A $500,000 award, in part from the Legacy Land Conservation Program, will protect over 614 acres of Molokai’s critical watershed and prevent erosion damage to near-shore coral reef ecosystems and historic Hawaiian fishponds.
This award to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources is part of $3.3 million in funding to a variety of state and county agencies. The money is targeted to protect 753 acres on the Big Island, Oahu and Kauai, as well as Molokai.
The money from the Legacy Land Conservation Program will be matched with about $9.5 million from federal, county and private sources to acquire land or protective easements for public benefit.
This program was first used on Molokai to protect 168 acres of Kip Dunbar’s Kainalu Ranch on Molokai’s southeastern shore with an agricultural conservation easement through the Maui Coastal Land Trust. Dunbar sold the property to the land trust for $2.3 million, making it permanently protected from development.
Besides the watershed protection for Molokai, six other projects are being financed, including four land purchases totaling 25 acres and three easements covering 728 acres.
Laura Thielen, chairwoman of the state Board of Land and Natural Resources, said the fund provides an efficient way to protect land containing important natural, cultural or agricultural value. “By providing these grants as incentive, the state is utilizing mostly private and federal funds to protect these resources,” she said in a statement announcing the awards.
This is the fifth year of awards from the program, which was established by the Legislature in 2005 and is funded from a 10 percent cut of property conveyance tax proceeds collected by the state.
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