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KAENA POINT — There’s a hand-written sign attached to an old telephone pole off the dirt road leading out to Kaena Point.

“Malama Da Aina — Take Care of the Land,” it reads.

One look at the land all around it tells a different story. The two-mile dirt path that leads out to the point where Oahu’s North and West shores meet is scarred with giant divots and mud puddles created by off-roading vehicles, ATVs and dirt bikes. Tire treads are seared into the sand. A rusted muffler peeks out of the bushes.

You’d hardly guess that out at the point there’s a nature preserve where you’ll find endangered Hawaiian monk seals, Laysan albatross and wedge-tailed shearwaters.

“It’s as close to any of us will come to experiencing life in Northwest Hawaiian Islands,” said Dan Quinn, state parks administrator with the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Indeed, on a recent Saturday, two endangered Hawaiian monk seals were play-fighting in the tide pools while a third snoozed on the rocks, sunning himself. Further inland, a fuzzy, brown albatross chick sat in the middle of a blanket of low shrubs in bloom atop the sand dunes.

The illegal off-roading happening just outside the preserve is hardly a new problem. It’s been an issue since before Kaena Point became a state park in the 1990s.

Hawaii law , open ground fires and use/possession of alcohol on state parklands. Yet the state says it doesn’t have enough resources to regularly enforce those laws.

The dirt access road is meant to give fishermen access to the ocean. But over the years, off-roaders carved out a spiderweb of illegal paths.

“For the most part it’s ignorance,” Quinn said. “They’ve been driving on dunes where we have endangered species and possible Hawaiian burials.”

“What we want to do is triage. We want to stop the bleeding and let the area begin to heal,” he said.

Some of the off-roaders are local. Some are military.

More enforcement help could be on the way soon. Last month, a U.S. Army commander invited DLNR to give a presentation on illegal 4-wheel drive usage in state parks to raise awareness.

It helps too that the new head of DLNR is William Aila Jr., a former Waianae harbormaster who led a citizens’ advisory committee to study Kaena Point’s problems and is intimately familiar with the issues.

In the next two months, DLNR will present an action plan to its board, suggesting a new management plan and restricting vehicle access with physical barriers and through permitting.

Until then, the lonely sign stands watch.

Malama the aina … so long as it’s convenient?

Malama the aina … before it’s too late.