Waihe'e coastal preserve advances
By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Staff Writer
WAILUKU, Maui — A nonprofit land trust yesterday drew a step closer to creating a coastal dunes and wetlands preserve on Maui's north shore.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced a $1 million grant to help the Maui Coastal Land Trust acquire 250 acres once slated as a destination golf resort between Waihe'e Beach Park and Waihe'e Point.
The proposed Waihe'e Coastal Dunes and Wetlands Preserve is the largest undeveloped coastal dune system on the island and would benefit a number of threatened and endangered species in a plan involving a handful of public and private partners.
The preserve also would protect Native Hawaiian burial and archaeological sites, including an ancient fishing village and heiau. The cost of land acquisition is estimated at about $4.6 million, according to the Maui Coastal Land Trust, which is negotiating with landowner Waihe'e Oceanfront Hawai'i Inc.
In addition to the grant announced yesterday, the trust expects to receive an additional $1 million from another Fish and Wildlife source, said Dale B. Bonar, the trust's executive director.
Moreover, the trust formally asked Maui County Council members yesterday for $2 million from the county's open space fund.
As proposed, the state and the county would hold a permanent conservation easement on the property.
The project, supported by a $750,000 endowment administered by the land trust, would include habitat restoration, protection of cultural resources and development of environmental education programs.
As an environmental preserve, it would protect prime wetland, dune, marine and riparian areas, as well as support the recovery of several endangered waterbirds, plants and the Blackburn's sphinx moth. It also would benefit the longest and widest coral reef on Maui.
A permanent sanctuary would put to rest any lingering controversy over the land, which was bought by Waihe'e Oceanfront Hawai'i Inc. in 1988 for $10 million with plans to develop a $30 million golf course and clubhouse.
