A years-long grass-roots effort to preserve more than a thousand acres of unspoiled North Shore wilderness from development culminated yesterday with the final acquisition of the Pupukea-Paumalu coastal bluff.

"We signed the papers," said Lea Hong, Hawaiian island program director at the Trust for Public Land, after the deal to acquire the 1,129-acre property had been completed.

As part of the deal, the Trust for Public Land said, 25 acres along Kamehameha Highway will be immediately conveyed to the city of Honolulu for use as a nature preserve.

Within the next several months, the remaining 1,104-acre coastal bluff will be conveyed to the state for addition to the Park Reserve system, according to the trust.

The scenic property includes the well-known cliffs overlooking Sunset Beach and Pipeline that have been the background setting for countless surfing photos. Since as far back as the 1980s, members of the community had been working to ensure the land would not be developed.

But casual concern turned to urgency in 2002 when Obayashi Corp., the Japanese construction company that had owned the land since 1974, put the parcel on the open market for $12 million and word spread that the property was being considered for a 500-home project.

An all-volunteer coalition of citizens and business leaders was formed to find money to buy the property and to place it in reserved public lands. That group, the North Shore Community Land Trust, gained widespread community support. The coalition eventually included backing by the state, the city, the military and federal agencies, which contributed to the purchase price.

Blake McElhany, North Shore Community Land Trust chairman, yesterday praised residents, businesses and government officials for raising the nearly $8 million necessary to buy the land. He also thanked Obayashi Corp. for being sympathetic to the concerns of the community by coming down on its original asking price.

"This property has been permanently protected as a public asset for all the people of Hawai'i and the visitors to enjoy," he said.

Al Itamoto, executive vice president of Obayashi Hawaii, said, "The North Shore community has shown true commitment in protecting this land. We respect and appreciate the hard work of TPL and NSCLT in making this sale happen for the public benefit."

The largest single contribution for the purchase — $3,344,445.50 — came from the U.S. Army's Compatible Use Buffer Program through the U.S. Army Garrison, Hawai'i. The Pupukea-Paumalu purchase was the Army's first ACUB project in Hawai'i.

"This sweeping landscape is known throughout the islands and the world, and the Army is honored to take part in protecting it and other local treasures, like Waimea and Moanalua Valleys," said garrison commander Col. Howard J. Killian in a news release.

Support for the sale took on international proportions when people from around the world joined the outcry to keep the famed North Shore backdrop from becoming another cliff-side gated community.

At one point, entertainer Jack Johnson flew to Japan to appeal to the Obayashi company on behalf of the preservationists.

Obayashi purchased the land in 1974 for $7 million. In the late 1980s, the company announced plans for the Lihi Lani subdivision, which was to include 315 one- to three-acre lots.

Despite community protest, the City Council approved the plan, with conditions, in 1995.

But then the Save Sunset Beach Coalition and Life of the Land sued to block Lihi Lani. A state judge rejected their challenge in 1998, and the Hawai'i Supreme Court agreed in 2003 that the city had properly applied the law. Meanwhile, the company put the land up for sale in 2002, asking $12 million.

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.