KAILUA — As Kailua yesterday celebrated its two wetlands of international importance — Hamakua and Kawai Nui marshes — residents learned that a project stalled for a decade is moving forward at Kawai Nui and that Hamakua could soon grow in size.

The news was met with a round of applause at the ceremony for Ramsar World Wetlands Day yesterday at Kawainui Neighborhood Park at the end of Kaha Street.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources announced that the Board of Land and Natural Resources has approved the purchase of 65 acres at Hamakua that was once the proposed site of a retirement community. And the Army Corps of Engineers said it could have a $5 million bird habitat restoration project at Kawai Nui under way by the end of the year.

Terry George, a Kailua resident who is executive director of the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation, said the efforts should be considered just the beginning and that the marsh should become the classroom for children to learn science, social studies and ecology.

"I would urge us all, led by the strength of our Kailua community spirit, to do the whole thing," George said. "Let's pull out all of the alien invasives. Let's build what the community decided they want, which is a series of interpretive, cultural, educational and environmental centers ringing the marsh."

The two marshes each gained the designation as a "wetland of international importance" in April 2005 from the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, a preservation organization based in Switzerland.

Last year, the transfer of Kawai Nui from the city to the state cleared the way for funding for the restoration project that was first proposed 11 years ago.

The restoration project for wetland birds, behind Castle Medical Center, will create 11 terraced ponds on 42 acres of land, an earthen berm, water support system and a fence for predator control, said Nani Shimabuku, Army Corps of Engineers project manager. The project, behind Castle Medical Center, should take 15 months, Shimabuku said.

Paul Conry, DLNR administrator for the Division of Forestry and Wildlife, said when the restoration project is done, the state can move forward on designs for other features such as trails and education centers.

The DLNR also is working to sign a memorandum of agreement with 'Ahahui Malama I Ka Lokahi to help with management of cultural and natural resources, "to put their hand on our hand as we steer our course into the future," he said.

Chuck "Doc" Burrows, of the community group 'Ahahui Malama I Ka Lokahi, which has conducted numerous restoration projects at the Kawai Nui Marsh, said there are many plans and ideas that people are kicking around for the marshes, and some include Maunawili Valley, the Queen's Retreat there, expanding taro fields, trails, centers and programs for tourists as well as students.

He likened the marsh to a kipuka, an untouched area amid a lava flow where native plants and animals survived. The kipuka provides "seeds" for the lava fields when they became ready to re-germinate.

Instead of a lava flow, urbanization has destroyed the cultural and ecological landscape, Burrows said, and that over the years people have protected, conserved and now are restoring sites.

"This, then, will serve as seeds for future generations."

World Wetlands Day is celebrated each February to commemorate the first wetlands convention held in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971.