Kona deal for land
to protect forestsThe federal purchase will also
provide funds for conservation
KAILUA-KONA >> The Forest Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture has paid the Nature Conservancy $1,060,000 for economic use rights attached to 1,800 acres of native forest at Kapua, South Kona, the conservancy announced.
Called an easement, the purchase of usage rights will limit what the conservancy can do in the future, thereby protecting forest, said conservancy Big Island representative Robert Shallenberger.
In turn, the purchase supplies the conservancy with funds to carry out conservation work, Shallenberger said.
Federal purchases of such "Forest Legacy" easements from private landowners has been authorized by Congress since 1978, but Kapua is the first instance of the law being applied in Hawaii, said conservancy state director Grady Timmons.
The law allows limited economic use in easement areas, but because Kapua is good native forest, none is intended there, Shallenberger said.
On parts of adjoining lands at Honomalino, which the conservancy owns, and Papa, which the conservancy is negotiating to buy, forests have been degraded by ranching and logging, Shallenberger said.
The conservancy will conduct studies of reforestation there, including research on possible limited logging, Shallenberger said.
