Charmaine Kamaka, director of the county Parks and Recreation Department, meets with top officials today to review community input about the fate of two giant banyan trees in Honomu.
Charmaine Kamaka, director of the county Parks and Recreation Department, meets with top officials today to review community input about the fate of two giant banyan trees in Honomu.
“We’ll probably make a decision thereafter,” she said.
The trees memorialize World War II veterans and are overgrown. But they also draw tourists to Honomu. Some people want them removed. Others prefer saving them.
The nonprofit East Hawaii Outdoor Circle elected new officers “due to concern over the banyan trees in Honomu and on Banyan Drive (in Hilo).”
Officers include president Donald Inouye, who lives on Banyan Drive, and vice president Lowana Richardson, vice president/public relations Melanie Chong, secretary Rachel Bell and treasurer Carol Belt, all of Honomu.
A petition to save the trees can be found online at www.change.org/p/the-outdoor-circle-save-the-honomu-park-wwii-memorial-banyan-trees.