In partnership with NOAA, the Hawaiʻi Land Trust (HILT) is restoring ecosystems and reestablishing Native Hawaiian connections to the land on Waiheʻe Coastal Dunes and Wetlands Refuge on Maui. NOAA’s Office of Habitat Conservation awarded the Trust $804,000 through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act for this project.
For 400 years, Native Hawaiians maintained a loko iʻa kalo, a fishpond used to raise both fish and taro. Research suggests it may have produced up to 300 pounds of fish per acre and 12,000 pounds of taro, a culturally important root vegetable. This Native Hawaiian practice helped to create an estuary that provided a home for rare birds and nursery grounds for marine fish. It also absorbed much of the sediment flowing downhill from the mountains, protecting coral reefs offshore. Working in remarkable symmetry with nature, Native Hawaiians’ traditional mauka-to-makai (mountain-to-sea) land management techniques ensured the health of the environment and the people who depended on it.
