Congresswoman Hirono Announces $2 million in Federal Grants To Acquire Land on Oahu and the Big Island for the Protection and Preservation of Native Species

WASHINGTON, D.C.—HONOLULU — Congresswoman Mazie K. Hirono today announced the awarding of more than $2.1 million in grants for the state of Hawaii and through the Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund.The funding will be used to permanently protect pristine land, which provides habitat for native species on the islands of Hawaii and Oahu. 

“I am pleased to see this federal government program working to help protect Hawaii’s unique and special places and the endangered native species that inhabit those areas,” said Congresswoman Hirono.

The Hawai’i related grants totaling $2,101,196 are listed below:
 
Kawa Bay Acquisition (Big Island) $1,000,000. The objective of this acquisition is to acquire and permanently protect approximately 551 acres in the District of Ka’u along the southeast coast of the island of Hawaii. The property provides approximately 2 miles of pristine coastline containing nesting beaches for the endangered Hawaiian hawksbill turtle and protecting offshore feeding areas for the threatened green sea turtle. The protection of this property will also benefit tidepools, coral reefs, an intertidal brackish water pond, and coastal freshwater springs which provide habitat for the endangered Hawaiian coot and the orange-black Hawaiian damselfly, a candidate species.

Honouliuli Preserve Acquisition (O’ahu) $361,196. This funding will contribute toward the acquisition and permanent protection of the 3,582-acre Honouliuli property. The Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife’s acquisition of this area will permanently protect habitat for over 90 rare species, including 38 threatened and endangered plants, one endangered bird, one endangered pomace fly and two endangered tree snails. There are 15 species (four of them endangered) that can only be found on the Honouliuli parcel. The area represents the largest known population of ‘elepaio in the Wai’anae Mountains and the second largest on the Island of O’ahu.

Hamakua Marsh Watershed Acquisition (O’ahu) $740,000. The goal of the Hamakua Marsh Watershed acquisition project is to acquire and permanently protect 65 acres of wetland and watershed lands and add them to the existing Hamakua Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary administered by the Department of State Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife. This acquisition will enhance ongoing recovery efforts for endangered Hawaiian waterbirds and plant species in the Hamakua Marsh. Species benefited include Hawaiian stilt, Hawaiian coot, Hawaiian gallunule (moorhen), Hawaiian duck, and the federally listed sedge – Cyperus trachysanthos.

Authorized by Section 6 of the Endangered Species Act, the grants enable States to work with private landowners, conservation groups and other agencies to initiate conservation planning efforts and acquire and protect habitat to support the conservation of threatened and endangered species.

“The Kawa Bay property on the Big Island is within the study area of my bill, the Ka‘u Coast Preservation Act (H.R. 1798),” said Hirono. “I know that the Ka‘u community strongly supports protecting this property from development.”