Partnership will protect
Big Isle water sources
WAIMEA, Hawaii >> A new watershed partnership covering 30,000 acres in the Kohala Mountains on the Big Island will improve conservation practices, participants say.
The Kohala Watershed Partnership among seven public and private landowners, plus nonlandowners Hawaii County Department of Water Supply and the private Nature Conservancy, was signed Tuesday and announced yesterday.
Included in the agreement are Parker Ranch, Kahua Ranch, Ponoholo Ranch, Kamehameha Schools, the Queen Emma Foundation, the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and the state Department of Land & Natural Resources.
All of the landowners agree on the need to protect forest areas in the uplands, said Kahua Ranch manager Herbert "Monty" Richards. But not all of the land is designated as conservation under state law, he said. Some is agricultural, which theoretically would allow logging, for example.
The participants will write a management plan that will focus on protecting the water sources in the area.
The water is carried to users through a system of ditches, tunnels and flumes. The partnership ensures that surface water will be available for cattle and people, Richards said.
Under the terms of the new agreement, "no one is going to build a bowling alley up there," he said, tongue in cheek.
Another benefit of the partnership is that participants speak with one voice when applying for funding, a Nature Conservancy statement said.
One aspect will be fencing, with the intent to reduce or eliminate wild pigs from critical areas, although not everywhere covered by the agreement, said conservancy Big Island director Rob Shallenberger.
Eight similar partnerships have already been formed in the state.
With Kohala, the number of acres protected nears 400,000, the conservancy said.
