A $33 million trust fund set up with federal money to restore Kaho'olawe has dwindled to $20 million, endangering efforts to revive the island as a center of Native Hawaiian culture.

Without spending cuts and new revenue sources, the money will run out in five years, according to Michael K. Naho'opi'i, newly appointed executive director of the Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Commission, a seven-member panel tasked with managing the island in trust until it can be transferred to a sovereign Native Hawaiian entity.

"We are not living within our means, and if we don't do anything, we will lose it all in five years," Naho'opi'i said.

The Kaho'olawe Rehabilitation Trust Fund reported revenue of $1.2 million and expenditures of $5.5 million in fiscal 2007. The commission budgeted spending this year at $6.8 million.

Kaho'olawe, the smallest of the main Hawaiian islands, was largely denuded by more than a century of ranching and military target practice.

The struggle of the grassroots Protect Kaho'olawe 'Ohana to wrest control of the island from the Navy and a subsequent $400 million ordnance cleanup project were well-publicized milestones in Hawai'i history, but the saga is far from over, Naho'opi'i said.

A new effort is quietly under way to defeat a foe almost as daunting as the military's bombs and bullets — erosion by wind and water that threatens the island's precious reefs, hillsides and archeological sites, he said.

"It was a big issue in the 1970s and 1980s and a big issue in the '90s, and now that the clearing is done, people have forgotten about Kaho'olawe," Naho'opi'i said.

Kaho'olawe, also known as Kanaloa, is considered a pu'u honua (refuge) and wahi pana (sacred place), where the Native Hawaiian culture and lifestyle can flourish and spread throughout the Islands.

Official recognition of a sovereign Native Hawaiian entity is not expected anytime soon, so the Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Commission likely will manage the island for years to come.

Naho'opi'i called efforts to restore the 45-square-mile island's environment and cultural heritage "a generational project: It's something our children and grandchildren will have to take on."

Similarly, the need for financial support will outlive current funding earmarked for the project.

DIVERSIFICATION DESIRED

The trust fund pays for virtually all of the commission's administrative and operational costs. State law bans commercial use of the reserve, so income so far has come from grants and interest from the trust fund.

The Kaho'olawe commission has placed the need to increase and diversify the trust fund at the top of its proposed list of strategic goals for the next five years.

Dr. Emmett Aluli, commission chairman and Protect Kaho'olawe 'Ohana member, said the "aggressive action plan" to ensure new funding and self-sustainability will try to tap into Native Hawaiian trusts, such as the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and Kamehameha Schools, state and federal agencies, nonprofits, and corporate and individual contributors.

"Given the KIRC volunteer and PKO stewardship access participant experiences on island, we have a critical mass of individuals, schools and organizations who I know will contribute to our efforts," he said. "Partnerships ... will be essential to our success."

In the meantime, cost-cutting measures include using a boat instead of helicopters for passenger and cargo transportation between Maui and Kaho'olawe. There are no harbors on the island, which is seven miles off Maui's southern coast, so vessel transport is not always practical.

The commission expects transportation costs to drop from approximately $90,000 a month to $3,600 a month once it switches to landing-craft operations using a vessel acquired last year, said outreach specialist Ellen Pelissero. The craft will be able to load and unload passengers and cargo directly onto the beach at the Honokanai'a Bay base camp on the southwest end of the island.

Those operations will begin once an environmental assessment is completed.

The agency expects to realize additional savings by switching to a smaller generator than the massive unit left by the Navy, and retrofitting structures with other energy-saving devices and designs, Pelissero said.

SEEN AS STEP FORWARD

The recent appointment of Naho'opi'i, a former Navy lieutenant who was involved in the Kaho'olawe cleanup project, is seen as another step toward a tighter-running organization.

Because of the threat of unexploded ordnance left behind after the 10-year Navy cleanup, access to the island will always be limited, Naho'opi'i said.

In addition to the Kaho'olawe commission's base camp at Honokanai'a, the Protect Kaho'olawe 'Ohana maintains a camp at Hakioawa Bay on the north end of the island to carry out its own cultural and restoration programs under a stewardship agreement.

Aluli said the combined vision of the Kaho'olawe commission and the 'Ohana is that the island serve as a cultural preserve "to continue the Native Hawaiian experiences of our kupuna."

He said a cultural use plan is being developed with the Edith Kanaka'ole Foundation.

"I envision small cultural settlements for fishing, healing, navigation, and education halau, with haku 'aina 'ohana living there to learn and continue the traditional customs and practices of our experiences in these areas, with the anticipation that this kua 'aina responsibility will be transferred to other areas of our pa 'aina."