KÄNE'OHE — Wetlands that once fed O'ahu's ancient Hawaiians and were later threatened by large-scale modern development have been entrusted to community groups that want to restore them to their former productivity.

The state Hawai'i Community Development Authority recently granted a 38-year lease for 429 acres of He'eia Meadow Lands to the Mähuahua 'Ai o Hoi project, which includes wetland remediation through the restoration of taro fields and development of fishponds.

Oral history says that Käne'ohe once provided food to the whole island, especially in the times of drought and project coordinators wants to do the same.

"We believe O'ahu can come back," said Koa Kukea-Shultz, project coordinator. "We believe O'ahu can feed (the people) and this is the system to prove that it can."

A shortage of poi is one reason the project was started, said Jerry Kaluhiwa, president of the project's board of directors. Participants are considering making baby food and kulolo, a popular treat made with taro, said Kaluhiwa, a Käne'ohe resident who started a limu restoration project at He'eia Pond in 1978.

"The project is important because we always run out of poi," he said. "Poi is one of our main food."

All people will be welcome to participate, said Käne'ohe resident Alice Hewett, who grew up next to the wetland and worked in a poi factory there.

"It's not just for us, it's for the community," said Hewett, also a project board member. "They can come and raise taro or ti leaf or plant something."

Plots will be offered to individuals, hula hälau and other organizations to grow the things they need and eat, she said, adding that there will also be an open market for participants to sell the food they grow or items they make.

The wetland has gone through several transformations since ancient Hawaiians grew taro there. Today it sits idle and overgrown with invasive species but it once produced sugar cane, pineapple, rice and cattle. Some of these uses led to flooding and erosion that degraded the He'eia fishpond and Käne'ohe Bay.

Up above the wetland is Ha'iku Valley, where a military dump may be leaching toxic waste into the wetland, Kukea-Shultz said. Homes surrounding the area also contribute runoff.

The plan calls for creating fishponds and taro fields to help flush waste from the water and control flash flooding that washes sediment into the ocean, he said. Tests will be done to make sure the food grown there is safe to eat, he added.

Work began before the lease was granted to demonstrate what could be done. A lo'i, or taro field, was opened and community members were invited to help dig out about an acre of land, plant and tend the crop by hand, with picks and shovels.

Every week, volunteers show up from canoe clubs, schools, and other organizations and businesses, said Brad Wong, community outreach coordinator.

"(The kids) absolutely love coming here," Wong said, while taking a break from working in the lo'i last week. "They love to jump in the mud and wash off in the nearby stream.

"They really like it and a lot of them see the big picture."

That picture includes educational programs, a cultural center to pass on knowledge, research projects, diversified organic crops, wildlife protection, a poi mill and more.

Over the past decades developers sought to build homes, a marina, a resort and golf course there but people such as Hewett opposed the projects and in 1992, during the administration of Gov. John Waihee, Kamehameha Schools, which owned the property, traded it to the state.

The intent back then was to forestall urbanization and save the wetland, said Anthony Ching, executive director for Hawai'i Community Development Authority. But up until now no state agency or community group was able to create a viable plan, Ching said.

The project under Kako'o O'iwi, a community nonprofit focused on perpetuating the Hawaiian culture and restoring community, is being done in partnership with HCDA, the Ko'olaupoko Hawaiian Civic Club, the Ko'olau Foundation and The Nature Conservancy. It is guided and directed by its Native Hawaiian Kupuna Council.

The group developed a three-pronged plan — to restore the wetland and improve the nearshore water quality, to educate and reach out to the community, and to restore a historical agriculture -based industry, Ching said.

"I believe that this is community activism at its best," he said.

The project has received a $10,000 grant from Hawaii Community Foundation and a promise of $96,000 from Coastal Zone Management, said Mahealani Cypher, Kako'o O'iwi vice president.

Studies must still be done and plans completed but the goal is to plant 200 acres in taro, said Cypher.

"Certain things will be done within the first five years but I think within 10 years we'll have most of the area in some production."