Twice Torched Bird Watch Overlook Remains Shut
The popular birdwatching spot in ʻEwa Beach had been closed, then reopened for barely a year before it was closed down again last August. Trespassing brings a hefty fine.
It’s a beautiful birdwatching location that has had some recent bad breaks.
The Betty Nagamine Bliss Memorial Overlook, a public boardwalk in ʻEwa Beach, offers views of rare Hawaiʻi wetlands and opportunities to spot several endangered bird species. Or it would, except it has been closed since Aug. 19, when it was damaged by a fire that someone probably set on purpose.
It had been destroyed by an earlier blaze — also thought to be arson — in December 2021. That rebuild took a year and a half.
“The overlook is important to educate, commune with nature, connect with nature, see these birds in a natural habitat,” said Todd Cullison, executive director of Hawaiʻi Nature Center. “For this to keep happening, it truly is just a tragedy and, you know, unexplainable.”
While the second fire did not destroy the overlook — which is in the Pearl Harbor National Wildlife Refuge and accessed via a foot and bike path — it caused structural damage.
The 200-foot long elevated boardwalk that leads to a viewing platform was opened in 2016. It was named for a McKinley High School teacher, Betty Nagamine, who fought for measures to mitigate the destruction of Hawaiian waterbird habitat in the 1970s caused by construction of the Honolulu Airport reef runway. Her advocacy is what led to the 1972 creation of the wildlife refuge.
The Bliss in the overlook’s name came from Herman Bliss, an airport division manager with the Federal Aviation Administration. Nagamine took her concerns about the impacted habitat to Bliss — and later ended up marrying him.
The overlook is located in the Honouliuli section of the refuge, home to the endangered ae‘o (Hawaiian stilt), ‘alae ke‘oke‘o (Hawaiian coot), ‘alae ‘ula (Hawaiian gallinule), and Koloa maoli (Hawaiian duck), and other migratory shorebirds and waterfowl, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
A wildlife service spokesperson said plans are underway to fix the overlook.
“Repairs to the overlook are planned for late summer and the overlook may open this fall,” Ivan Vicente said in an email.
The refuge will provide updates online once the project is complete and the overlook is reopened, he said. Currently that web page says the overlook is “closed indefinitely.”
The Honolulu Police Department, which had been investigating the fire, did not respond to an inquiry about whether any arrests have been made.
One cautionary note: A fence surrounds the burned overlook, with multiple signs warning the public that the area is closed. It is bent back in one spot, making it tempting to step in for a closer look. But for this reporter, who ventured inside the property to investigate reasons for the closure, giving in to that temptation turned out to be an expensive mistake, earning a $530 trespassing ticket compliments of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officer.
Who Is Responsible?
Pearl Harbor National Wildlife Refuge Manager Josh Ream, 808-688-6376
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