The state Historic Preservation Division is being criticized by a group of Native Hawaiians and archaeologists that says it is severely understaffed and fails to meet its mission to protect Native Hawaiian burials.

At a news conference yesterday in front of the Queen Lili'uokalani statue at the state Capitol, the group calling itself the Friends of the Burials Protection Program said that hundreds of burial remains are being improperly stored when they should have been reinterred. While the Lingle administration has stated that proper care for Native Hawaiian burials is critical, priority is given to ensuring that development projects move expediently, group members said.

Peter Young, director of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, which oversees the division, acknowledged some of the issues raised but denied that the agency is favoring development interests at the expense of its mandate to properly care for burials.

Moses Haia, an attorney with the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., said the division has not fulfilled its mission. "We're here to discuss the serious lack of respect for the Native Hawaiian remains that, for the most part, remain in boxes stored in state facilities and other storage areas," Haia said.

The group said that while developments are allowed to move forward, boxes of iwi, or burial remains, continue to be stored in a shipping container exposed to the sun on Kaua'i, in a bathroom closet in Kona or under the Sam's Club/Wal-Mart parking lot in the Ke'eaumoku neighborhood.

Thomas Dye, president of the Society of Hawaiian Archaeology, said there is "widespread concern" in the archaeology community that the historic division staff has been overwhelmed by the workload. "We think it's a management/oversight issue."

David Brown, who had been the division's archaeology branch chief but whose contract was not renewed last summer, said his position and that of four others on the archaeological staff have remained vacant.

Brown said division administrator Melanie Chinen majored in political science and journalism in college. "She doesn't have the proper foundation or credentials to be in that position, nor to give directives or to sign off on documentation," he said.

Chinen said she disagrees that her job needs to be filled by an archaeologist. "The administrator needs to be a manager," she said.

While she did not always agree with Brown, Chinen said, she listened to the input of other experts on her staff.

Haia also suggested that there may be other considerations. "I see pressure from development resulting in the problems that we see today," he said.

DLNR's Young said that eight of 24 division positions are currently unfilled, although some are being staffed by temporary hires. The department has taken out ads seeking to fill the positions, and DLNR actually has an employment specialist at the Human Resources office.

Potential hires are simply choosing to take private sector jobs instead of government posts, Young said.

He said his agency is working with the Research Corp. of the University of Hawai'i to contractually take over some of the division's work.

The department and SHPD "are focused on returning iwi and reinterring them," he said, adding that one of the vacant positions they are seeking to fill would work solely on that goal. SHPD is not expediting work on behalf of developers at the expense of burial interests, Young said. "Nobody is telling us, and we're not telling anybody, to cut corners," he said.

Edward Haleloha Ayau, head of the cultural group Hui Malama I Na Kupuna 'O Hawai'i Nei, said while Native Hawaiian groups first brought up the concerns with Gov. Linda Lingle more than three years ago, "the program is worse off now than it was when we started these discussions," Ayau said.

Haia said the state should place a moratorium on land development statewide "unless and until a number of demands are met."

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com.