Recent News
Thank you to the North Shore community and other supporters for your assistance and support to the North Shore Community Land Trust (NSCLT) and its partners in the successful effort to protect Pupukea Paumalu for the benefit of the public. Working together as a community we accomplished what some once dismissed as an unrealistic dream.
As many of you may know, NSCLT's project partner, the Trust for Public Land (TPL), purchased the 1,129 acre Pupukea Paumalu property (previously slated for up to 500 new homes and infrastructure including a sewage plant) from the Obayashi Corporation in June 2007.
TPL immediately transferred 25 acres along Kamehameha Highway next to the Sunset Beach Elementary School to the City and County of Honolulu Parks Department. In August 2007, TPL transferred the balance of 1,104 acres of the mauka property to the State of Hawai'i Parks Division, which will hold it as a Park Reserve (stretching from the Kahuku border of Sunset Hills to the Hale‘iwa side of Paumalu gulch/Comsat).
Through the Pupukea Paumalu Stewardship Fund, NSCLT has mobilized additional resources to work with the City and State to develop a community-based long-range resource management plan for public use of the area and for community stewardship activities. Given the property's proximity to Sunset Beach Elementary School and the Boys and Girls Scout camps, it is projected that youth outdoor educational activities can be quickly and safely incorporated into the future uses of the property. Additional activities that have been proposed include hiking trails, interpretive walking tours, and cultural resource restoration.
In addition, work completed on the property previously offers excellent opportunities for native plant propagation and restoration.
The North Shore Community Land Trust is already hard at work with the North Shore community and other stakeholders on the plan for these future management strategies on the land. In fact, during the dedication event in December 2007, NSCLT collected comments and suggestions from over 200 people who filled out detailed community surveys. Survey respondents overwhelmingly pointed to a healthy coastal environment, community involvement in planning and stewardship activities, and young people interacting with the environment as values that will be critical as the effort moves forward.
To further these purposes, NSCLT is working with Townscape Inc. (www.townscapeinc.com) to assist the community and stakeholders in developing the draft long-range resource management plan for the property, its resources, and potential stewards.
For the next several months NSCLT, Townscape, and other partners will be inviting interested community members to engage in the inter-active planning process that will include planning meetings in addition to initial on-site activities such as property clean-ups and trash pick-ups. Please stay tuned for more information at www.northshoreland.org so you can learn more about how to support the effort. We invite and welcome your input, suggestions, participation in volunteer activities, and other guidance and support you may offer.
NSCLT is deeply grateful to Obayashi, TPL, government officials, and the innumerable Pupukea Paumalu community supporters. As Governor Lingle stated at the dedication "The preservation of Pupukea Paumalu through the collaborative efforts of public and private partners is another example of the innovative approach we as a state are taking to protect our natural and cultural resources for future generations. This public-private partnership will ensure the continued conservation and management of culturally and environmentally significant sites that make Oahu's North Shore so special."
