BY KYVELI DIENER Hawaii Tribune-Herald
Share this story

A draft stewardship plan for the protection of a culturally and ecologically vital coastline in the Ka‘u district is being formally introduced to the public through a virtual meeting from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on April 29.

The plan being introduced regards the stewardship of the Kaunamano property, which covers 1,363 acres between Pohina Pali and the Maniania Pali below the Na‘alehu Police Station.

ADVERTISING

The meeting’s hosts — cultural resource management group Nohopapa Hawaii and nonprofit Ala Kahakai Trail Association — invite the public to register for the Zoom meeting by visiting tinyurl.com/kaunamanoplan.

Attendees will be able to give input about the plan through instructions provided at the virtual meeting, and a comment form will be posted April 29 on nohopapa.com/kaunamano.

“The plan acknowledges the holistic relationship of Kaunamano Ahupua‘a, including the connections between the kula and ma uka regions of Kaunamano’s lush forest, pastures and freshwater springs,” as well as, “the shoreline and the ocean currents (that stretch) north toward Honu‘apo and south towards Ka Lae,” said Nohopapa Hawaii in a press release.

Nohopapa Hawaii explained in the release that the development of the plan is a requirement for both the state’s Legacy Land Conservation Program Grant Agreement and the county’s Grant of Conservation Easement, adding that, “in its entirety, the plan aims to honor the ancestral knowledge and values unique to Kaunamano and Ka‘u by using them to guide the stewardship priorities and recommendations.”

The Ala Kahakai Trail Association has owned the Kaunamano parcel since October 2021, when the property was conveyed to the nonprofit for community and cultural stewardship after the county acquired a Conservation Easement that restricted its use to cultural, conservation and agricultural uses, according to the Trust for Public Land.

The acquisition of the site in 2021 involved a collaboration between the Trust for Public Land and the Ala Kahakai Trail Association, along with support from county and state programs. The community also was involved from the beginning in securing the property for protection from development, according to a press release put out by The Trust for Public Land at that time.

The release states that the land’s purchase was funded by $6.71 million in community-raised public funds that included $4.31 million by the county’s Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Program and $2.4 million from the state’s Legacy Land Conservation Program.

The area is home to hundreds of culturally significant sites like the villages of Pa‘ula and Pauku, petroglyphs, burial sites and heiau, the Trust for Public Land said in its release. Extensive lava tube networks on the property also feature such ecologically and culturally significant sites as the Puhi‘ula cave with its rock-lined anchialine pool filled with native shrimp, the release said.

“The Puhi‘ula cave in Kaunamano, like so many other places in Ka‘u, is very special to my ohana,” said Pelehonuamea Harman of the Ala Kahakai Trail Association’s Stewardship Committee in 2021.

She told of how her great-grandmother would go there as a young girl to collect pa‘akai (sea salt), and passed those traditions down through generations in mele, stories and academic works. “Now, I can go there with my children and we are still provided with paakai, shelter, and a place to connect with our kupuna. I know they are smiling down at us knowing the coastline is preserved.”

The Trust for Public Land release adds that 3.3 miles of coastline and marine resources being protected by this property include a tidepool complex, coves and sea caves, with the nearshore area offering shelter to migrating humpback whales, dolphins, and an abundance of fish, limu and shellfish. The area also will protect endangered monk seals and hawksbill sea turtles, as well as threatened green sea turtles.

Further ecological protections along the Kaunamano coastline include stewardship of native coastal plants and seabirds like noio (black noddies) and koa‘e kea (white tailed tropic birds) that nest in the cliffsides of the Maniania Pali, the Trust for Public Land release said.

“The Ka‘u community has been working for decades to protect their beloved 80-mile coast to honor their kupuna and empower future generations to perpetuate their culture and rural, subsistence lifestyle,” the Trust for Public Land said in the announcement of Kaunamano’s protection in 2021.

The organization said Kaunamano is the seventh successful protection project of this coastline, which have together conserved 6,199 acres of cultural landscapes and pasture land, and also connect over 8.5 miles of the Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail.

The draft plan is available at www.nohopapa.com/kaunamano, and hard copies can be printed and mailed at a fee upon request.

Questions and requests for physical copies of the plan can be sent to info@nohopapa.com.

Email Kyveli Diener at kdiener@hawaiitribune-herald.com.