Hundreds of acres of land in North Kohala have been re-dedicated to conservation by a nonprofit that purchased the land last year.
In April 2022, the Hawaiian Islands Land Trust entered into an agreement with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources to acquire 642 acres of land across 11 contiguous parcels in Mahukona, located on Highway 270 about seven miles southwest of Hawi that previously were slated for resort development. The land is dotted with ancient Hawaiian structures and is considered to be culturally significant.
But the agreement was technically invalid thanks to a minor clerical error, said David Smith, administrator of the DLNR’s Division of Forestry and Wildlife, at a Friday meeting of the Board of Land and Natural Resources.
Because the agreement entailed the Hawaiian Islands Land Trust — or HILT — receiving a $4 million land acquisition grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, all parties involved, including HILT and the DLNR, were required to sign a Notice of Federal Participation.
But Smith said the state attorney general’s office determined that the BLNR chair did not receive state approval to sign that notice last year, requiring the matter to once again go before the board for approval.
“Otherwise (DLNR) isn’t really involved, although we are involved tangentially because we’re subgranting to help with the purchase of the property,” Smith said, explaining that DLNR’s primary role in the transaction is simply to pass on the $4 million federal grant to HILT.
With the transaction approved for real this time, HILT will be able to secure the land using the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grant and other funding, including up to $8 million from Hawaii County, a $3 million grant from the Legacy Land Conservation Program, and $1 million in private contributions.
After acquiring the land from its current private owner — which HILT estimates will happen by October — the land will be declared the Mahukona Navigational and Cultural Preserve to protect the land indefinitely.
“This is an extremely special piece of property,” Smith said, adding that his parents used to live in the area. “At one point (in the ’90s), it was slated to be developed for a resort, and I was beside myself. To have it purchased and protected is unbelievable.”
Shae Kamakaala, HILT’s director of ‘aina protection, said the land includes more than 150 documented cultural sites, many of which are largely still intact, including the Ko‘a Heiau Holomoana, an ancient heiau used by Native Hawaiian and Pacific navigators.
“Yes, it’s located on Hawaii Island, but it really speaks to the wealth and breadth of our practice as Hawaiians throughout the Pacific,” Kamakaala said. “This heiau was utilized by voyagers throughout the entire Pacific. … Navigators from throughout the Pacific would bring pohaku (stones) to this heiau.
“Working with an archaeology Ph.D student … we were not able to factually determine where the rocks that make up this heiau are from, but we did determine that they are not all from Hawaii,” Kamakaala went on.
Big Island BLNR member Riley Smith said that another site on the land is a structure where Hawaiians built their voyaging canoes.
Meanwhile, the land also is home to several native species, including the endangered Hawaiian hoary bat. After establishing the preserve, HILT’s secondary objective is to develop restoration plans to improve native habitats there and mitigate the encroachment of invasive species.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.