Historic Places listings on the island of Hawaii are located within the park:
- 1790 Footprints
- Ainahou Ranch
- Ainapo Trail
- Kīlauea Crater
- Puna-Kāʻu Historic District
- Volcano House
- Whitney Seismograph Vault No. 29 at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory
- Wilkes Campsite
Visitor center and museums
Night view of Halemaʻumaʻu from Jaggar Museum in 2015
The main visitor center, located just within the park entrance at 19°25′46″N 155°15′25.5″W, includes displays and information about the features of the park. The nearby Volcano Art Center, located in the original 1877 Volcano House hotel, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and houses historical displays and an art gallery.
The Thomas A. Jaggar Museum, now closed due to damage from the
2018 eruptive events, is located a few miles west on Crater Rim Drive.
The museum featured more exhibits and a close view of Kīlauea's active
vent Halemaʻumaʻu. The museum is named after scientist Thomas Jaggar, the first director of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, which adjoins the museum. The observatory itself is operated by the U.S. Geological Survey and is not open to the public.
The Kilauea Military Camp provides accommodations for U.S. military personnel. Volunteer groups also sponsor events in the park.
Painting of Pele
D. Howard Hitchcock painting of Pele
About 1929, D. Howard Hitchcock made an oil painting of Pele,
the Hawaiian goddess of fire, lightning, wind, and volcanoes. In 1966,
the artist's son, Harvey, donated the painting to the Hawaiʻi Volcanoes
National Park, where it was displayed in the visitor center from 1966 to
2005. The painting was criticized for portraying the Hawaiian goddess as a Caucasian.
In 2003, the Volcano Art Center announced a competition for a "more modern and culturally authentic rendering" of the goddess. An anonymous judging panel of Native Hawaiian elders selected a painting by Arthur Johnsen of Puna, Hawaii from 140 entries. In Johnsen's painting, the goddess has distinctly Polynesian features. She is holding a digging stick (ʻōʻō) in her left hand and the egg that gave birth to her younger sister Hiʻiaka in her right hand. In 2005, the Hitchcock was replaced with Johnsen's painting.
Recent events
On March 19, 2008, there was a small explosion in Halemaʻumaʻu, the
first explosive event since 1924 and the first eruption in the Kīlauea
caldera since September 1982. Debris from the explosion was scattered
over an area of 74 acres (300,000 m2). A small amount of ash
was also reported at a nearby community. The explosion covered part of
Crater Rim Drive and damaged Halemaʻumaʻu Overlook. The explosion did
not release any lava, which suggests to scientists that it was driven by
hydrothermal or gas sources.
Sulfur dioxide emissions from the Halemaʻumaʻu vent, April 2008
This explosion event followed the opening of a major sulfur dioxide
gas vent, greatly increasing levels emitted from Halemaʻumaʻu. The
dangerous increase of sulfur dioxide gas prompted closures of Crater Rim
Drive between the Jaggar Museum south/southeast to Chain of Craters
Road, Crater Rim Trail from Kīlauea Military Camp south/southeast to
Chain of Craters Road, and all trails leading to Halemaʻumaʻu, including
those from Byron Ledge, ʻIliahi (Sandalwood) Trail, and Kaʻū Desert
Trail.
In mid-May 2018, the Kīlauea District of the park was closed due
to explosive eruptions at Halemaʻumaʻu, though the Kahuku District
remained open. The Kīlauea District, including the visitor center,
reopened to the public on September 22, 2018.
Eruptive activity, ground collapses and explosions in the park had
ceased in early August. At the summit, seismicity and deformation are
negligible. Sulfur dioxide emission rates at both the summit and the
Lower East Rift Zone are drastically reduced; the combined rate is lower
than at any time since late 2007. Earthquake and deformation data show
no net accumulation, withdrawal, or significant movement of subsurface
magma or pressurization as would be expected if the system was building
toward a resumption of activity.
As of 2020, the lull in eruptive activity at Kīlauea continues
and most of the park is open; however, some road segments and trails
remain closed to visitors, while the Jaggar Museum of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory is closed indefinitely. The Thurston Lava Tube (Nāhuku) was reopened to the public on February 21, 2020. Several large rockfalls
were cleared and sensors were installed to monitor new cracks, along
with improvements to water drainage and parking. The rockfalls and
cracks had been caused by some of the 60,000 earthquakes recorded during
the Kīlauea eruption.
Panoramic view of the lava at the end of the Chain of Craters Road
