Anyone who reads a bit of the history of Hawaii will probably come away sympathetic to the Hawaiian sovereignty movement's belief that their kingdom was stolen from them. Having been confronted in public meetings by these folks while doing NEPA work for the Army, I know they can be aggressive, persistent and a bit racist. It's really quite surprising to hear yourself accused of complicity in cultural genocide when you thought you were just preparing an environmental assessment for your client.

The federal courts, rightly or wrongly, have ruled that indigenous peoples cannot claim entire landscapes as sacred places.

A friend's company did a master plan for the Mauna Kea observatories with the objective of insulating them from this kind of activism and opposition by submitting the plan to community for their review. But the same thing happened that often happened to my Army client: things change, new missions or research possibilities arise, and the "plan" becomes a patchwork of expedient amendments that destroys the whole community involvement process.