In the works for years, a milestone in the effort to connect and make accessible to the public the cultural treasure that is Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail has been reached: the unveiling of a stewardship plan for conservation land encompassing 3.3 miles of the Ka‘u (southeastern) coastline on Hawaii island. The area, called Kaunamano, includes nearly 1,400 acres between Pohina Pali and the Maniania Pali (below Naalehu town).
This impressive achievement in conservation must be credited to a cooperative effort involving Native Hawaiians, kamaaina, conservation organizations, the land owners and governments — and decades of advocacy by those who value the land’s place in cultural history and its natural resources. Kaunamano is the 7th successful preservation project along this portion of the coastline, conserving a total 6,199 acres.
The effort has been focused by designation of 175 miles of ala loa, long trails, connecting Hawaii island sites as the Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail in 2000. Established by an act of Congress, and administered by the National Parks Service, the trail serves to preserve, protect and connect Hawaiian historic and cultural sites that often predate Western contact.
The Trust for Public Land, a partner in the Kaunamano acquisition, facilitated its first land acquisition and transfer to Ala Kahakai and public stewardship in 2016, extending access to the King’s Trail in South Kona with federal funding attained during Hawaii-born Barack Obama’s presidency. By that time, Kaunamano was targeted for conservation, but it would be another five years before it could be acquired.
The Ka‘u land had been contemplated for luxury home development by private owners — a use strongly opposed by many islanders, in light of its history. To prevent the property from being closed off, more than $6.7 million was raised to purchase it — with the largest share, more than $4.3 million, from Hawaii County, and $2 million from the state’s Legacy Land Conservation Program.
The Ala Kahakai Trail Association, a Native Hawaiian nonprofit, will steward the parcel. It is now perpetually preserved for cultural, conservation and agricultural uses under a conservation easement.
The Kaunamano site alone includes hundreds of culturally significant sites such as the Hawaiian villages of Pa‘ula and Pauku, petroglyphs, burial sites and heiau. Natural formations on the land include extensive lava tube networks, and the Puhi‘ula cave, which holds a rock-lined, brackish pool filled with opae ula, indigenous red shrimp.
The land was famously sung and written of by Mary Kawena Pukui, a revered Hawaiian historian, translator, composer and storyteller whose image graces a $1 U.S. coin minted this year. Pukui and her grandmother would go to Puhi‘ula for paakai, sea salt, and the area remains treasured by Hawaiians.
Pelehonuamea Harman, Pukui’s great-granddaughter and a member of Ala Kahakai Trail Association’s stewardship committee, recalled that Pukui “wrote about this place that provided our ohana with sustenance,” when the land was acquired. “Now, I can go there with my children, and we are still provided with paakai, shelter and a place to connect with our kupuna.”
The stewardship plan, required by terms of the state and county grant funding, has been prepared by cultural resource management group Nohopapa Hawaii to acknowledge Kaunamano’s place in the island’s ahupuaa, or mountain to sea connections. Both the plan and the acquisitions rightly serve as models for future conservation projects throughout the islands.
To read the draft plan and learn more, go to nohopapa.com/kaunamano.
