![]() A centuries-old chant says the mountain is the oldest child of Wakea and Papawalinu’u, the male and female sources of all life. The board will have this expertise because one member of the authority must be a recognized practitioner of Native Hawaiian culture and another a direct descendant of a Native Hawaiian practitioner of Maunakea traditions.Ĭentral to the Native Hawaiian view of Maunakea is the idea that the summit is where gods dwell and humans aren't allowed to live. “All that type of knowledge is embedded in the majority of our stories, our traditional stories that were handed down.” “Do we take heavy steps? Do we take light steps? When do we take steps? What seasons do we take steps?” Palacat-Nelsen said. ![]() Palacat-Nelsen said traditional Native Hawaiian knowledge could help the authority determine how large a footprint manmade structures like telescopes should have at the summit. ![]() David Ige hasn't set a date for announcing his nominees, who will go before the state Senate for confirmation. The result is the new governing body, the Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority, which will have a board of 11 voting members. And we have knowledge that would produce a feasible management solution that would be more inclusive,” said Shane Palacat-Nelson, a Native Hawaiian who helped draft a report that laid the foundation for the new law. To top it off, the new authority may offer a first-in-the-world test case for whether astronomers can find a way to respectfully and responsibly study the universe from Indigenous and culturally significant lands. Business and political leaders are eager for astronomy to support well-paying jobs in a state that has long struggled to diversify its tourism-dependent economy. Astronomers hope they'll be able to renew leases for state land underneath their observatories, due to expire in 11 years, and continue making revolutionary scientific discoveries for decades to come. There's a lot at stake: Native Hawaiian advocates want to protect a site of great spiritual importance. The shift comes after thousands of protesters camped on the mountain three years ago to block the construction of a state-of-the-art observatory, jolting policymakers and astronomers into realizing the status quo had to change. Native Hawaiian cultural experts will have voting seats on a new governing body, instead of merely advising the summit's managers as they do now. That’s now changing with a new state law saying Maunakea must be protected for future generations and that science must be balanced with culture and the environment. For more than 50 years, telescopes and the needs of astronomers have dominated the summit of Maunakea, a mountain sacred to Native Hawaiians that's also one of the finest places in the world to study the night sky.
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