Our Work
We work in three programmatic areas: ʻĀina Protection, Stewardship, and Connection. We prioritize the protection of coastlines, wahi kupuna, and lands that grow healthy food for Hawaiʻi’s people, and partner to conserve mauka forests and ranches. We welcome thousands of residents, visitors, and students every year to learn about, enjoy, and help care for these lands, creating generational commitments and a shared value system around land stewardship.
Voluntary land protection provides the landowner, and community surrounding and connected to a property, with a win-win method to preserve areas that are integral to Hawaiʻi’s health. Protecting and restoring wahi kupuna creates sanctuaries for Hawaiʻi’s native plants and animals, many of which are found nowhere else in the world, preserves and often revives the function of ancient cultural sites, and increases Hawaiʻi’s resilience to the effects of climate change.
Protect
We strive to protect entire landscapes, establishing reciprocal relationships with the land. When HILT works to protect a place, we meaningfully engage kamaʻāina, lineal descendants, and the surrounding community.
Steward
We welcome and encourage stewardship of HILT’s lands by everyone. In places where HILT owns land, we collaborate with landowners, farmers, descendants, and other stewards to collectively care for the entire ahupuaʻa from peak to reef.
Connect
We educate learners of all ages and empower community to mālama ʻāina, which grows into aloha ʻāina. We work collaboratively with others in the ahupuaʻa because a connected community is a resilient community.