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Keʻanae Community Water Resource Planning

  • Date

    June 16, 2025

  • Time

    4:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Keʻanae Field Trip and Community Meeting

Monday, June 16, 2025

Location: Ke’anae Uka 13375 Hana Hwy. Right turn at Mile Marker 16.8 into property entrance. If you see a base yard you’ve gone slightly too far.

11:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Lunch, Brief introductions and Field trip

Participants and experts will tour Na Moku Aupuni o Ko’olau Hui taro fields, visit Nahiku to view Makapipi stream area from Hana Highway and Pua’a Ka’a State Wayside Park area to view water system where water enters Ke’anae.
The field trip is by invitation only.  Please RSVP to Gina Young at [email protected] or (808) 250-6589

4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Dinner, Expert Panel and Discussion:

The East Maui Watershed, approximately 120,000 acres, provides the largest source of surface water in the state.  It is essential that our community plays a role in the management and use of these water resources to ensure that our community benefits. The East Maui Water Authority and the Public Finance Initiative will engage attendees in discussions about the current state of the watershed and their community, surfacing perspectives on the strengths and challenges that need to be addressed. The meeting will include: 

  • East Maui Water Authority presentation on its goals, current state of resources, and the importance of community inclusion and decision-making.
  • Small group interactive exercises, including sharing stories, identifying challenges, and setting priorities for the watershed. Questions to guide discussion may include:
    • Ideas for the community watershed management plan mission, vision, values
    • specific watershed needs and work programs areas
    • history and memories of the community and watershed area
    • the community’s views on the management of local resources
    • the identification of community needs and benefits that can be addressed through water resource use and management.
  • Panel of experts sharing global and indigenous perspectives on water and land management.

Goals:

Information from the meetings will be used to guide the EMWAʻs efforts in working with the state and private interests and form the basis of the first ever community-based, culturally rooted watershed management plan for the East Maui surface water collection area.  We will discuss how and why community equity, input, cultural knowledge and practices should be considered in the watershed management and water resource discussion. Maui Hikina community members, ‘Aha Wai O Maui Hikina members and Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) Interim Committee of East Maui Stakeholders will share their knowledge about the watershed areas, their vision for the future, and desired outcomes of watershed and water management in the area. Decision-makers outside of Maui Hikina will have a better understanding of the physical realities of East Maui by seeing it for themselves and hearing directly from the community.