COMMUNITY VISION FOR THE ʻĀINA

Hāna Community ownership and stewardship of Mokae to Makaʻalae through Ke Ao Haliʻi includes:

• Protecting important ocean access

• Providing areas for subsistence fishing and shoreline gathering

• Protecting all the cultural sites and burials

• Safeguarding open space and viewplanes along the shoreline

• Retaining the connection between descendants and their ancestral lands

• Strengthening the connection between the broader community and the land

• Providing managed camping access

• Protecting the marine environment including many native ocean species

• Reintroducing native coastal plant species and establishing a native bird population

20 YEARS OF ʻĀINA PROTECTION

This effort builds on conservation work spanning nearly two decades. In 2002, HILT worked with landowner Hana Ranch Partners to permanently protect via conservation easement 46 acres fronting Pōhakuloa Bay at Makaʻalae. In 2014, HILT acquired two adjacent conservation easements totaling 14 acres fronting Opau Bay at Makaʻalae.

In 2018, descendants of this coastline and other Hāna community members came together to form the nonprofit Ke Ao Hāliʻi to conserve the remaining unprotected properties from Mokae to Makaʻalae in partnership with Hawaiʻi Land Trust, the State DLNR, and Maui County. 

FUNDING SUPPORT

Funds from the State Legacy Land Conservation Program, and the County of Maui’s Open Space Fund enabled a succession of purchases and conservation easements. In 2020, Ke Ao Hāliʻi purchased 27 acres at Mokae (Phase I), protected by a conservation easement held by Hawaiʻi Land Trust and Maui County. In 2021, Ke Ao Hāliʻi purchased 30 acres at Makaʻalae (Phase II), also protected by a conservation easement held by Hawaiʻi Land Trust and Maui County. In July 2022, Ke Ao Hāliʻi purchased 33 acres at Mokae (Phase III), again protected by a conservation easement held by Hawaiʻi Land Trust and Maui County. Private donors, foundations including The Freeman Foundation and many others, and local businesses supported HILT’s work on the efforts, and provided funding for our conservation easement stewardship endowment so that HILT can ensure that the conservation easement is being followed in perpetuity.

CONSERVATION CONTINUES

Hawaiʻi Land Trust and its partners are now working to purchase and conserve the last 8 unprotected acres between Hāmoa beach and Waioka Pond. After conserving these land lands, Hana Ranch Partners will generously donate to Ke Ao Hāliʻi the remaining parcels that were previously protected in conservation easements held by Hawai‘i Land Trust. After the completion of this final phase (Phase IV), all 160 acres of undeveloped lands makai of Hāna Highway from Hāmoa beach to Waioka pond will forever remain conserved. The land will be managed by Ke Ao Hāli‘i with help of the Hāna community and supporting partners through the implementation of a land management plan to enable community access and cultural, subsistence, agricultural and recreational uses, while preserving the conservation values of the land. The lands will be forever protected with perpetual conservation easements held and monitored by Hawaiʻi Land Trust.