Attendance at Waimea Valley has fallen to an all-time low and the money-losing North Shore site will be taken over in February by a new entity of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, OHA officials announced yesterday.

Hi'ilei Aloha — OHA's newly created nonprofit limited liability corporation — will be run by former Honolulu City Council chairman Gary Gill. He most recently was program coordinator of the Kokua Kalihi Valley Community Health Clinic and also has been deputy director for environmental health at the state Department of Health and director of the State Office of Environmental Quality Control.

Hi'ilei Aloha means "to carry, care for and nurture lovingly," OHA chairwoman Haunani Apoliona said yesterday in making the announcement.

"This day marks a milestone for OHA and is solid demonstration of OHA's commitment to our kuleana of responsible stewardship, malama 'aina," Apoliona said. "We ask for the continued support from all of you in our ongoing efforts to do right by this place, to protect and manage this legacy of our ancestors for today and for tomorrow."

Yesterday's announcement was the latest development in the long history of Waimea Valley, which for 700 years was considered a sacred "valley of the priests" beginning in the late 11th century.

CHANGING HANDS

In modern times, Waimea Valley has survived several ownership changes.

In 2001, New York investor and theme-park developer Christian Wolffer put the valley under bankruptcy protection after attendance slipped. The City and County of Honolulu took possession of Waimea Valley through condemnation and in 2003 awarded a lease to the National Audubon Society.

OHA took title to the land last year after it was bought by a partnership involving OHA, the city, state Department of Land and Natural Resources, U.S. Army and National Audubon Society.

The National Audubon Society has been running what's now called the Waimea Valley Audubon Center for the last four years but expects to cease operations at the end of January, said Diana King, the center's interim director.

During Waimea Valley's peak years, as many as 2,000 people per day visited the 1,875-acre park. But attendance has dropped to as few as 300 to 400 visitors per day, and the roads and buildings have fallen into disrepair, said Jonathan Scheuer, director of land management hale for OHA.

Both OHA and the Audubon Society yesterday declined to specify what led the National Audubon Society to pull out of negotiations in January for a long-term lease to continue managing the valley.

"It's time to move on," King said. "It's unfortunate that it didn't work out. It's sad to leave such a special place. But we're honored to have played a part in safeguarding the valley, and we're optimistic about the future."

King said "repaving the road, repairing the sewage treatment plant, the roofs, buildings, railings — all of that needs attention."

IMPROVEMENTS NEEDED

Audubon officials estimate that Waimea Valley's operations will continue to lose about $500,000 per year, King said.

"The site has been run on a month-to-month basis for so long that the capital needs are significant," she said. "But we have been closing that gap through charitable donations, grants, outside contracts, things of that nature."

OHA administrator Clyde Namu'o said OHA trustees will be asked to fund $1 million for each of the next five years to keep Waimea Valley running and make needed improvements.

Admission fees currently range from $3 to $8 and could be considered for possible increases in the future, Namu'o said.

Waimea Valley Audubon Center's 43 full- and part-time employees were notified of the changes yesterday morning and will be asked to reapply for their jobs with Hi'ilei Aloha.

The center also receives help from about 500 volunteers, Namu'o said.

"In the last couple of years, it has been allowed to become dilapidated — from the bathrooms to the trees," said Butch Helemano, a Native Hawaiian minister in the area around Waimea Valley who was pleased with yesterday's announcement. "As a person with a lineal descent bloodline to the area, it was quite embarrassing. That's all going to change now."

Kawika Au, a longtime Waimea Valley volunteer, met Gill yesterday and called him and the new OHA entity "a great choice. It's just what the valley needs."

WAIMEA VALLEY