More than $1.2 million in Hawaii County grants was awarded to various Big Island nonprofits to maintain over 3,400 acres of conservation land.
The county’s Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Commission identifies lands around the county worthy of preservation and recommends grant funding to nonprofits to continue to steward those parcels.
The County Council on Wednesday approved 11 grants to eight nonprofits for a wide range of projects.
The single largest award went to the group Malama O Puna, which received $398,569 to steward over 150 acres of land in lower Puna stretching from Government Beach Road to the sea.
That grant will be used to develop a land stewardship plan and make security and access improvements to the parcel, called the Wai‘ele property.
Malama O Puna executive director Eileen O’Hara told the council on Wednesday that the Wai‘ele particularly needs anti-pig measures, as the ungulates are rampant in the area and tear apart vegetation.
“The property needs pig protection, and fencing an area this big is very expensive,” O’Hara said.
In addition, Hawaii Environmental Restoration received about $30,000 across two grants for additional work in the same area. The greater of the grants, about $23,500, would be used to maintain trails on the property, while the remainder would be used to develop a georeference database that would catalogue various historically, culturally or environmentally sensitive sites throughout the area.
Another large-scale beneficiary was the Ala Kahakai Trail Association, which received three grants totaling more than $250,000 to develop community resource management plans for a pair of areas in Ka‘u — Kaunamano and Kiolaka‘a — each more than 1,000 acres across. Another $132,500 to the association would be used to hire contractors and an intern to support maintenance efforts across several Ala Kahakai-managed parcels.
The remaining five beneficiaries included:
• The Friends of Amy BH Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, which will receive $223,200 to maintain the garden’s facilities and improve its educational outreach efforts;
• Pohaha I Ka Lani, receiving $114,900 to reduce invasive species, propagate native plants and educate users about the cultural significance of a 1.8-acre parcel at the Waipio Valley lookout;
• The Kohala chapter of the Hawaii Farmers Union, which will use $56,900 to develop a management plan at Banyan Trees Park in North Kohala;
• Kohanaiki ‘Ohana, to receive $41,400 to remove invasives and conduct beach clean-ups along a 217-acre parcel on ‘O‘oma Beach just south of the Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport;
• Ho‘omalu Ka‘u, receiving $25,500 to maintain cultural practices on a 13-acre parcel in Na‘alehu.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.