Kākoʻo ʻŌiwi
Kākoʻo ʻŌiwi is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation based in the ahupuaa (watershed) of Heeia, moku (land division) of Koolaupoko on the island of Oahu. With the support of the local community, Kākoʻo ʻŌiwi was formed in 2007 and currently holds a 38-year lease agreement with the State of Hawaiʻi Community Development Authority (HCDA) to implement Mahuahua Ai o Hoi (Regrowing the Fruit of Hoi), a long-range project to restore agriculture and ecological productivity to nearly 405 acres within the wetlands of Heeia.
Purpose of Activity
In traditional times, Heeia contained one of the most extensive areas of wetland taro cultivation on Oahu (Handy, Handy & Pukui, 1972). Through the mid-1930s, the Heeia wetlands were a thriving agricultural landscape, producing volumes of kalo (taro), a nutrient-dense dietary staple for Hawaiians, and creating opportunities for social and economic advancement for the families of Heeia and Kaneohe.
Through its cultural, educational, and ecosystem restoration programs, Kākoʻo ʻŌiwi is promoting the social and economic advancement of the local community. Kākoʻo ʻŌiwi’s mission is to perpetuate the cultural and spiritual practices of Native Hawaiians.
Activities
Our Mahuahua Ai o Hoi Program plans to bring food security and biodiversity to the community through ecological and sustainable agriculture. Kākoʻo ʻŌiwi’s vision is stated as, the ecosystems of Heeia are healthy, with thriving native species and lands and waters providing abundance for its human community. That human community is aware of, supporting and participating in the restoration of the terrestrial (forests), freshwater, estuarine, and marine parts of the ahupuaa by abating threats, such as sedimentation and invasive species, and actively encouraging the reestablishment of native Hawaiian natural communities.”
History
- Late 1800s
- Heeia wetlands were transformed for production of taro to rice, to sugar and pineapple back to taro
- 1969
- A 100-year flood had occurred on the windward coast causing the Heeia wetlands to go fallow
- 1970s-1980s
- Bishop Estate,the landowner of the Heeia wetlands was on the verge of selling these lands to an investor whose intent was to develop this area with a golf course, sub-division housing, a hotel and marina. However, a small community group had managed to fight off this development
- 1991
- The State acquired these lands to protect it from being developed. And so today, Kākoʻo ʻŌiwi continues to carry this vision and goal of our kupuna (elders) in restoring the ecological and agricultural productivity to the 405 acres of the Heeia wetlands through Native Hawaiian management practices of loi kalo farming and natural resource management.
