Puna, Hawaii

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Puna (which literally means “spring”) is one of the 9 districts of the Island of Hawaiʻi (Big Island). It is located on the windward side (eastside) of the island and shares borders with South Hilo district in the north and Kaʻū district in the west. With its size of almost 320,000 acres, Puna is almost as big as the island of Oʻahu.

The biggest economy of the area is agriculture and Puna has been called the papaya and Anthurium capital of the world. Tourism is the second biggest part of the economy.

The affordable housing prices have led to an enormous increase in developments in Puna, and have made this district the fastest growing area on the Big Island. In the last 20 years the population has grown by nearly 20,000 people and it is estimated that Puna will have a higher population than Hilo by 2020. However, between 2002 and 2006 the price of houses more than doubled and the price of vacant land increased over fivefold, as increasing numbers of people from outside the district (often from the mainland U.S.) bought into the last affordable market in the state.

However, homeowners insurance is notoriously difficult to secure in Puna, squarely because the whole of Puna is located in Lava Flow Hazard Zones 1, 2 and 3.[1] In particular, the entire Kīlauea rift zone region is in Zone 1, and the entire southeastern slope is in Zone 2. Most home insurance companies will not cover homes in Zone 1 or 2 at all, and all of the companies that do provide insurance for these homes are located in Hawaiʻi.[2] Indeed, most of the volcanic destruction of private property in Hawaiʻi since the 20th century has occurred in Puna, including the destructions of Kapoho, Royal Gardens, Kalapana and Kaimū.[3]

The climate could be called mild tropical climate with an abundance of rain, especially in the northern parts and areas of higher elevation. The terrain is characterized by gentle slopes with no defined waterways. Although rainfall is occasionally very heavy (one storm in 2003 brought 36 inches (90 cm) of rain in 24 hours), flooding is rare due to the slope and porosity of the volcanic rock. The vegetation ranges from rainforest to desert shrub and coastal strand. Large areas of native forest are present in the Wao Kele o Puna and Kahauala tracts.

Besides visiting the active Kīlauea volcano and the currently active vents of its southeastern rift zone, one of the most interesting sites of the Puna district is the heated tide pools, in which ocean water is naturally heated through geothermal energy.

The first geothermal well in Hawaiʻi tapping volcanic steam for energy was drilled in 1976 in the Puna district.