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RECITALS
<br />WHEREAS, Grantor is the fee simple owner of all of that certain parcel of land
<br />situate at Kahilipali`iki and Kahilipalinui ahupua`a, District of Ka'u, Island and County of
<br />Hawaii, State of Hawaii, bearing Tax Map Key designation (3) 9-5-007-016 and
<br />containing an area of 2,317.844 acres, more or less, including the historic fishing village
<br />of Waikapuna, and more specifically described in Exhibit "A" attached hereto and made
<br />a part hereof ("Waikapuna", "the Property", or "the Waikapuna Property"); and
<br />WHEREAS, Grantee's Department of Environmental Management has identified
<br />Fifteen (15) to Twenty (20) acres on the mauka portion of Waikapuna as a potential
<br />location for the Na'alehu Wastewater Treatment Plant; and
<br />WHEREAS, in order to allow Grantee and the Ka`u community the opportunity to
<br />further explore this potential location, the Parties have agreed to exclude said area from
<br />this Grant of Conservation Easement, with said excluded area more specifically
<br />described in Exhibit "B" attached hereto; and
<br />WHEREAS, the subject of this Grant of Conservation Easement is therefore
<br />Waikapuna without the excluded area described in Exhibit "B" ("the Easement
<br />Property"); and
<br />WHEREAS, Grantor, through its board members, has been working for years
<br />with various partners, including Native Hawaiian lineal descendants, Grantee, The Trust
<br />for Public Land, the State of Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, and
<br />Ka`u community organizations to purchase Waikapuna, and through its work, Grantor
<br />has gained intimate knowledge about Waikapuna and the cultural and natural resources
<br />on the Property; and
<br />WHEREAS, the sources of funding for Grantor's acquisition of the Property and
<br />securing this Easement came through public and private funding sources as more
<br />particularly described in Exhibit "C" attached hereto and made a part hereof; and
<br />WHEREAS, the execution of this Grant of Conservation Easement is a condition
<br />of such funding; and
<br />WHEREAS, the Waikapuna Property has exceptional cultural, historical,
<br />environmental, and natural significance and value as it contains 2.3 miles of
<br />coastline that includes the ancient Alaloa footpath which once encircled the
<br />island, also known as the Alanui or Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail, and
<br />the Property is presently used by local fishermen, Native Hawaiian descendants, and
<br />gatherers of various natural and marine resources for subsistence, recreational, and
<br />cultural purposes; and
<br />WHEREAS, there are numerous and well-preserved cultural sites on the
<br />Waikapuna Property in addition to the coastal Alaloa, including an ancient village
<br />consisting of heiau, burials, lava tubes, house foundations, ahu (altar), habitation caves,
<br />petroglyphs, papamu (stone for the game konane), salt -gathering ponds, agricultural
<br />terraces, canoe sheds, kamala (three -sided wind shelters walled with stone) and
<br />mauka-makai trails connecting the village with Na'alehu and Waiohinu. Waikapuna was
<br />named for the three freshwater springs that once sustained a fishing community on the
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