Roughly $81,000 in grant funding will go to three Big Island nonprofits to maintain more than 3,000 acres in Ka‘u and North Kona.
At a Tuesday meeting, the County Council Committee on Legislative Approvals and Acquisitions approved three resolutions that award grant funds through the county’s Public Access, Open Space, and Natural Resources Preservation Commission.
The commission, commonly called PONC, allocates funds to preserve certain properties deemed to be important for providing public access to outdoor recreation or having cultural significance, and can award further funds to organizations to maintain those properties.
On Tuesday, three properties were identified for maintenance grants that together encompass more than 3,300 acres across the Big Island.
The largest site targeted by the grants was the 3,100-acre county-owned Kahuku Coastal Property in Ka‘u immediately south of Ocean View. A PONC grant of $15,748 — the smallest of the three grants awarded Tuesday — was given to the Hawaii Wildlife Fund.
Maxine Cutler, property management technician for the county Department of Finance, acknowledged that the grant is small considering the vast size of the property, but said the Wildlife Fund will focus primarily on the property’s coastline and address the habitats of local hawksbill sea turtles, a critically endangered species.
“As you probably know, the hawksbills have been particularly impacted by climate change, and their nesting grounds have been threatened,” Cutler said.
A second Ka‘u property, a 13-acre stretch of land along Highway 11 just east of Naalehu, was the subject of a $28,000 grant awarded to nonprofit Ho‘omalu Ka‘u, which has stewarded the parcel since 2018, said Ho‘omalu Ka‘u secretary Keoni Fox.
“Through this program, we have been able to restore this … traditional playing field for traditional and cultural use,” Fox said, adding that the site is now suitable for Makahiki celebrations — the traditional Hawaiian New Year festival — and that he hopes to invite all Ka‘u schools to the next Makahiki in December.
Cutler added that Ho‘omalu Ka‘u has rendered the formerly rugged property “barefoot-friendly.”
The final grant of $38,220 was awarded to nonprofit Kohanaiki ‘Ohana to manage 217 acres of ‘O‘oma Beach in North Kona just south of Kona International Airport.
Karen Eoff, founder of the Kohanaiki ‘Ohana, said that thanks to her group’s stewardship, native grasses have begun to reestablish themselves throughout the parcel.
“People who visit ‘O‘oma can see that there’s love and care when they enter,” Eoff said. “The signage and the flourishing plants are a sign that the place is being taken care of, and I think that filters into the beachgoers to be better stewards.”
The committee voted unanimously in favor of forwarding all three resolutions to the full County Council with a positive recommendation.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
