HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0284.021 2020-2022 i
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Ka `Ghana Hedlund (Helaku, Kehaulani, Welo, & Kaulumanu)
PO Box 1211
Kapaau, HI 96755
(808)464-1967
hedlundohana@gmail.com
June 11, 2021
Chair and Presiding Officer Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder
Vice Chair Heather L. Kimball
Committee on Finance, County Council
County of Hawaii
25 Aupuni Street
Hilo, Hawaii 96720
Aloha mai e Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder,Vice Chair Kimball, and Members of the Committee on
Finance,
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Mahalo for the opportunity to provide testimony in strong support of Resolution 145-21 for the
permanent protection of Mahukona. We understand that Hawaiian Islands Land Trust(HILT),
Na Kalai Wa`a, Mahukona families and the Kohala community are working together with the
County's Public Access, Open Space, and Natural Resources Commission process, among
others, to raise public and private funding in order to purchase and permanently protect the lands
of Mahukona, located along the Kohala, Hawaii Island coastline, covering 642 acres and six
ahupua`a (from south to north) Kaoma, Hihiu, Mahukona, Kamano, Kou, and Kapa`anui.
Our connection to Mahukona is quite simple--we are cultural practitioners who have long cared
for this `aina and in return it feeds us. We have fished these grounds for generations and have
begun teaching our keiki in these protected areas. We are dedicated to its care and entrust that to
Hawaiian Islands Land Trust (HILT),Na Kalai Wa`a, Mahukona families and Kohala nui. It is an
urgent priority that the County Council listen to the aforementioned respected leaders and
organizations of this place to ensure the protection of Mahukona in perpetuity.
The following highlights the main reasons we, Ka `Ohana Hedlund support a conservation
purchase and permanent protection of Mahukona:
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• Effectively prohibit future subdivision and development of Hawai`i's agricultural lands,
while protecting Kohala's agricultural tradition of the Kohala Field System. With its
prime location and agricultural and resort land use designations, the lands of Mahukona
are at risk to be sold to resort and high-scale residential developers.
• Permanently protect and allow for `ohana and community stewardship of Mahukona's
prominent Hawaiian cultural landscape and the hundreds of ancient heiau and cultural
sites still cared for by `ohana and practitioners, while protecting the integrity and
continuation of the area's ongoing cultural and religious practices including but not
limited to non-instrumental navigation and subsistence fishing practices.
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• Protect Mahukona's native flora and fauna habitat, including that for the endangered
`ope`ape`a (Hawaiian Hoary Bat) and Hawaiian monk seal, and other unidentified
threatened, endangered or at-risk species (TER), while equally providing habitat
restoration opportunities for other TER species.
• Maintain recreational use of the area's trails and swimming areas.
• Successfully complete a portion of the conservation corridor, connecting the protection of
Lapakahi State Historical Park to the south to the County's Kapa`a Beach Park to the
north, effectively contributing to the Kohala community's vision for a conservation
corridor and protection of scenic view planes as outlined in the North Kohala Community
Development Plan.
• Ensure the integrity and health of Mahukona's ocean resources, including endemic and
endangered marine species.
• Use of public funds for the protection of Mahukona is a proactive opportunity for the
County and State to uphold their constitutional obligations to protect Native Hawaiian
subsistence, cultural, and religious practices and Public Trust resources.
Mahalo for the opportunity to provide testimony in strong support of Resolution 145-21 for the
permanent protection of Mahukona.
Ka `Ohana Hedlund