Hawaiian Legacy Tours (HLT) was named “2014 Ecotour Operator of the Year” by the Hawaii Ecotourism Association (HEA).
Hawaiian Legacy Tours (HLT) was named “2014 Ecotour Operator of the Year” by the Hawaii Ecotourism Association (HEA).
The award, presented Sept. 17 at HEA’s annual meeting, is among three presented each year by the organization for excellence in ecotourism, including Ecotour Guide of the Year and Travel Writer of the Year, honoring Hawaii ecotourism operators who demonstrate — through their business — a commitment to environmental stewardship, cultural sensitivity, community enhancement and educational content.
Hawaiian Legacy Tours is a first-of-its-kind ecotour that allows guests to help in the creation of the only Legacy Forest in the world.
“This award represents the efforts of more than 340 charities, 60 Legacy Partners and thousands of individual tree sponsors who have helped make the Hawaiian Legacy Forest a reality,” said Hawaii Legacy Tours CEO Jeff Dunster. “These partners are the driving force here and have been the key to its success. HLT was launched less than one year ago, and we are so pleased at the warm response these tours have received.”
HLT guests have a hands-on opportunity unlike any other.
They learn about the area’s culture, history and the importance of environmental stewardship; and how effectively communities can come together to solve problems too big for any one person to solve alone.
HLH LLC, a sustainable reforestation company, along with its nonprofit arm, the Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative (HLRI), has planted more than 250,000 endemic koa, sandalwood and other rare and endangered Hawaiian tree species across more than 750 acres above the historic Umikoa Village on the slopes of Mauna Kea during the past 4 1/2 years. This site was once a koa forest and the personal property of King Kamehameha I.
Now, less than 10 percent of these old-growth forests are still in existence. HLH and HLRI plan to plant 1.3 million endemic trees statewide, returning the endemic forest to Hawaii.
Hawaiian Legacy Tours provides guests with a unique opportunity to tour this forest, plant their own Koa Legacy Tree and track its growth online for years to come. Every tree is equipped with a proprietary RFID geo-tagging system that provides ongoing growth, maintenance, genealogy and carbon sequestration data.
This technology allows each Legacy Tree sponsor to track their tree through time using applications such as Google Earth, where they can see their tree from space. The tree even stores information about that person or event, creating a living monument.
This innovation has made the Hawaiian Legacy Forest the most intricately mapped forest in the world.
The Ecotour Operator of the Year award is determined by the HEA board.
The HEA is a nonprofit organization whose members range from ecotour and lodging operators to travel agents, environmental organizations, educational institutions and government agencies. It works to protect Hawaii’s unique natural environment and host culture through the promotion of responsible travel and educational programs relating to sustainable tourism for residents, businesses and visitors.