The changing of the guard is about to take place at Waimea Valley. Now might be a good time for everyone to reflect on the wisdom of letting an agency with a measure of independence manage this prized resource.

Keeping a high level of autonomy for Waimea's new management team, coupled with continued strong ties to the community, seems the surest path to follow.

A lot of heroes need to be acknowledged at this stage in the valley's history.

First, the National Audubon Society, through its network of environmental centers, truly laid a strong foundation for the preservation of this ahupua'a, or mountain-to-sea ecosystem.

If Audubon hadn't been willing to establish the Waimea center, the valley might have succumbed to pressures for development and the more "amusement park" orientation favored in a rival management proposal.

It will yield stewardship later this month to Hi'ilei Aloha, a limited liability corporation.

The valley ultimately was rescued from development in 2006, after public and private agencies pooled $14 million to purchase it. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs deserves credit for stepping up to serve as lead agency during the interim since the acquisition, and took the right approach in the final setup.

In the fall OHA announced the formation of Hi'ilei Aloha, to which Audubon will yield the valley's stewardship over the next few weeks.

OHA has embarked on a series of land acquisitions — a venture fraught with risk, but in this case it's hard to dispute that the investment will further its mission to perpetuate Hawaiian cultural practices.

Here OHA's mission intersects nicely with the general public interest: Creating an educational resource in Waimea will benefit everyone, and where else on O'ahu could this be possible?

But it was everyone's money that made this possible, not only OHA's. Besides, it's best that Waimea be managed now as it was historically: by the community, independently by a government agency.

So far, community leaders report that Hi'ilei is continuing Audubon's practice of drawing on grassroots wisdom and support, an encouraging pattern that must continue. In the same way that Waimea once sustained its community, the community now must provide for the valley's renewal.

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