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Comm.25-028 July 11, 2025 Sent Via Email: ponctestimony@hawaiicouonty.gov Public Access, Open Space, and Natural Resources Preservation Commission 25 Aupuni Street, Suite 1401 Hilo, HI 96720 Re: Testimony in Support of PONC Meeting, Agenda Item V(1)(f) Sugg. 25-06, Kokua Kealakekua, South Kona, Hawaii. TMK (3) 8-1-009:007 & 008 Aloha Chair Rosam and PONC Commissioners, Trust for Public Land ("TPL") is a non-profit land conservation organization and our mission is to protect land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come. For 50 years we've worked to protect over 77,000 acres and 52 special places across Hawaii. Our Aloha Ana Program protects lands that perpetuate Hawaiian culture and returns these lands to Native Hawaiian organizations for community and cultural stewardship. Our Sustainable Hawaii Program conserves lands that support local food production, our forests and their native species, and clean water sources with the goal of improving Hawai`i's self-sufficiency and food security. Scoring Criterion 1. Property's resource values meet the purposes of the PONC Fund: Trust for Public Land is assisting nonprofit Ho`ala Kealakekua Nui to protect and purchase Kokua Kealakekua for community and cultural stewardship. This strategic property sits just mauka of the Ka`awaloa trailhead (Captain Cook Monument Trail) and will become a managed gateway to accessing Kealakekua Bay State Historic Park and its vast cultural and natural resources. Kealakekua Bay is threatened by unmanaged tourism, habit degradation, overuse, and desecration. Protecting and acquiring Kokua Kealakekua will enable HKN and the community to manage and protect Kealakekua's precious resources, reconnect lineal descendant `ohana, create a cultural and interpretive center, a native plant nursery, mala, implement healthy carrying capacity limits, and serve as a kipuka for restoration and cultural and educational programs for descendants, locals, and visitors alike. (See attached presentation and Kealakekua Bay Community Action Plan for more information.) The property itself will provide the only managed cultural, educational and recreational access to the trail and coastline, and enable the protection of the diverse resources throughout the 537-acre State Historical Park and Marine Life Conservation District. This effort will also enable the protection of cultural and natural resources on the property itself. For centuries the property itself was part of the renowned Kona agricultural field system and contains State Historic Site#7253. It is also the location of two ka`ao detailed in our PONC application, home to ceremonial `awa hiwa gardens growing from `iliahi groves, and home to abundant fields of kalo (taro) and hapu`u ferns. Both ka`ao provide powerful `ike about pono land and resource management and leadership. HKN will use these ka`ao as foundations for a restored vision for the property itself and the larger ahupua`a of Ka`awalaoa.