The Maui News

Another 33 acres along the East Maui coast will be placed under permanent protection as the Hana community moves closer to its long-held dream of conserving more than 150 acres of undeveloped land along the coastline.

The community has been driving the effort to purchase, permanently protect and steward the 1.5 miles stretching from Hamoa Beach at Mokae to Makaalae Point and Waioka Pond just south of Hana town. These lands are critical to preserving Maui’s food-producing lands, open spaces and biocultural resources, according to a news release from Hana-based nonprofit Ke Ao Hali’i, Maui County, the state and the Hawai’i Land Trust, which partnered to acquire the land.

“Growing up in Hana was all about family, togetherness, freedom and survival. The ehukai refreshed, energized and empowered,” said Sam Akoi IV, a subsistence gatherer, practitioner and board member of Ke Ao Hali’i. “This is why I’m a part of Ke Ao Hali’i, to ensure all of our Hana families have the opportunity to feel cleansed, empowered, safe, loved, capable. Ke Ao Hali’i’s securing of the coastal land gives Hana Hawaiians a place away from the eyes of the world to be ourselves.”

Maui County contributed a grant of $2,469,300, while the state Legacy Land Conservation Program put in $1,194,000. Hawai’i Land Trust and Ke Ao Hali’i raised private funds from The Freeman Foundation, while community members donated in-kind services needed for the acquisition.

“The success of Ke Ao Hali’i and its partners to secure the integrity of lands at Mokae II and save the Hana coast for future generations is a powerful example of how community-based land conservation for our islands can be supported with public and private funding,” said state Department of Land and Natural Resources Chairperson Suzanne Case. “Working together, the DLNR, Maui County, Ke Ao Hali’i and Hawai’i Land Trust have now completed three of the five Maui land acquisitions to date that were assisted with grants from the LLCP, with more on the horizon.”

Mayor Michael Victorino added that “preserving 30 acres of coastline is absolutely the right thing to do.”

“The relationship between Native Hawaiians and the ‘aina is everlasting, so this is a precious gift for all, including past generations and generations to come,” he said.

The project spans two decades of cooperative efforts between Hana Ranch Partners, Maui County’s Open Space Program, the state Legacy Land Conservation Program, Hawai’i Land Trust and members of the Hana community, according to the news release.

In 2002, Hawai’i Land Trust worked with landowner Hana Ranch Partners on the land trust’s first conservation easement in the state, permanently protecting 46 acres at Makaalae fronting what Hana families know as Pohakuloa Bay. In 2014, the land trust was able to protect an additional 14 acres at Makaalae with conservation easements.

United in a mission to “save Hana coast,” community members in 2018 created Ke Ao Hali’i, which partnered with the Hawai’i Land Trust, the state and the county to complete its first purchase of 27 acres at Mokae overlooking Hamoa Beach in March 2020. The area became known as Mokae I.

In November, Ke Ao Hali’i again partnered with the state, county and the land trust to acquire another 30 acres at Makaalae Point.

In June, the acquisition of another 33 acres known as Mokae II closed the gap in conserving the lands adjacent and between those protected in 2020 and 2021.

A future fourth phase is in the works that would involve Hana Ranch Partners donating to Ke Ao Hali’i the underlying fee ownership of the 56 acres previously placed under conservation easements in 2002 and 2014, as well as a 7-acre parcel along Hana Highway. Ke Ao Hali’i and the Hawai’i Land Trust are working together to ensure permanent protection via conservation easement of all lands that Ke Ao Hali’i has acquired.

“The conservation easement will prohibit subdivision and development, protect indigenous ocean food systems and Hawaiian gathering practices, support local agriculture and maintain community access in perpetuity,” said Laura Kaakua, president and chief executive officer of Hawai’i Land Trust. “When you are at Mokae feeling the ocean breeze, seeing the local community fish and walking past ancient sites, you can’t help but be grateful that Mokae is still here. We are thankful for the generous support of our public and private partners, and our local communities, who came together to permanently safeguard this irreplaceable wahi kupuna (place of the ancestors).”

To learn more about the effort, visit savehanacoast.org/campaign.