OLA MAHUKONA
Mahukona on Hawaiʻi Island’s Kohala Coast has been slated for resort development for years but the Kohala community and Mahukona’s voyagers have long since hoped for the land’s protection. Mahukona is a historic training ground for traditional Hawaiian navigators. The lands include hundreds of ancient cultural sites including Koʻa Heiau Holomoana, an ancient site of worship revered by navigators from all over the Pacific. Mahukona’s clear night skies, free from light pollution, allow for star study, and the combination of its calm bay and rough deep ocean waters create the ideal environment to train young navigators. Today, the nonprofit Nā Kalai Waʻa teaches the next generation of navigators at Mahukona, and drydocks the traditional canoe Makaliʻi on site.
As abundant as Mahukona is in history and culture, it is equally abundant in native species. Mahukona’s clean turquoise waters teem with native fish, rays, dolphins, and whales. Endangered ʻŌpeʻapea (Hawaiian Hoary Bats) feed there, and native coastal plants grow along the shoreline.
Please be part of the effort to purchase and forever protect this irreplaceable part of the Kohala Coastline by making a donation today.
Being of a place from Hawaiian perspective is to know the names of the hills, rains, and winds. Names assign importance and intimacy as kin. The elements of a name can be an exploratory into the characteristic of these natural features. This ohe kapala design serves a simple first step learning about the winds of Kohala. Inspired by a description of the apaʻapaʻa wind, the linear elements represent the wind movement through the triangles which are the famous hills of Kohala.
Hawaiʻi Land Trust worked with the Kohala community, Nā Kālai Waʻa, and County, State and Federal partners, to secure the purchase and permanent protection of Mahukona’s 642 acres to remain undeveloped and a place where culture, environment, and people not just continue to survive, but thrive for future generations.
This merchandise features a design celebrating Mahukona created by Kuhao Zane from design firm Sig Zane Kaiao.
FOR DECADES, THE KOHALA COMMUNITY HAS BEEN WORKING TO PROTECT MAHUKONA.
And now, Hawaiʻi Land Trust is working with the Kohala community and Nā Kālai Waʻa, the current stewards of Koʻa Heiau Holomoana, to ensure the land remains undeveloped, available for public coastal trail access and education, and an active place of Hawaiian cultural practice. Hawaiʻi Land Trust and the current private landowner have signed an agreement for Hawaiʻi Land Trust to purchase the land.
With the support of the growing list of supporters below, we have raised over $19.2 million toward our total project need of $20 million. While the purchase and protection is complete, we are still working to raise the remaining funds to ensure our ability to steward this ʻāina into perpetuity. Please join us! Your support today will allow us to forever steward Mahukona’s many cultural sites, view planes, ecology, and ensure traditional Hawaiian navigation continues at its source.
Children from Nā Kālai Waʻa perform traditional ceremony at sunset on the summer solstice at Koʻa Holomoana, Mahukona, Hawaiʻi
OLA MAHUKONA WILL PROTECT A HAWAIIAN CULTURAL LANDSCAPE
The 642-acre Mahukona property includes the coastal regions of six ahupuaʻa (historic land divisions), from north to south - Kapaʻa Nui, Kou, Kamano, Mahukona, Hihiu, and Kaoma. This expansive cultural landscape with ancient cultural sites throughout, provides space for Hawaiian cultural practice and habitat for a variety of native marine animals and plants.
The cultural significance of Mahukona largely centers around its key location for traditional navigation, as its dynamic winds and currents provide ideal conditions for training. It is home to Koʻa Holomoana, a navigational heiau located on the bluffs of Kamanō bay. The heiau is known throughout the Pacific and to this day, visiting navigators often make a pilgrimage to the heiau upon arrival in the islands. As a young navigator, one is able to experience and train in ripping rough water currents and heavy winds as you near the ʻAlenuihāhā channel, and swiftly navigate back to the calmer waters and lighter leeward breezes of Mahukona.
To date, 175 ancient cultural sites have been identified including four heiau (places of worship), agricultural and housing villages and complexes, shrines, burials, and ancient trails including the alaloa. In addition to the ancient sites, many historic sites from when Mahukona harbor was the main sugar plantation port, and much of the land was ranched remain from the late 1800s and early 1900s. The Kohala community and partners are committed to preserving and sharing the stories and traditions of Mahukona from ka wā kahiko (ancient times) to the rise of sugar and ranching, to the restoration and revitalization efforts happening at Mahukona today.
Today, Hawaiian navigators have revived star and elemental study and ceremony at Koʻa Heiau Holomoana, and the Hawaiian voyaging canoe and many other canoes can be seen sailing in Mahukona’s waters. The public harbor, clear coastal waters, and coastal trail are important recreational resources for the Kohala community and are used and loved by Hawaiʻi island residents and visitors. Youth education programs at Mahukona are thriving, and community is planning for cultural use and community native reforestation.
Once protected, the land will be owned for the community’s benefit by Hawaiʻi Land Trust. The land will be forever restricted by a conservation easement held by the County of Hawaiʻi. Our partner, Nā Kālai Waʻa will steward Koʻa Heiau Holomoana and associated navigational cultural sites, continue to drydock the sailing canoe Makaliʻi at Mahukona, and hold educational programs at Mahukona related to voyaging. Other partnerships for higher education, native coastal dryland reforestation, archaeological study, and more are forming.
MAHALO to our generous project partners and donors:
County of Hawaiʻi (Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Program)
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Recovery Land Acquisition Program), with assistance from the State of Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources
The State Legacy Land Conservation Program
Mortenson Family Foundation
Dorrance Family Foundation
Richard & Christine Karger
Mauna Kea Resort
Peter & Vicki Merriman
William & Lynn Swank
Metabolic Studio of Annenburg Foundation
The Mankoff Family
Hawaii Life
The Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation
Atherton Family Foundation
The Laurence H. Dorcy Hawaiian Foundation
The Sydney E. Frank Foundation
Christopher Lynn
Hawaiʻi Pacific Brokers, LLC
Harvey Calcutt
The Healy Foundation
Cynthia & Edwin Sorenson
Dale & Don Franzen
The Poha Fund
Tim Lee
Brian Ng & Jennifer Lee
Daniel & Donna Schoerner-Pitteri
Charlie Anderson
Andrew & Anne Strawbridge
Several anonymous donors and dozens of individuals and families whose passion for Mahukona and conserving Hawaiʻi’s most important lands sustains us.