The person who posted a video of a giant rock thrown into Lake Waiau allegedly contacted the State Department of Lands and Natural Resources and apologized for his actions. Earlier this month, he posted the video on his social media platforms and then got rid of it. to learn of the disrespect he had caused.
Department officials said the woman contacted the DLNR Tuesday night to apologize for her role in highlighting what is a culturally disrespectful act.
She told the government that she threw the stone into the lake from a high altitude and only “recorded the throwing of the stone. “
“I deleted the video as soon as someone told me it was disrespectful. I filmed someone else throwing the stone,” he said. He told ministry officials he saw a sign prohibiting swimming, non-public boats and stacking stones. In particular, to deal with the throwing of stones into the lake, he said that if he had known it was disrespectful to local Hawaiians, he would not have recorded the video and would not have posted it.
He added that if he knows the identity of the user who threw the stone, the woman also apologized on Instagram but deactivated her account after receiving several death threats, according to DLNR.
Steve Bergfeld, Hawai’i Island Branch Manager for dlnr’s Forest and Wildlife Division, said, “While stone throwing, video recording, and publishing are considered disrespectful, none of those acts result in threats in any way. . . Bring those issues to the public’s attention in hopes that other people will be better informed about what is culturally appropriate (pono) in Hawaii.
Lake Waiau and the Mauna Kea Ice Age Nature Reserve are the jurisdiction of DOFAW.
A recent incident involving a social media post featuring giant rocks thrown into a culturally sacred lake on the island of Hawai’i has caught the attention of state conservation and law enforcement.
The DLNR tried to touch the woman in question, but got a response, and branch officials say it appears it removed her social media posts similar to the incident.
According to DLNR, the stone-throwing images were released before this month.
Jordan “Kama” Lee-Loy, a nature reserve formula specialist with DLNR’s Forest and Wildlife Division, said, “It came here and it was a clever concept to throw stones into the lake. There are several obvious reasons why this is disturbing, either because of the ecological network that lives here and because of the local Hawaiian network. It can be considered disrespectful to throw giant rocks into a position that Hawaiian culture reveres and holds in such high esteem.
Located 13,000 feet from Mauna Kea, Lake Waiau is culturally and in Hawaiian mythology, 3 deities (goddesses) inhabited the area.
Signs near the trailhead leading to the lake obviously identify Waiau as a sacred Hawaiian site. It is forbidden to swim, the use of boats and the stacking of stones. One panel explains that “the natural domain reserve formula was created to protect representative examples of herbs, history, land, and aquatic spaces that are unique Hawaiian ecoformulas. “Ask all visitors to help keep the reserves in their herbal state.
Lee-Loy says that while the woman might not have sought to be disrespectful, she would like her to perceive the point of apparent disrespect towards other people who stop at Lake Waiau culturally and ancestrally and have ties to the post. “Possibly it wouldn’t have meant w, whenever you stop at a position and are not familiar with cultural practices, the most productive concept is perceiving the connection with other people and how you can stop at a position with respect without causing interruptions or disrespectful actions,” he said.
Provisions left on the shores of Lake Waiau also caught Lee-Loy’s attention. “We don’t need to restrict classical and standard practices, but I’m pretty sure an orange left as a provision isn’t culturally significant. be careful not to inadvertently introduce invasive species such as ants or non-native plants by leaving them as provisions’.
Lake Waiau is one of the highest lakes in the United States, its longitude fluctuates significantly as water degrees change, largely depending on the amount of precipitation coming from snow and rain, and lately it is surrounded by a blanket of snow.