National Assessment of Shoreline Change: Historical Shoreline Changes in the Hawaiian Islands

Acknowledgements

The Coastal Geology Group is an informal network of faculty, graduate students, technicians, and support staff studying nearshore environments within the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) at the University of Hawai‘i. The authors extend their gratitude to those that have contributed to this study and the methodology of studying shoreline change over the years: William Morrison, Torsten Heinen, Ole Kaven, Robert Mullane, John Rooney, Tara Miller, Dolan Eversole, Christopher Conger, Scott Calhoun, Melanie Coyne, Zoe Norcross-Nuu, Craig Senter, Angela Stevens, Eden Fierstein, Jillian Luis, Caroline Jackson, Haunani Kane, and Morgan Smith. William Morrison and Torsten Heinen contributed greatly to the initial layout and data composition of this report allowing further refinements and developments to reflect the unique characteristics of the shoreline of Hawai‘i. Thank you to Nancy Hulbirt at SOEST Publications for help with illustrations and shoreline rate plots.

Importantly, we wish to recognize critical partners in this study without whom the project would not have been completed. These include the county governments of Maui, Kauai, and City and County of Honolulu, the University of Hawai‘i Sea Grant Program and its outstanding team of extension agents, the H.K.L. Castle Foundation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mark and Joann Schindler, the Hawai‘i Coastal Zone Management Program, the Hawai‘i Department of Land and Natural Resources, the NOAA Coastal Services Center, and FEMA. The authors extend their sincere thanks to the hard working and dedicated individuals at each of these agencies who share the vision of managing the Hawai‘i shoreline.

The Role of State and Federal Governments

Several federal agencies (USGS, FEMA, NOAA, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)) have regulatory or administrative responsibilities pertaining to shorelines. Yet these responsibilities are quite different, requiring differing approaches and offering substantial opportunities for cooperation. For example, the USACE is authorized and funded by Congress to report on the economic and environmental implications of shoreline change and the costs of erosion mitigation. Their National Shoreline Management Study (Stauble and Brumbaugh, 2003) is being conducted using existing shoreline data. The USGS will share data and information, such as the lidar-derived shoreline and rates of change, in support of their effort. NOAA has the mandate to establish the official shoreline boundary for the nation using tidal datums. Their emphasis is on safe navigation and using the shoreline to generate nautical charts. NOAA also has the V datum program, which assists agencies in establishing shorelines for a variety of purposes. Congress authorized and funded FEMA to report on the economic impact of erosion hazards on coastal communities, and on claims to the National Flood Insurance Fund. To accomplish this, FEMA contracted state agencies and academic researchers to conduct a pilot study of erosion hazards that included shoreline change data for limited geographic areas (Coyne and others, 1999). The USGS is responsible for conducting research pertaining to coastal change hazards including shoreline change, understanding the processes that cause coastal change, and developing models to predict future change. The USGS is the only government agency that has a dedicated program to monitor coastal change into the future using consistent methods nationwide. Such a program is critically important to assess national issues, such as the coastal impacts of sea-level rise.