9,000 acres saved on Big Isle
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser Staff Writer
The final piece of land fell in place yesterday to ensure that more than 9,000 acres of Big Island forest land, once destined to become a golf course and luxury homes, will be preserved in perpetuity.
The state used a federal grant of nearly $2 million to buy a conservation easement, which is legally embedded in the land's deed, at Kealakekua Heritage Ranch, an 11,000-acre ranch about 20 miles south of Kailua, Kona.
The purchase is part of the federal Forest Legacy Program and will be completed by 2009.
In all, nearly 50,000 acres have been preserved in Hawai'i using the program's federal grants to buy land or conservation easements. All the land is on the Big Island, but the program, which is managed locally by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, is planning to expand to O'ahu, Maui and Moloka'i, said John Henshaw, Pacific Rim Forest Legacy Program manager.
By comparison, Maine has more than 750,000 acres of land preserved through the legacy program, Henshaw said.
"This is a shining example of how a partnership works well in Hawai'i," said Laura H. Thielen, DLNR chairwoman. "It's an example of how to preserve more land than we can afford to buy. This purchase means that vast amounts of land will be preserved forever."
Landowners can maintain their working forest lands in current use and get tax benefits that compensate them for the loss of development rights. To be eligible, the land must be at least 75 percent forested.
The Kealakekua Heritage Ranch land is owned by the Pace family, who purchased the ranch, much of it covered in koa and 'ohi'a forest, in 2004 in an effort to keep it from being developed. Now, only about 2,000 acres will be developed rather than the entire 11,000 acres, Henshaw said.
"We've been working on this for more than five years," Henshaw said. "We have a long way to go, but it was a big piece."
The Pace family sees the forest legacy as a great compromise, said Greg Hendrickson, the ranch's real property administrator.
In exchange for the conservation easement, the owners will get tax breaks and a chance to keep the land as a working cattle and forestry ranch.
The Forest Legacy Program was established in 1990 to protect environmentally important forests that are threatened by development.
Other pieces of land on the Big Island preserved by the forest legacy are:
A future candidate for preservation is Lana'i, which Thielen says is perfect for the program.
"People want to save a lot of land across Hawai'i and we should support it everywhere we can," Thielen said. "Preserving large areas of land is important for bio-diversity to provide protection for birds and seed banking and to protect the aquifer and for native Hawaiian cultural purposes."
Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com.
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