Of all the myriad functions that sometimes overwhelm the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, the element that could be the most troublesome is often overlooked in the crush of seemingly more pressing public concerns.

It's the duty to carry out the state burial-protection law. Few outside the Native Hawaiian organizations and the developers who contend with this issue pay much heed to it, but the invariably knotty encounters with this law will continue to mire projects and whip up more conflict than necessary.

In the case of the Ward Village development, another example of poor communications has surfaced. The O'ahu Island Burial Council and the families who claim to be descended from individuals buried in the broad Kaka'ako area found out far too late that 36 additional sets of remains were unearthed at the site of the Whole Foods supermarket project.

In addition, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs has filed a complaint with DLNR alleging that it was not notified about the find as the law requires.

So far, there's no indication that the failure to notify the right people is anything more than a lapse, but it was a serious one. And it's a clear signal that reviewing the operations of the State Historic Preservation Division should be top of mind for Allan Smith, the interim DLNR director.

The fact that the historic preservation office has struggled to fill needed positions surely has contributed to the dysfunction. This problem needs to be solved before any other improvements could reasonably be expected.

The bottom line is that the law was established to enable developments to be planned with ample consideration for the wishes of descendants. Burials must be treated with respect, in any culture, and the families here need to have a voice in decisionmaking.

Leaving people out of the loop is not the way to achieve that goal.