Waikapuna

Waikapuna is rich in Native Hawaiian and paniolo (Hawaiian cowboy) cultural heritage. Its ancient fishing village includes house sites, heiau (temples), lava tube caves, and ancient trails. It is surrounded by native coastal vegetation and includes a sandy bay, a tide pool complex, and sea caves home to native, endangered birds. Ranching is also steeped in Waikapuna’s history, with over 500 grass-fed cattle roaming the Waikapuna lands.

Native Hawaiian scholar Mary Kawena Pukū‘i spent her childhood at Waikapuna, listening to her grandmother share cultural and familial knowledge that provided a foundation upon which the 20th-century Hawaiian cultural renaissance and beyond relied.

Situated on a windswept coastal bluff in the Kaʻū area, on the southern tip of Hawai‘i Island, Waikapuna faced a threat of development that would have extinguished its rich cultural history with the construction of luxury residences for offshore owners.

Dedicated descendants of Waikapuna’s ancestors reached out to Trust for Public Land to prevent this precious land from being destroyed.

Pukū‘i shared her extensive research findings and ancestral stories with her grandson La‘akea Suganuma. At 10 years old, Suganuma remembers listening while she recorded interviews with elderly residents about their memories, practices, and traditions.

One such tradition Suganuma remembers hearing about from his grandmother is the idea of aloha ʻāina, or “love of the land.”

By that time, the area where Pukū‘i’s family once lived was privately owned ranchland. Pockets of native vegetation thrived among the foundations of former family homes and vestiges of heiau. Waves washed over rocky tide pools and crashed against cliffs and the undeveloped coastline where family burial sites remain.

Suganuma wrote letters against the development proposal, testified before funding committees, and traveled to Waikapuna to show support for its conservation.

W. Keoni Fox, a member of the board of the Ala Kahakai Trail Association (AKA), also reached out to TPL for help. AKA is a nonprofit that protects and revives the ancient trail that encircles Hawai‘i Island, passing through Waikapuna.

Fox says, “Its mission is to protect all of the natural resources around the trail and to honor the path of our ancestors—to bring the community and the descendants together, to build those connections.” Fox mounted a campaign to save the 2,317-acre Waikapuna property.

As active ranchland, a historic public trail, and a window into Hawai‘i’s past, Waikapuna is now protected in perpetuity for future generations thanks to dedicated community members, TPL, and AKA.

“Waikapuna presented an unparalleled opportunity to preserve a set of cultural sites amid a magnificent landscape—one that is increasingly attractive to developers,” says Lea Hong, Hawaiʻi state director at Trust for Public Land. “It was a privilege to work with members of local organizations whose ancestors farmed and fished in this very location for many centuries.”

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