Hoʻihoʻi Maunawili
Returning Maunawili to the hands and hearts of the community
For generations, Maunawili has fed our community’s body and spirit, has sustained native ecosystems, and has shared the stories of our ancestors. Today, we have the opportunity to ensure that Maunawili isn’t just protected, it thrives. Hoʻokuaʻāina, Kauluakalana, Hawaiʻi Land Trust, and the Trust for Public Land are working together to raise $500,000 to build a momentum that will ensure perpetual stewardship of these lands for the benefit of our community.
Your kōkua will mālama these storied places, reconnect the community, and inspire generations to come.
In partnership:
Talk Story and Hana With Us!
Join Hoʻokuaʻāina and Kauluakalana for an opportunity to learn more about our shared vision for Maunawili Valley, get your hands dirty participating in some volunteer work, and talk story with the staff and community members bringing this vision to life!
Guided Walk at Pālāwai with Hoʻokuaʻāina
Saturday, October 25
Saturday, November 1
Volunteer & Talk Story at Ulupō and Makaliʻi with Kauluakalana
Saturday, October 25 (Makaliʻi) - LEARN MORE & REGISTER
Saturday, November 8 (Ulupō) -
And meet us at
Lā Kūʻokoʻa, Kaʻelepulu Elementary School
Saturday, November 29
About the Effort
In the heart of Maunawili, Oʻahu, two storied lands—Pālāwai and Makaliʻi—are being returned to community care. Fed by wai ʻolu lipo (lush, dark, exhilarating waters), these fertile places have sustained generations through loʻi kalo, native forests, and deep interdependence between people and ʻāina. For decades, our community has fought to protect this ʻāina from development and restore it for shared use and cultural renewal. Now, for the first time, that vision is within reach.
Maunawili’s waters are poised to once again feed, heal, and reconnect the people of Kailua, just as they did for generations. For over a decade, Trust for Public Land has partnered with Hui Maunawili- Kawainui, a coalition of nonprofits and generational ‘ohana, to purchase and permanently protect over 1,000 acres which include Palawai and Makaliithis land. Today, the acquisition funds have been secured and the real estate transaction process in motion, ensuring thatOnce acquired, ownership of these vibrant lands will be returned to community hands: Hoʻokuaʻāina will care for Pālāwai, and Kauluakalana will care for Makaliʻi. Hookuaaina and Kauluakalana, twoThese trusted nonprofits withbring deep experience in ʻāina restoration, education, and cultural revitalization will own and steward the Pālāwai (116 acres) Palawai and Makali‘i (59 acres)parcels, respectively, and they. Both places will be forever protected through conservation easements co-held by Hawaiʻi Land Trust and the City and County of Honolulu.
This moment is about more than conserving land. It is about looking to the future and investing in a shared vision where ʻāina and people thrive together. Through community care, Pālāwai and Makaliʻi will be restored into living, working landscapes—streams and springs will be restored, loʻi kalo replanted, and connection rekindled between people and place.
By supporting this campaign, you are investing not just in land, but in people. Your gift will ensure that the future of Maunawili reflects the wisdom and abundance of its past. Campaign proceeds will be shared equally among the four partners, supporting both the protection of these lands and their long-term care for generations to come.
Now is the moment to return Maunawili’s wai ʻolu lipo to community hands. Join us.
“We're going to need all of us to move this forward in order to ensure that these lands are perpetuated in ways that are pono for future generations.”
— Dean Wilhelm, Co-Executive Director, Hoʻokuaʻāina
“The work that we do here is not just about ʻāina restoration, it’s about community restoration. It’s about the future of our people here in Hawaiʻi.”
— Kaleo Wong, Executive Director, Kauluakalana
“It's a daunting task to take a thousand acres and turn Pālāwai into thriving lo'i and turn Makali‘i into a site for cultural renewal not only with plants, but with people, learning, language, and crafts, and I'm glad these guys are up to the task.”
— Kihei de Silva, Hālau Mōhala ‘Ilima and Hika‘alani
“Maunawili and Kailua were part of what we called the breadbasket of O‘ahu and the vision of many people in our community is to ensure that that happens again.”
— Pili MacKenzie, Hui Maunawili-Kawainui
COMMUNITY VISION FOR MAUNAWILI
Maintain community character and wellbeing.
Strengthen community health and resilience through culturally grounded, place-based stewardship that nurtures reciprocal relationships between people, ʻāina, and identity.
Restore native habitat, revive Maunawili’s waters, and protect coastal health.
Restore and revitalize ecological systems across the ahupuaʻa, including revive the watershed, native species, and soil health to ensure the flourishing of both land and people for generations to come.
Improve food security.
Develop a diversified, community-led agricultural model to fortify Hawaiʻi’s food systems while promoting holistic health across the Koʻolau moku and beyond.
Revive traditional practices and protect cultural sites.
Need something here.
Maunawili stream as it winds down from the Koʻolau.
Project History
On the windward side of Oʻahu in Maunawili Valley are more than 1,084 acres of what was once a thriving “breadbasket” for the island. These lands support critical waterways, dozens of cultural and historic sites, and fertile agricultural and conservation lands. Until now, this abundant ecosystem has been privately owned and in danger of being developed. More than 10 community groups in Kailua – collectively united as Hui Maunawili-Kawainui – have joined forces to safeguard these vital lands and return them to community-based stewardship for bio-cultural restoration and sustainable agriculture.
Campaign Partners and Roles
For decades, the community has worked together to advocate for the lands and waters of Maunawili.
Trust for Public Land - the project manager, is leading landowner negotiations, capital fundraising, and the conservation real estate transactions. TPL will purchase the properties and then transfer ownership to community.
Hoʻokuaʻaina - the future owner/steward of Palawai (116 acres), with plans to transform these lands back to ʻāina momona (fat, fertile land), perpetuate ʻāina-based education, restore traditional lo‘i kalo, dryland farming and agroforestry, and increase our island’s food security.
Kauluakalana - the future owner/steward of Makali‘i (59 acres), with plans to transform these lands back to ʻāina momona (fat, fertile land), perpetuate ʻāina-based education, restore traditional lo‘i kalo, dryland farming and agroforestry, and increase our island’s food security.
Hawai‘i Land Trust - the future co-holder of conservation easements over Palawai and Makalii, ensuring it is forever protected for community benefit. The City & County of Honolulu will be the co-holder. HILT is also leading our joint Hoʻihoʻi Maunawili fundraising campaign.
Other Important Maunawili Partners:
Hui Maunawili-Kawainui - a grassroots hui of 10+ orgs that together advocate for the health of Maunawili so that the valley can resume its vital and traditional role as a place of free-flowing fresh water, abundant agriculture, and rich natural, cultural, and historic resources.
State of Hawaiʻi, DLNR, Division of Forestry and Wildlife - the future owner/steward of Maunawili Forest, Queen’s Retreat, and Kekoʻowai (909 acres), which will manage the lands as a forest reserve in close partnership with local orgs who will steward and restore cultural and historic sites and lo‘i kalo.
City and County of Honolulu - the future co-holder of conservation easements over Palawai and Makalii, ensuring it is forever protected for community benefit.
Capital Funding Sources
The capital need for the fee-simple land acquisition purchase will be funded via five public funding sources, including:
U.S. DoD REPI program, $11,200,000
City & County of Honolulu Clean Water and Natural Lands program, $9,572,000
State of Hawaiʻi Capital Improvement Project funds $7,000,000
U.S. Forest Legacy program, $4,950,000
State Legacy Land Conservation program, $4,071,000