Maui trust meets $4.8 million goal
Advertiser Staff
WAIHE'E, Maui — A fund-raising campaign to purchase and preserve a 277-acre coastal area that was once targeted for golf course development has reached its goal with a $1 million federal allocation.
Ron Chapple
U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye announced the appropriation yesterday while touring the Waihe'e Preserve on Maui's northwestern shoreline. The money will come from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program, and will be combined with $2 million from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and $1.8 million from the county to pay the $4.8 million purchase price.
The Maui Coastal Land Trust has received a $1 million federal grant to purchase the 277-acre Waihe'e Preserve.
The nonprofit Maui Coastal Land Trust is acquiring the property from Waihe'e Oceanfront Hawai'i, whose plans to turn a former dairy site into a $30 million golf course and clubhouse for its resort guests collapsed after Japan's economic downturn of the 1990s.
The developer, who had bought the land in 1988 for $10 million, also faced stiff community opposition from those concerned about protecting the shoreline area's natural and cultural assets.
"Rich wetlands habitat, an ancient Hawaiian village site and 1.5 miles of pristine shoreline mark this land as an absolute conservation jewel," land trust executive director Dale Bonar said in a statement. "The NOAA funding underlines its significance at the national level."
The Maui land trust was established by volunteers in 2001 in response to concerns about the loss of precious coastal lands.
Although fundraising for the land purchase is done, the trust still wants to collect $1.5 million to endow a stewardship fund to ensure ongoing protection and maintenance of the area.
A master plan for future use of the Waihe'e Preserve is being crafted through a community planning process funded by grants from the Atherton Foundation, the HEI Charitable Foundation, the Hawai'i Community Foundation and the Fish and Wildlife Service.
Project Manager Scott Fisher is overseeing the planning process, which will address protection of the area's natural dunes, wetlands and endangered-species habitat along with public use of the land for environmental and cultural education and shoreline recreation.
Donations can be mailed to Maui Coastal Land Trust, P.O. Box 965, Wailuku HI 96793.
