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FMSS and LCS Integration at Kalaupapa NHP

Kalaupapa NHP
Thomas Fake
 
Kalaupapa National Historical Park, established in 1980, contains the physical setting for two tragedies in Hawaiian history. The first was the forced removal of indigenous people in 1865 and 1895 from an area where they had lived for over 900 years on the island of Molokai. This resulted in the cutting of cultural ties and the associations of generations of Hawaiian’s with the aina (land). The second tragedy was the forced isolation of thousands of Hawaiians, sick with leprosy, to this isolated settlement starting in 1866 until 1969. The establishment of the isolation settlement first at Kalawao and then at Kalaupapa was the governments response to the growing fear of the disease.

The community of Kalaupapa, on the leeward side of the Kalaupapa Peninsula, is still home for many surviving Hansen’s Disease patients. Many of the structures that support this community still exist today. There are distinctive neighborhoods that support many activities of daily life. Since 1980, when the park was established, the National Park Service in cooperation with the State of Hawaii Department of Health and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, has begun a process of transfer of historic structures over to the National Park Service care. This process includes a careful analysis of the historic value of the structure as well as the steps necessary for the future care. With over 400 buildings in the settlement it was necessary to prioritize buildings with the goal of preserving the cultural landscape of the neighborhoods. Over 200 buildings were identified as high priority for preservation.

Even before the establishment of the National Park, The Kalaupapa Leprosy Settlement was listed as National Historic Landmark on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. Many individual structures are now listed on the List of Classified Structures (LCS) by the National Park Service. The LCS database is an important record of information concerning each building. An important part of the ongoing management of the historic structures by the National Park Service is the use of a Geographic Information System (GIS) to map and integrate the LCS database. A detailed map was produced from digitized utility and survey maps showing the location of each structure. From these digitized maps, ArcView building shape files were developed with key data fields listing the LCS number for each building. The LCS data is joined with the map data to produce an interactive map with both building locations and detailed information about each building that is listed in the LCS database.

The next step in the preservation of the historic buildings took place in 2002 with the implementation of the National Park Service Facility Management Software System (FMSS). Each of the buildings in the settlement is entered as an asset into FMSS. Each of the structures is given an Asset Priority Index (API) which assigns an importance value to the building. The next process is to define the Current Replacement Value (CRV) for each of the structures. This number will be used to determine the condition relative to other structures. A condition assessment is completed on each structure and “work orders” are entered for the work to be completed on each structure. The total cost for the work orders is compared to the CRV and the API to produce an Asset Condition Index (ACI). The ACI indicates the condition of each structure from poor to good condition. The information is entered for each structure in FMSS then combined with the LCS data in the interactive ArcView map. The database for FMSS is stored in a central server in Washington, DC, but the data is accessible through reports. The reports can be assembled to be compatible with GIS. The Kalaupapa building shape files have the individual FMSS asset number and the two databases can be joined. The database for each building now lists the FMSS data. As new data is added to FMSS the joined database is also updated.

The use of ArcView GIS and the ability to join other databases with the GIS data has become an important tool to park managers to preserve historic resources at Kalaupapa.


April 08, 2004