U.S. Forest Service and Nature Conservancy Complete Second Forest Legacy Acquisition in Hawaii
Papa Lands Protected Under Forest Legacy Easement
Honolulu, HI—September 2, 2004—The U.S. Forest Service and The Nature Conservancy announced today that they have completed the state’s second Forest Legacy project in South Kona on the island of Hawaii. The Forest Service has acquired a permanent conservation easement to protect 2,240 acres of native forest at Papa in South Kona, one of three parcels that make up the Conservancy’s Kona Hema Preserve. The Forest Service acquired the easement from the Conservancy for $950,000.
In August of 2003, the Forest Service and the Conservancy completed the state’s first Forest Legacy project by protecting 1,800 acres at neighboring Kapua, which is also a part of the Kona Hema Preserve. This morning, Hawaii Congressman Ed Case and officials from the U.S. Forest Service, the State, the county of Hawaii and The Nature Conservancy gathered at the preserve for a formal dedication of the two projects.
Said Congressman Case, "The Forest Legacy Program forges important public-private partnerships that provide for the long-term protection of Hawaii's native forests. It enables traditional uses of private forest lands to continue while ensuring that these forests will be enjoyed by future generations. This program demonstrates how we all share a commitment to protect our environment and to build more partnerships such as this in the coming years."
“Establishing the Forest Legacy Program in Hawaii has been a major priority for us,” said John Henshaw, the Pacific Rim Forest Legacy Program Manager for the U.S. Forest Service. “We’ve helped protect forests from Maine to Oregon, but the projects here in South Kona are our first in the islands. Hawaii’s native forests are unique in all the world, but they are also highly endangered. Forest Legacy allows us to work with private landowners and the State to ensure the long-term protection of these valuable forests.”
Forest Legacy is a partnership among private landowners, participating states and the U.S. Forest Service to identify and help protect environmentally and economically important forestlands from conversion to non-forest uses. Under Forest Legacy, the Forest Service acquires a permanent conservation easement from a private landowner that restricts development and other incompatible forest uses on the property, while the private landowner retains ownership of the land. Forest Legacy easements may allow for continued ranching and timber harvesting, but they restrict how it is done to ensure sustainability and compatibility with the program’s forest protection goals.
The Nature Conservancy was the first private landowner in Hawaii to participate in the Forest Legacy Program. Its 8,061-acre Kona Hema Preserve consists of the original 4,021-acre Honomalino parcel, purchased in 1999, and the two Forest Legacy parcels at Papa and Kapua.
“Forest Legacy has enabled us to double the size of our Kona Hema Preserve and do twice as much protection here in South Kona,” said Suzanne Case, the Conservancy’s Executive Director in Hawaii. “We owe a special debt of gratitude to Hawaii’s Congressional Delegation for securing the funding needed for the Forest Service to accomplish this protection effort. Without their support and the Forest Legacy Program, the expansion of our preserve would not have been possible.”
The Conservancy acquired the Papa parcel last November for $1.7 million from businessman Kent Untermann. It is located between 3,200 and 5,600 feet elevation and contains diverse koa and `ohi`a forests that provide habitat for the endangered Hawaiian hawk (`io), the endangered Hawaiian hoary bat (`ope`ape`a), and four native forests birds – the `i`iwi, `apapane, `elepaio and `amakihi.
Under an approved Forest Stewardship Plan for its Kona Hema Preserve, the Conservancy will continue to own and pay for ongoing management of the Papa and Kapua parcels. The Conservancy has been working with the Forest Service`s Institute of Pacific Forestry to conduct research on the potential for sustainable forestry in the region. Those efforts are focused on Kona Hema’s Papa and Honomalino parcels.
Since it was started in 1992, Forest Legacy has grown from a $6 million program to nearly $70 million today. According to the Forest Service, Hawaii was one of the first states to apply for the program and to recognize its potential.
Currently, all potential Hawaii projects are located in the Kona and Kohala areas of the Big Island, which have the state’s highest concentration of privately held forestlands in agricultural zoning. But according to Dan Davidson, Deputy Director of the State Department of Land and Natural Resources, which oversees the Forest Legacy Program in Hawaii, the State is working with the Forest Service to expand its scope to all major islands.
“Forest Legacy is a example of a program that benefits everyone involved,” he said “It fairly compensates landowners, who still retain ownership of their lands and get to see them permanently protected. It also builds a true partnership between the private sector, the state and the federal government to protect valuable forestlands.”
The Conservancy’s Kona Hema Preserve lies just downslope of the 116,00-acre Kahuku Ranch, which the Conservancy and the National Park Service purchased in 2003 for addition to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The preserve is also adjacent to 25,000 acres of State forestlands at Manuka Natural Area Reserve in south Kona. Together with expansive tracts of State forestlands in the neighboring district of Ka’u, the public now has nearly a half million acres of protected forestlands stretching from the windward to the leeward sides of south Hawaii Island.
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