‘Ōpelu Point, Kukuiʻula, Kīpahulu

Size: 9.5 acres
Year Protected­: 2022
Land Protection Strategy: 
1) Return to Kīpahulu community ownership and stewardship through local nonprofit Kīpahulu ʻOhana.
2) Conservation Easement co-held by Hawaiʻi Land Trust & Maui County
Conservation Values: coastline protection which benefits marine ecosystem, cultural protection of traditional Kīpahulu farming and fishing practices, agricultural for healthy local food, water (freshwater spring protected which creates abundant estuary when it meets the ocean), community fishery management homebase, scenic viewplanes, ʻāina-based education.
Land Features: Shoreline fronting Lelekea bay used for subsistence fishing and gathering, coastal cliffs, fertile lands for farming and animal husbandry.

ABOUT ʿŌpelu Point

In this collaborative public-private effort, several Maui County departments, two nonprofits (Kīpahulu ʻOhana, and Hawaiʻi Land Trust), the Kīpahulu community, and a private landowner worked together to return ʿŌpelu Point, traditionally used to monitor Kīpahulu’s fishery, into the hands of the community. The property is located toward the western end of Kīpahulu overlooking Lelekea bay. The property serves as an important location in the management plan for the proposed Kīpahulu Moku Community-Based Subsistence Fishing Area (CBSFA), a traditional overlook to observe the activity and ecosystem at Lelekea Bay, a place of generational fish and limu harvest, and a spot that is at times heavily impacted by recreational users. ʿŌpelu Point provides a place where educational programs can be held to teach current and future generations about Kīpahulu’s traditional fishery management methods for collective abundance.