A woman caught attention of conservation managers and law enforcement, after posting photos of large rocks being thrown into Lake Waiau earlier this month.

Lake Waiau is Located at the 13,000-foot-level of Mauna Kea and is culturally significant and in Hawaiian mythology, three deities inhabited the area.  Signs near the trailhead to the lake identify Waiau as a Hawaiian sacred site where swimming, use of watercraft, and rock piling are prohibited.

In a press release, Jordan “Kama” Lee-Loy, a specialist with the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife Natural Area Reserve system said, “She came up here and decided it was a good idea to throw rocks into the lake. There are several obvious reasons this is upsetting, both to the ecological community that lives here and to the Native Hawaiian community. It can be seen as pretty disrespectful tossing large rocks into a place that Hawaiian culture reveres and holds in such high regard.”  Lee-Loy also said while the woman may not have meant to be disrespectful, he would like her to understand the level of obvious disrespect for the people who visit Lake Waiau culturally, ancestrally, and have ties to the place.

Lake Waiau is one of the highest elevation lakes in the U.S. Its size fluctuates considerably as water levels change, largely dependent on precipitation amounts from snow and rain

Photo credit: DLNR