Hawaii

Preserving Hawaii's working agricultural and forest lands for food and energy production.

The remote northern end of the island of Moloka'i offers a modern view of an ancient culture. Local residents began restoring lo'i (terraces) and 'auwai (canals) in 1997, and reintroduced taro to Halawa Valley, which had been grown by the very same system for several hundred years up until the middle of this century.

Shoppers at the Costco store in the town of Hawai‘i Kai in East Honolulu might be surprised to learn that there's an environmental and cultural treasure nearby. The Hāwea heiau complex reflects the land’s cultural history in its ancient walls and petroglyphs, and agricultural terraces.

The Preserve is a lowland diverse forest on the eastern slope of the Wai'anae Mountain Range where 35 threatened and endangered species live, including 16 found nowhere else in the world.

The Trust for Public Land worked with partners to protect the land from development and ensure that the area's natural beauty and cultural sites will be preserved for everyone to enjoy.

The Trust for Public Land is helping the State of Hawai'i Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) purchase and protect Kamehamenui, on the north slopes of Haleakala. DOFAW will plant native hardwoods for sustainable forestry and open the property for public recreation. Reforestation will help the watershed recharge to ensure clean drinking water for the future. Protecting Kamehamenui will also preserve the area's majestic views and help the recovery of endangered species such as the Hawaiian petrel and Hawaiian hoary bat.

Cascading from the mountain peaks of the Koʻolau down to fertile soils, the life-giving lands that make up Kāneʻohe Pali (cliffs) to Loʻi (wetland taro fields), formed one of the largest traditional Hawaiian agricultural complexes on Oʻahu. The Trust for Public Land is assisting the Kāne‘ohe community, local farming nonprofits, and the State to protect approximately 1,000 acres in Kāne‘ohe, O‘ahu.

The remains of the ancient fishing village of Kauleoli lie just south of Pu‘uhonua o Honaunau National Historic Park on the Kona Coast of Hawai‘i Island.

The undeveloped shoreline at Kawa on the island of Hawai'i protects nesting areas for the critically endangered Hawaiian hawksbill turtle.

In May 2012, The Trust for Public Land helped protect 64 acres of coastal wetlands at Ka`ehu Bay, which includes numerous Hawaiian cultural sites including habitation structures, agricultural terraces, former fishponds, and shrines.

The Kona Coast on the island of Hawai'i is the site of the historic battle that led to the end of the traditional kapu religious system in the early 1800s. The Trust for Public Land worked with a local nonprofit organization, the landowner, and the community to preserve this special place for generations to come.

Imagine a 30-plus-mile multiuse path along O‘ahu’s South Shore connecting Waikiki to West O‘ahu that would provide some 600,000 residents with easy access to the island's shorelines and green spaces; a path where hikers, bikers, walkers, and runners could exercise and connect with nature in and around Oʻahu’s urban coastal neighborhoods.

Located on Kaua`i's north shore, just past the community of Hanalei, Lumaha`i has long been the image of a Hawaiian paradise depicted in postcards, photographs, and movies.

Almost daily, Hawai'i media lament the lack of food security should a disaster strike, while concurrently discussing a new real estate development project, oftentimes on historical agricultural land. Suitable parcels for agriculture are increasingly difficult to find because of competition from development interests and speculators.

One of the last truly open spaces in the urban Honolulu area, the 3,716-acre Moanalua valley narrowly escaped destruction as a potential corridor for the H-3 freeway, and was under threat of residential development for two decades.

The North Shore Greenprint identifies the resources most important to the North Shore and helps guide land conservation efforts.

The Trust for Public Land is working to purchase Pu'ukua, to complete the permanent protection of this sacred landscape in Waimea Valley. Hi'ipaka LLC, a local nonprofit, will own and care for Pu'ukua, as it does the rest of the valley.

Sunset Ranch is a piece of the larger puzzle to "keep the country country" on the North Shore of O'ahu. This project is part of The Trust for Public Land's, the North Shore Community Land Trust's, and many other community members' broader efforts to keep the famed North Shore of O'ahu country through voluntary land conservation.

At famous Waimea Bay, surfers ride big waves, humpback whales give birth, and spinner dolphins rest. Storm events bring sediment and pollution runoff that hinder all of these activities. In the mountains that frame Waimea Bay, The Trust for Public Land is working to buy over 3,700 acres of forested watershed that feeds into the bay.

The Trust for Public Land and Waipā Foundation are working to purchase two kuleana properties in Waipā–Kaluanono and Halulu Fishpond Access – to fasten Waipā Foundation on Kaua‘i’s north shore.