A 922-acre conservation easement along Saddle Road, above Hilo, that comprises a 200-acre kipuka featuring a disappearing stream and diverse ancient forest has been acquired by The Nature Conservancy.
The nonprofit announced Tuesday that it will partner with the University of Hawaii at Hilo, Hawaii Island watershed partnerships and the parcel’s landowner, The Hawaii Conference Foundation, to conserve, manage and interpret the site. The land, which is part of Hilo’s watershed, will continue to serve as an outdoor ecology laboratory for students at the university.
The land was acquired by Titus Coan through the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions during The Great Mahele in 1849. Fifty years later, his widow granted title to the Hawaiian Evangelical Association, which is currently the Hawaii Conference UCC and Hawaii Conference Foundation.
“It is an awesome piece of property, and we did what was necessary to make this possible because it is our church’s kuleana,” said Sherman S. Hee, executive director of the foundation.
The property features a diversity of native plants, birds and insects, along with a stream that pops up from underground, runs through the kipuka, and then disappears underground again.
“It is low, rugged and mossy. It has a majestic stand of native loulu palms and other ancient forest trees. Our hope is that it will serve as one of the few easily accessible sites where school and community groups can reconnect with a Hawaiian forest,” said Jody Kaulukukui, The Nature Conservancy’s director of land protection.
However, because the land is so close to Saddle Road, it has been impacted not only by weeds and feral pigs, but also the illegal dumping of items such as trash and tires.
“It is in good enough shape that we can remove the invasives and make a quick, significant difference,” said Kaulukukui.
The forested part of the parcel is referred to as a kipuka in reference to the 400- to 700-year-old forest that was bypassed by the 1855 Mauna Loa lava flow. Kipuka is the term for a natural area that has been surrounded by newer lava.
In addition to loulu palms, ohia lehua and olapa trees, ieie vines, akala bushes and numerous other native trees and shrubs, the kipuka is home the rare Clermontia parviflora, a curved flower that fits the beaks of native birds. Some of those birds in the area include omao, elepaio, apapane and amakihi. Io, the native hawk, often soars overhead.
The land is now part of the 15,000 acres that The Nature Conservancy manages on Hawaii Island through fee ownership or conservation easements. With its partners, the organization protects some 200,000 acres statewide.
“What’s special about this parcel is that it’s such beautiful forest, so full of native species, and so accessible. We’re viewing this as a real opportunity to protect native forest in partnership with the landowner, the University, the watershed partnerships and the people of east Hawaiʻi,” said Suzanne Case, The Nature Conservancy’s Hawaii executive director. “It is a partnership that will leave a legacy for future generations.”