A month after Hurricane Lowell hit Kauai, the state's only remaining traditional salt-making site is damaged and the surrounding park is still shut — bad news for the families who keep the practice alive.

• Three feet of sand buried part of Salt Pond Beach Park, and big waves wiped out a protective dune built to shield the salt beds.
• The sand is the real problem: mixed into the clay, it lets saltwater drain away instead of holding it in the beds.
• Twenty-two families still make salt here, and they had waited years to get the dune project funded and planted before the storm destroyed it.
• The park also has broken water lines and no reopening date, though the county backs the restoration effort.
• Rising big surf, king tides, and rainier dry seasons were already making salt production harder year to year.

Outlook: A community work day on Saturday will start clearing debris and rebuilding the dunes, but the park's reopening remains open-ended.