Protected Lands: Molokaʻi
Pōhakupili & Pu‘u O Hoku, Pōhakupili, Lepehu, and Honoulimalo, Kona
We save land however possible through collaborations with willing landowners. Working together, great things happen—like nearly 2,800 acres preserved in East Moloka‘i.
Size: 2,773 acres
Year Protected: 2006 and 2007
Land Protection Strategy: Conservation easement
Conservation Values: Agriculture and open space, archaeological and cultural preservation, and habitat for native plants and animals
Land Features: Coastal land, marine shoreline, open space, native ecotypes
Pōhakupili Aerial
About Pu‘u O Hoku Ranch
Pu‘u O Hoku Ranch’s 13,000 acres of stunning beauty on the eastern end of Moloka‘i have remained intact since the original royal land grant to Paul Fagan in the 1800s. In 1987, ownership passed to Lavinia Currier who signed a conservation easement with the Land Trust in 2006. The protected lands encompass more than three miles of shoreline, as well as pasturelands and hillsides climbing to the edge of the Moloka‘i Forest Reserve. The easements also conserve 87 coastal acres adjacent to Pōhakupili Bay.
Pu‘u O Hoku Ranch continues to own and work the land in an ecologically sensitive manner. The working organic ranch encompasses several intact ahupua‘a (watershed systems), which its owner has not only preserved as open space, but is actively restoring to a healthy ecosystem.
East Moloka‘i supported thriving Hawaiian communities prior to Western contact. Under this easement all documented cultural sites are forever protected including Ulukukui o Lanikaula, the sacred kukui grove said to be the burial place of the famous 16th century Hawaiian prophet Lanikaula.
This exquisite working ranch will remain in agriculture as an expansive natural landscape thanks to Lavinia Currier’s conservation easement agreements with the Hawaiian Islands Land Trust.
