Immediately above the land that Hawaiian Legacy Hardwoods is proposing for its koa plantation, just across rutted Mana Road, lies a 4,469-acre tract. At its lower elevations (starting at 5,200 feet), the landscape bears the scars inflicted by more than … Continued
Off With Their Heads! The owner of the catamaran Queen’s Treasure is not giving up plying the waters off Ka`anapali without a fight. On Valentine’s Day, two weeks after a federal judge denied its motion for a temporary injunction preventing … Continued
It sounds almost too good to be true. A private company, Hawaiian Legacy Hardwoods, LLC, has plans to restore native koa forests to thousands of acres of Big Island land, grazed and logged to a nub over the last century … Continued
In the years since he purchased Kuka`iau Ranch, owner David S. DeLuz Sr. has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal funds to support his cattle operation. According to the Environmental Working Group, which tracks subsidies made by the … Continued
When it comes to the prospects of growing high-value koa in plantations, Hawaiian Legacy Hardwoods CEO Jeffrey Dunster and University of Hawai`i forester J.B. Friday do not see eye to eye. They disagree over the yields of marketable koa that … Continued
On its face, the plan to reforest more than 7,000 acres of Kuka`iau Ranch is remarkable. Using a combination of government grants, private philanthropy, and market drivers, a substantial chunk of the northern slope of Mauna Kea would be restored … Continued
Malaekahana Park Managers Stay While DLNR Seeks a New Lessee The Friends of Malaekahana (FOM), which has managed the 36-acre Kahuku section of the Malaekahana State Recreation Area for nearly 20 years, on O`ahu’s north shore, has dodged eviction, but … Continued
A challenge to a proposed 14-lot subdivision in an old growth `ohi`a forest on the western slopes of Mauna Loa has resulted in the Hawai`i County planning director admitting that her department made mistakes in the process of approving the … Continued
Water War: On June 6, the Hawai`i Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the appeals of the Commission on Water Resource Management’s June 2010 amendments to the interim instream flow standards (IIFS) for four west Maui streams collectively known … Continued
The staff of the Commission on Water Resource Management is too nice. That was the general consensus of commissioners at a May 16 meeting where, in one violation case after another, fine recommendations were minimal, to say the least. In … Continued