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Kris Kanani Aton Private Consultant and Cultural Practitioner January 22, 2026 VIA EMAIL: ekf@edithkanakaolefoundation.or� Edith Kanaka`ole Foundation 1500 Kalaniana`ole Street Hilo, HI 96720-4914 Re: Support for the protection and purchase of Ka`alaiki Kula, Ka`alaiki, Ka`u, Hawaii Island To Whom it May Concern, My name is Kanani Aton a resident of Hawaii Island and long-time aloha `aina (land patriot and advocate). I strongly support the Ka`u community, Edith Kanaka`ole Foundation, and Trust for Public Land's effort to purchase and protect Ka`alaiki Kula (approximately 1,600 acres) in Ka`alaiki, Ka`u, Hawaii Island. Ka`alaiki Kula runs between highway 11 on the makai side and Ka`alaiki Road on the mauka side. Protecting the kula lands would ensure the entire ahupua`a is preserved, allowing this area to serve as a cultural educational site demonstrating the importance of ahupua`a land management practices as well as protecting significant cultural and archaeological sites including a railroad trestle and `Imakakaloa Heiau, one of two intact hula heiau in the Hawaiian Islands. Edith Kanaka`ole Foundation is a Hawaiian cultural-based non-profit 501(c)(3) organization established in 1990 to maintain and perpetuate the teachings, beliefs, practices, philosophies, and traditions of the late Luka and Edith Kanaka`ole. EKF's mission is to elevate Hawaiian intelligence through cultural education founded on the teachings and traditional practices of Edith and Luka Kanaka`ole. EKF possesses a high level of Hawaiian cultural knowledge and skills relating to land and resource practices as well as cultural site restoration, protocol, and ritual. My personal mission is to activate the regeneration of our native flora and fauna through family engagement, community service and volunteerism. This is in direct alignment to the protection of Ka`alaiki Kula. I am hanai into the Hanoa family of Waiohinu and wife of a Ka`u born native who was raised in Waiohinu. I am also a student of Halau o Kekuhi, a traditional school of hula under the auspices of the Edith Kanaka`ole Foundation. Hale Kealohalani Makua is an esteemed elder under whom I was mentored, and his `ohana is rooted in East, South and West Hawaii Island. My `ohana is genealogically rooted under our matriarch Georgina Kalaiopuna Kaho`iwai of whom her ancestors hail from Waipi`o Valley 10 generations back. Ka`alaiki is a place that the Hanoa family and Halau o Kekuhi introduced me to over 30 years ago. There is a lifestyle, a life way that they showed me and it is a unique stewardship that Sugg.26-05