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Forest Legacy Program Protects 16,000 More Acres on Big Island

Hawaii’s success unmatched nationwide

HONOLULU, HAWAI'I — June 3, 2008 — Another 16,000 acres of native forestlands along the Big Island’s Kona coast will be permanently protected through funds provided by the Federal Forest Legacy Program, the State announced today. The properties include:

• 9,000 acres at Kealakekua Heritage Ranch
• 4,022 acres at Honomalino, part of The Nature Conservancy’s Kona Hema Preserve
• 3,128 acres of McCandless Ranch

The latest projects are the result of a cooperative effort between the landowners, the State Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), local conservation partners and the USDA Forest Service. The parties agreed to protect the properties from future development in an effort to protect valuable — and vanishing —native forestlands.

“The State of Hawai‘i is one of the most successful Forest Legacy participants in the nation," said John Henshaw, Pacific Rim’s Forest Legacy Manager. “Out of the 38 participating states, Hawai‘i has done the best job of utilizing federal dollars—using only 22% of federal money to protect over 46,000 acres valued at more than $51 million. This success can be directly attributed to the program’s ability to work in partnership with landowners to meet their needs as well as long-term land conservation objectives.”

The Forest Legacy Program (FLP) was established in the 1990 Farm Bill to protect environmentally important forest areas that are threatened by conversion to non-forest uses and to promote forestland protection through the use of conservation easements and fee-simple purchase.

All three Kona properties contain diverse koa, ‘ōhi‘a, and tree fern stands that provide habitat for various native bird species, including the ‘apapane, ‘i‘iwi, ‘elepaio and ‘amakihi.

All three properties have been protected through conservation easements—voluntary, legally binding agreements that limit certain types of uses or prevent development on the property now and in the future, while protecting the property’s ecological or open-space values. The conservation easements were negotiated to meet the objectives of the landowner as well as protecting the property’s long-term conservation value.

Kealakekua Heritage Ranch
The lands at the Kealakekua Heritage Ranch in Kona were once slated for intense development: an Arnold Palmer golf course and 500 new houses. “The Pace family, however, had a different vision,” said Greg Hendrickson, Ranch Manager. “The family is committed to protecting this land from the kind of development planned for it prior to their purchase, and is instead interested in maintaining this Ranch as working lands.” The Federal program enables the Pace family to protect their land, ranch it sustainably and provide public benefits from their land. 

The 9,000-acre parcel has been protected in two phases. The first 4,000 acres were protected last year through a $2 million grant from the Forest Legacy Program, which is administered in Hawai‘i by the State Department of Land and Natural Resources.

This Friday, June 6 at 11:00 a.m. in the DLNR conference room, DLNR Director Laura Thielen will accept an additional $1.968 million dollar grant for the second, 5,000-acre phase of the project. Also attending will be USDA Forest Legacy Director Laura Tippin, various Forest Legacy program managers and Kealakekua Ranch Manager Hendrickson. The assessed value of the 9,000-acre property is $31 million, with the two Forest Legacy grants covering $4 million of that total. The Pace family is donating the remainder of the value.

Nature Conservancy and McCandless Lands
The Nature Conservancy was the first local partner to work with the Forest Legacy program at its Kona Hema Preserve on the leeward slopes of Mauna Loa. The south Kona preserve consists of three adjoining forest parcels totaling 8,061 acres. Two of those parcels – Kapu‘a and Pāpā – were protected through Forest Legacy conservation easements in 2003 and 2004, respectively.

The third and final parcel, at Honomalino, was protected late last year. At 4,022-acres, the property is valued at $7.25 million, with the Conservancy donating the entire amount of the easement.

McCandless Ranch, meanwhile, has been working with the Forest Legacy program since 2000 to protect its 12,000-acre Kona property. Late last year, the program completed its first acquisition of 3,128 acres at a cost of $2.2 million. The assessed value is $5.64 million, with the McCandless family donating the remainder of the value. McCandless landowner Cynthia Sally says the decision was simple: “Putting a Forest Legacy conservation easement on our property was a win for our family, a win for the property and a win for the public.”

According to Henshaw, the Forest Legacy program is always looking for new, interested landowners. Recent project applications have been submitted for one project on Moloka‘i and one on Maui. The program enables landowners to maintain their working lands in current uses, but at the same time receive compensation, and potential tax benefits for donations. Funding is awarded on a competitive basis, and each project must be at least 75% forested. Landowner participation is voluntary.

Any landowner interested in protecting their lands in Hawai‘i can apply for funds through this program. Contact Program Manager Sheri Mann for details at (808) 587-4172, via email at Sheri.S.Mann@hawaii.gov, or visit the website. The application deadline for this year is July 30, 2008. 

Please see the attached tables for a summary of accomplishments in the Hawai'i Forest Legacy program.

Background

• The Forest Legacy Program (FLP) was established in the 1990 Farm Bill to protect environmentally important forest areas that are threatened by conversion to non-forest uses and to promote forestland protection through the use of conservation easements and fee-simple purchase.

• FLP involves a partnership between the Forest Service, State lead agencies, local governments, land trusts, local organizations, citizens, and interested landowners. The FLP is a grant making program within the USDA Forest Service that states can use to partially fund the acquisition of forested land for conservation and forest product production. In Hawaii, the Forest Legacy Program is run through the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR). The lead Agency is the Division of Forestry and Wildlife under DLNR.

• States and Territories develop an Assessment of Need (AON) to participate in the FLP. The AON is an implementation plan that evaluates forest characteristics, uses, and threats, describes specific Forest Legacy Areas where the FLP will be focused, and outlines program goals and eligibility criteria that guide the selection of forest tracts. Hawaii revised their AON in 2005.

• The program operates on the principle of “willing buyer, willing seller.” Priority is given to lands that can be effectively protected and managed. Lands must be at least 75% forested to be considered for the FLP.

• Projects are selected through a national competitive process. Each participating state submits up to three priority projects to a national panel. The panel evaluates projects based on three criteria: environmental importance; degree of threat; and the strategic nature of the project.

• The program assures that both traditional uses of private lands and the public benefits of America's forests are protected for future generations. It provides an incentive based mechanism to conserve watershed functions, protect important fish and wildlife habitat, produce sustainable forest products, and maintain outdoor recreation opportunities.

• FLP promotes professional forest management. FLP projects aim to maintain “working forests” – those that are managed to provide environmental and economic goods and services.

• FLP emphasizes strategic conservation – producing a cumulative conservation impact on the land by conserving areas of unbroken forests, watershed or river corridor forests, and complementing existing protected lands.

• To date, FLP has conserved over one million five hundred thousand acres across United States and its Territories.

• The program consistently affects more than 50-percent non-federal match of funds to improve water quality and flows, climate change and to connect children to nature. Each project needs to be at least 75-percent forested, comply with Federal appraisal standards, and complete a multi-resource forest management plan. For 2008, the Forest Service selected 35 projects out of 82 excellent State proposals that totaled $192 million.

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.