HALAWA, Moloka'i — The owner of an East Moloka'i ranch dedicated to organic farming and cattle raising, serene retreats, horseback riding and hikes has dedicated 2,800 acres of its natural beauty as a conservation easement in perpetuity.

Puu O Hoku Ranch owner Lavinia Currier handed over control of the land — which includes nearly three miles of the island's eastern shoreline — to the nonprofit Maui Coastal Land Trust.

The ranch retains ownership, but the easement will keep the land dedicated to a combination of open space and agricultural use, according to the land trust's executive director, Dale Bonar.

Bonar said the trust didn't have an appraisal of the land but estimated it to be worth "a great many millions of dollars."

Questions were raised over the grant, which was announced to the media this week. At least one prominent Moloka'i community activist wanted to hear more details and asked whether any Moloka'i residents had been included in the decision.

"My children, our manager and staff at Puu O Hoku, and our neighbors on the east end have all contributed to support my vision to preserve these beautiful lands of Moloka'i," Currier said in a written statement. "We are fortunate to be working within several intact ahupua'a (land divisions from uplands to the sea) and watershed systems which we hope not only to preserve in open space but to restore to a healthy natural habitat for future generations. We look forward to our continued collaboration with MCLT to accomplish that goal."

The land trust was founded in 2000 to work with government agencies to acquire land as open space, with its first efforts focused on the former Waihee Dairy, a 277-acre area that had been planned as a golf course and resort. About 75 percent of its budget comes from private donations and fundraisers.

Not including the ranch agreement, the nonprofit controls more than 1,000 acres of land easements on Maui and Moloka'i. Currier conveyed an 87-acre parcel to the trust in 2006 next to Pohakupili Bay.

Bonar said little, if any, of the current land uses will change. His organization has been in discussions about the plan with the ranch for several years, with negotiations intensifying over the past five months.

"We are very pleased, and it's a beautiful area, too," Bonar said. "These are glorious lands ... The owner is passionately committed to conservation."

Neither ranch owner Currier — who is an East Coast heiress of famed industrialist and banker Andrew Mellon — nor officials from the ranch's management company, Peregrine Financial Corp. in Boston, could be reached for comment.

Currier bought the ranch in 1987. As a result of the agreement, the land could never be sold off by future inheritors or turned into home, resort or commercial development, Bonar said. Through the easement, the land trust has a real-property interest in the land now.

The 2,800 acres also includes pastures and hillsides abutting the Moloka'i Forest Reserve. Much of the land is on both sides of Kamehameha V Highway.

Meanwhile, the 14,000-acre ranch will continue to manage the land and pay its taxes, Bonar said. The ranch will also continue its organic farming and cattle ranching operations.

Maui County Mayor Charmaine Tavares applauded the land trust and noted that Currier also made a $75,000 donation to help maintain the land.

"It's quite an accomplishment," Tavares said. "They are building our stock of open space land for the future."

Maui County Coastal Resources and Shoreline Planner Thorne Abbott said Currier has done a great thing for the community.

A Moloka'i cultural rights leader, Walter Ritte Jr., said on Tuesday that he was impressed with the scope of the Puu O Hoku Ranch agreement but viewed it with skepticism since the process was conducted in secret with a group based on Maui rather than Moloka'i.

Ritte said he didn't know that the agreement was ever discussed with the Moloka'i community, which has about 7,000 full-time residents.

"They never involved the community," Ritte said. "We don't know who these (MCLT) people are. How are they going to treat Hawaiian rights? What exactly will they do with the land? Will we get access to feed our families? There's a lot of questions and of course there's no answers."

Bonar said that the land trust didn't do community outreach meetings or seek public input because the ranch chose not to have any. The law didn't require public meetings, Bonar said.

"We respected their (the ranch's) request to do this privately," he said.