Keith Robinson (Niihau owner)

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For other persons of the same name, see Keith Robinson.
Keith Robinson
Nationality Flag of the United States American
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight 75 kg (170 lb)
Religious beliefs Episcopal Church in the United States of America
Spouse None
Children None

Keith Robinson is the manager of the Kauai Wildlife Reserve, a Botanical Garden on the Hawaiian Island of Kauai.[1] As an heir of Eliza Sinclair, Keith owns the Hawaiian island of Niihau with his brother Bruce Robinson. His distinctive traits include wearing denim jeans, a green hard hat, and a Glock pistol in a shoulder holster, carrying a machete, and driving a 1984 Nissan 4x4 pickup truck. Keith Robinson stands 5'10" tall and weighs 165 lbs.[2]

Keith attended University of California Davis and graduated with a degree in agronomy and ranch management. After college, Keith served in the US Army before returning to Hawaii. Upon returning to Hawaii, Keith worked Koolau Ranch on Kauai seven years and operated a commercial fishing vessel on Kauai for another seven years.

Keith Robinson has been credited for keeping numerous plants from becoming extinct,[3] including the Cyanea Pinnatifida grown by Keith Robinson, but still on the list of extinct plants. "I've spent eighteen years and more than $250,000 doing this work, and I estimate it would cost the government or environmental groups $10-20 million to create a comparable reserve. I've done all phases of it myself; scouting, seed collecting, seed germination, planting, transplanting, watering, growing, fencing, fertilizing, and insecticide spraying. In most environmental groups or botanical gardens, the work is highly compartmentalized. You get your plant scouts, your seed collectors, your nurserymen, and people on the grounds. They all have different duties, and their duties never change, so none of them has a broad overview of what's going on. They don't know what specific problems there are at various stages where you're trying to produce the plants."[4]

Keith Robinson has openly expressed concerns about his family's ability to continue to maintain private ownership of Niihau due to government and environmental groups. There are environmental lawsuits against the family by groups such as Earthjustice,[5] and paying taxes on the island casts an extremely heavy burden on the profits of the Robinsons' interests in agricultural companies on Kauai. Keith Robinson has compared his plight on Niihau to Ruby Ridge and the Waco Siege, threatening to defend his island with force if necessary.[6]

Keith and Bruce Robinson have been offered over one billion dollars US for Niihau, and turned it down.[7] Keith had repeatedly expressed his hopes to keep Niihau private to preserve the environment and traditions of the 150 to 200 native Hawaiian inhabitants and has occasionally taken large losses to do so. Keith has stated "I estimate that we have lost somewhere between $8-9 million trying to keep people employed. This figure does not count income loss from giving free housing and free meat to a community of 150-200 people."[8]

[edit] References

  1. ^ [Other Views by Keith Robinson 1997 http://starbulletin.com/97/07/28/editorial/otherviews.html]
  2. ^ Nurturing Natives http://starbulletin.com/97/07/14/features/story4.html]
  3. ^ [Hawaii Plantsman Confounds Greenies http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_5_19/ai_97874292]
  4. ^ [Hawaii's rare breeds: after decades of solitary effort to save Hawaii's rarest plants, one man halts his efforts in response to government-environmentalist attacks private property rights. http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-4636133/Hawaii-s-rare-breeds-after.html]
  5. ^ [Hawaii Plantsman Confounds Greenies http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_5_19/ai_97874292]
  6. ^ [Robinson Crusader 2005 documentary http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0495623/]
  7. ^ [Robinson Crusader 2005 documentary http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0495623/]
  8. ^ [Other Views by Keith Robinson 1997 http://starbulletin.com/97/07/28/editorial/otherviews.html]
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