WAILUA – A massive makeover at Fern Grotto and the Wailua Marina – a world renowned Kaua‘i visitor attraction — was unveiled by Kaua‘i County officials Friday.
The nine-month “rejuvenation” project involved removal of invasive trees on hillsides and interior areas of Fern Grotto and the marina and jungle growth from sidewalks that bring visitors to the Fern Grotto cavern, creation of a second waterfall in the grotto and installation of solar panels to power pumps to bring water from the Wailua Reservoir to the Fern Grotto.
Other work included repair of the grotto’s restroom roof and the painting of the structure and replacement of ironwood trees by the marina with other trees and planting of native trees at the grotto.
Kamika Smith, general manger of Smith’s Boat, said the Fern Grotto is regarded by visitors as having one of “most beautiful tropical rainforests” in the Pacific, and the rejuvenation work will enhance the offering for new and return visitors.
Smith said drought conditions by the grotto had gotten so bad over the past ten years that the ferns on hillsides above a world-renowned cavern that make up the attraction dried up in mass.
At one point, his company primarily marketed the river tour and performances by hula dancers and musicians, giving a scant mention of the Fern Grotto, site of hundreds of weddings in the past, Smith said. “Now it is (because of the restoration).”
The work is the first time in recent memory that the grotto and the Wailua Marina have gone through an extensive clean-up, said Beth Tokioka, head of the County of Kaua‘i’s Office of Economic Development, who accompanied reporters on a tour of the grotto Friday morning.
Her office played a key role in bringing the state funds to Kaua‘i for the project.
“Safety for the workers (of Smith’s Motor Boat Service Inc.) and visitors was the number one concern during this project. It is going to be much safer and a better visitor attraction.” said Lelan Nishek, president of the Kaua‘i Nursery & Landscaping Inc., the largest landscaping company on Kaua‘i.
The county awarded the project to Nishek’s company after he submitted cost projections for the work and an acceptable design proposal.
On the average, 125,000 visitors come to the Fern Grotto each year, Smith said of his family-owned and -run business, which was started by his grandparents, Water J. Smith and his wife, Emily, in 1946.
Smith’s Boats, now led by Kamika’s father, Walter J. “Freckles” Smith Jr. , a longtime Kaua‘i visitor industry leader, holds a state lease to operate the river concession, which brings visitors and residents to the Fern Grotto on ingenuously designed river boats.
Smith’s Boat also operates Smith’s Tropical Paradise, a repository of native plants and site of a festive lu‘au and Polynesian show that’s staged several nights a week.
The rejuvenation work was funded with $245,000 from the Hawaii Tourism Authority, $50,000 in funds from Kaua‘i County and several hundred thousand dollars in “in-kind” contributions from the state Department of Land and Natural Resources; East Kaua‘i Water Users Cooperative; Smith’s Motor Boat Services; Waialeale Boat Services; Kauai Nursery and the Kaua‘i Chamber of Commerce.
The biggest improvement was the installation of a bank of six solar-photovoltaic panels above the ridgeline above the Fern Grotto.
The panels generate electricity to power pumps that bring water from the Wailua Reservoir to the grotto, according to Ed Mundo Reyes, a Kauai Nursery foreman who worked on the project.
The reservoir water runs through a pipe that was installed above the grotto, and through a valve, regulates the amount of water that cascades to the grotto floor.
The same pipe also brings water to a second waterfall that was created as part of the work, Reyes said. “It is something extra for the visitors. It is nice,” he said.
The need for the improvements had its genesis four years ago, when people noticed sword ferns on the hillside dry up, officials said.
The plants, which are an integral part of the grotto, were previously fed by “ground seepage” from canefields in Wailua managed by Lihue Plantation and by water from the Wailua Reservoir, Nishek said.
Due to lack of profitability, Lihue Plantation leaders closed the 150-year-old plantation in 2001, and also stopped operating the reservoir.
The lack of irrigation water caused the cliffside ferns to dry up.
Officials credited Nalani Brun, a tourism specialist with the county Office of Economic Development, with mobilizing efforts to save the ferns, spurring the massive rejuvenation plant project.
After Brun got phone calls about the problem, she secured $245,000 in funding from the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority and the help of others for the project. The $50,000 in county funds subsequently were released for the work.
“We didn’t even know the money was there,” Smith said. “We really thank her.”
Tokioka praised Brun for her initiative, and said “she deserves all the credit. She is amazing.”
The water feeding the grotto comes from the reservoir, which is located on land owned by Grove Farm.
The East Kaua‘i Water Users Cooperative has an agreement with the state to take care of an irrigation system and other water facilities in East Kaua‘i that help bring water to the grotto.
Smith also thanked Grove Farm and the East Kauai Water Users for their cooperation in providing water to the grotto.
The rejuvenation work is long overdue, because of the lack of state employees to properly maintain the grotto, Nishek contends.
In the past, as many as a dozen state workers took care of the site, Opaeka‘a Falls and other state properties in East Kaua‘i, Smith said.
Now the areas are cared for by only four or five workers, Smith said.
The rejuvenation plant work was carried out by six Kauai Nursery employees with horticulture skills between January and this month, Reyes said.
For the job, small earth-moving equipment and a grinder, which grounded cut trees and debris, were transported by a watercraft with pontoons to the grotto, Nishek said.
He said the work was multi-faceted, noting his crew:
- Removed twisted hau bush that blanketed hillsides and overgrown plum trees and branches that posed safety hazards. “The biggest thing was to open up the area,” Nishek said.
Lester Chang, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and lchang@pulitzer.net
