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Partners He Wahi Mahalo Mahalo to all of the individuals, community partners, and organizations who help support our work. Aloha Collection Mālama ʻĀina Program Common Ground Kauaʻi Hawaiʻi Community Foundation Hawaiʻi People's Fund Kapaʻa Ship, Print & Storage Native Voices Rising Education Partners Ann Eu (Hawaiʻi Land Trust) Kilauea School Lei Wann (Limahuli Garden & Preserve) Liliʻuokalani Trust Waipā Foundation Research Partners National Science Foundation (Grant #2133398) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Climate Program Office (Grant #NA21OAR4310280) Stanford University Earth Systems Program University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa The Rising Voices Center for Indigenous and Earth Sciences Our "Land to Sea" Indigenous & Allied Research Partners LiKEN: Livelihoods Knowledge Exchange Network (CA/KY) Asian Pacific Environmental Network (CA) DUNAS/Descendants United for Nature, Adaptation and Sustainability (Borikén) First Peoples Conservation Council (LA) Lowlander Center (LA) Para La Naturaleza (Borikén) Sierra Fund (CA) Sogorea Te' Land Trust (CA) Advisors: Louise Fortmann Alan Di Vittorio Beth Rose Middleton Sibyl Diver

KīPUKA KULEANA Perpetuating kuleana to place through protection of cultural landscapes and family lands This place will feed you, if you know how to take care of it. - Young Hāʻena Fisherman, 2009 On Kauaʻi, long-time families are losing connections to ancestral lands due to escalating land values, rising taxes, restricted access, development pressure and other challenges that threaten identity and perpetuation of cultural practice across generations. Established in 2018, Kīpuka Kuleana is a 501(c)(3) Hawaiʻi nonprofit organization and community-based land trust that protects ancestral lands under threat and revitalizes relationships between people and ʻāina (lands and waters) on Kauaʻi. We strive to grow kīpuka (places of community caretaking and cultural restoration) grounded in kuleana (responsibility) in every ahupuaʻa (traditional land division from mountain to sea) on Kauaʻi. Vision Kupa ʻāina ʻohana (long-time families) continue to thrive in, share the history and practices of, and care for every ahupuaʻa (traditional land division from mountain to sea) on Kauaʻi. Mission Perpetuating kuleana, ahupuaʻa-based natural resource management and connection to place through protection of cultural landscapes and family lands.

Hōʻahu "to set aside for the future" About Hōʻahu Hōʻahu Kauaʻi Land Tax Hawaiʻi is a place to experience beauty and restoration through our ancestors' care and relationship with this ʻāina (lands and waters) across generat i ons. If you are visiting or call Kauaʻi home, Hōʻahu is a voluntary contribution that you can make to return lands to community hands and keep Native Hawaiian and long-time families rooted to their home places. Donate to Hōʻahu The Hōʻahu Kauaʻi Land Tax directly supports protection and restoration of family lands threatened by sale and development. Hōʻahu is part of the global "Landback" movement to restore ʻāina to indigenous peoples and ensure they can care for and protect their ancestral lands - places vital to us all. Background Hawaiʻi is ʻāina kulaiwi: the only homeland of the indigenous people of Hawaiʻi, land in which the bones of our ancestors are buried. The lands of Hawaiʻi are the source of all Native Hawaiian cultural practices and language and also some of the most coveted and high value real estate in the entire world. Anyone visiting, buying or living upon lands in Hawaiʻi shares a kuleana to care for this place, work to address historical injustice, and leave it better than we found it. Hōʻahu ("to set aside for the future") refers to hale hōʻahu, houses where area residents brought regular offerings of their harvest, gathered, then saved to care for the needs of the entire community. Hale hōʻahu provided collective security for times of unstable weather, drought or famine, preparing communities for uncertainty. Hōʻahu, in times of need and plenty, cultivated shared abundance and care for all. Inspired by Indigenous Land Taxes & Funds: Real Rent Duwamish: Duwamish Tribe, Seattle, WA (link ) Wiyot Honor Tax: Wiyot Tribe, Humboldt Bay, CA (link ) Shuumi Land Tax: Sogorea Te' Land Trust, San Francisco Bay Area, CA (link ) Yunakin Land Tax: Ramaytush Ohlone, San Francisco Bay Area, CA (link ) Kuuy Nahwá’a: Tongva Taraxat Paxaaxvxa Conservancy, Los Angeles, CA (link ) Lahaina Land Fund: Lahaina Community Land Trust, Maui, HI (link ) Honor Native Land Tax: The Red Nation and Pueblo Action Alliance, Albuquerque, NM (link ) O'ga P'ogeh Land Tax: Three Sisters Collective, Santa Fe, NM (link ) Miami Nation Honor Fund: Miami Nation, Indiana (link ) Mni Sota Makoce Honor Tax: Lower Sioux Indian Community, Minnesota (link ) Manna-Hatta Fund: American Indian Community House, New York City, NY (link ) Wolankeyutomone kisi apaciyewik: Wabanaki Commission on Land and Stewardship, Maine (link ) Pay Your Rent: Nii’kinaaganaa (Inuit peoples, Abénakis and Naskapi-Eeyou), Canada (link ) Whose Native land are you on? Find out here: https://native-land.ca/

History Kuleana are rights and responsibilities, both based in relationship to land. Kuleana also refers to particular parcels of land. Prior to 1850, kuleana were: Under Hawaiian land tenure, families could stay and pass this ʻāina to their descendants, even as ruling aliʻi changed, as long as they cared for it well. When the land was privatized in 1850, less than 1% of all ʻāina in Hawaiʻi, called kuleana, were awarded to Hawaiian makaʻāinana families who lived on and tended the land. Less than 28% of the eligible population of adult males was awarded. Extensive information was recorded about these kuleana parcels including family and place names, information on surroundings, hydrology, and cultivation. These lands are house sites, taro patches, some fish ponds, or salt pans and often contain iwi (bones). Places where Hawaiian families continue to care for and live on ʻāina in the same areas as their ancestors are increasingly rare. Those families which continue to hold kuleana and other family lands on the island of Kauaʻi are finding they no longer can due to rising property taxes tied to exorbitant area sales prices, forced partitions by family members or others who acquire one of many shares, debt, and focused efforts at acquisition by realtors and surrounding property owners. Many families no longer own or live on their properties but continue to gather there, fish, teach children and grandchildren, care for family parcels and surrounding area, visit burials and seek ways to maintain presence and connection while fulfilling kuleana to their home. Kīpuka Kuleana nurtures contemporary models of relationships to place rooted in kuleana as: plots of land given, by the governing aliʻi of an area, to an ʻohana or an individual as their responsibility without right of ownership [Pūkuʻi & Elbert, 1975] authority and obligation based in interdependence and community [Goodyear-Kaopua 2011, 131]

Accomplishments Education Conducted twenty field trips to share the ecology, history and culture of ahupuaʻa on the north-east coast of Kauaʻi, to students and teachers from preschool to graduate school. Hosted a workshop on family lands in December of 2016, attended by 40 individuals. The workshop included presentations on family land trusts, tax breaks, resources to conduct geneaology and lands research. Speakers included lawyers, staff from Hawaiian Islands Land Trust, Hawaiian language and lands researchers, and an expert from North Carolina who spoke on models used in other parts of the U.S. to protect family and heir properties. Participant evaluations were overwhelmingly positive (95% of respondents rated the workshop educational and useful, with 100% saying such programs are important to the community, and expressing interest to participate in the future). We aim to hold another workshop in early 2018. Acquisitions Facilitated the purchase of family lands in Kalihiwai belonging to the Pānui ʻohana in the summer of 2017. The family lost their great great grandmotherʻs land, where they had grown up for generations, to a forced partition auction in 2015. It was purchased by a real estate firm and put up for sale. A conservation buyer was identified to purchase the property from the firm. The conservation buyer and family members are actively working to arrange an owner-financed buy back, and establishment of a family trust so that the land will remain with the family in perpetuity. A stewardship agreement and right of entry are being negotiated so the family can continue to care for and use the land. Funding The team obtained a $310,000 National Science Foundation, Science Engineering and Education for Sustainability Grant in 2012, which just ended in 2017. Grant applications were submitted to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and Native Voices Rising in 2017. Stewardship Team members have initiated four separate clean-ups of coastal sites in area ahupuaʻa, engaging over 100 volunteers, many students, in hauling out truckloads of trash. Assistance Since 2016, members of the project team have assisted seven different families facing loss of their ancestral lands. Team members have provided research assistance including land records, genealogy tracing and, translation of deeds written in Hawaiian. They have also helped families to set up tax payment plans, and connected them to legal advice and meetings with professionals willing to help them set up trusts etc. at low cost. Education Aquisitions Back to top

Support There are many ways to support Kīpuka Kuleana from donating to volunteering time and skills to care for a place you love. Hōʻahu Kauaʻi Land Tax Help us protect and restore ancestral land under threat through a monthly or annual contribution to our voluntary land tax Hōʻahu Kauaʻi. Learn more and donate Kaiāulu: Gathering Tides Learn about the foundation for our nonprofit's work in this special book penned by our founder Mehana Blaich Vaughan. All book proceeds go to Kīpuka Kuleana. Read about Kaiāulu Volunteer Interested in sharing your time and skills? We'll keep you updated on opportunities to mālama and support our organization and other community groups on Kauaʻi. Complete this form Guide ʻĀina Back to Community Hands If you own land on Kauaʻi, you can share your space for education, cultural practices and stewardship by setting up access or stewardship agreements and easements. You can return ʻāina to community through estate planning, gifts, title transfers and other strategies. We can offer guidance on options - send us a note and we would love to talk story! Connect with Us

Hoʻomalu Policy and Protection We work with the government on policies to protect ʻohana and their lands We collaborate on county and state level policy to codify protections of ancestral lands. We educate new landowners about the ʻāina under their protection, while discouraging the sale and development of vulnerable properties. We work to promote contemporary models of relationships to place based on kuleana. 1/4

Support Kīpuka Kuleana First Name Email Last Name Phone (optional) Where are you from / Where do you live? How would you like to kōkua (support) Kīpuka Kuleana? * Volunteer time and skills Host a training workshop or presentation Partner with Kīpuka Kuleana on a project Fund or support Kīpuka Kuleana What skills or passions would you like to share? (e.g, bringing communities together through educational workshops, ʻāina research, social media/blogging, educating people about place, etc) Is there a place that you are interested in protecting? How did you find out about us? Questions or comments? Back Submit Mahalo nui for your kōkua! We'll reach out as opportunities arise.

Good News September 25, 2024 Publication about Kīpuka Kuleana Our publication in Frontiers in Sustainability explains why ancestral land protection and community stewardship are essential to climate adaptation on Kauaʻi. It also weaves together lessons in Land Back from our community partners in California, Louisiana and Hawaiʻi. September 12, 2024 Spotlight in Pacific Business News Our new Executive Director Tina Aiu shares why she is inspired by Kīpuka Kuleana's work and her goals for the nonprofit in an interview with Pacific Business News in this small business feature . August 6, 2024 Sarah Barger hired as Development Director Hired in 2021 as part-time Director of Programs, Sarah has been Kīpuka Kuleana's first and only staff until this summer. Now she moves into a full-time Development Director role, working alongside our Executive Director. July 1, 2024 Tina Aiu to lead organization as Executive Director Tina Aiu, a co-founder of Kīpuka Kuleana, has been hired as our first Executive Director. Mahalo Kong Radio, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Pacific Business News , Ka Wai Ola for sharing the good news. June 17, 2024 Summer Book Pick: Kaiāulu The University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa’s Office of Faculty Development and Academic Support selects Kaiāulu: Gathering Tides by our founder Mehana Blaich Vaughan as their summer book pick. The book is available to faculty through the online library, and you can find Kaiāulu online or in local stores. All book proceeds benefit Kīpuka Kuleana. April 27, 2024 Lahaina Homeowner's Workshop Though a Maui Aloha Grant from Hawaiʻi People's Fund , we partner with Lahaina Community Land Trust to host their first Lahaina Homeowner's Workshop, providing support and tools for land protection and rebuilding in Lahaina. Learn more about LCLT's work here . March 1, 2024 ʻOhana ʻĀina Workshop Ka Wai Ola spotlights our annual ʻOhana ʻĀina Workshop in Līhuʻe, which brought together 65 community members to share resources and manaʻo for ancestral land protection. Devember 4, 2023 Kaiāulu 's First Book Review Seattle-based writer and community organizer Siobhan Ring finds Kaiāulu: Gathering Tides during her family vacation on Kauaʻi and writes about the book's lessons through an organizing lens in this review in The Forge . October 31, 2023 Kīpuka Kuleana Founder Receives Stanford Alumni Award Mehana Blaich Vaughan, our board president and co-founder, is honored with the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability's 2023 Early to Mid Career Alumni Award . November 5, 2021 Kīpuka Kuleana Featured on Hawaiʻi Rising The Hawaiʻi Peoples Fund team sits down with co-founders Mehana Vaughan and Jennifer Luck, who share Kīpuka Kuleana's moʻolelo and why this work matters on Kauaʻi in this podcast episode .

We feel, we have kuleana, responsibility for the land, for the people. That's what this is all about. - Kūpuna raised in Wanini, March 2015 Our Why Keeping ʻohana lands in ʻohana hands sustains communities. ʻĀina, meaning “that which feeds,” is the Hawaiian word for lands and waters. ʻĀina encompasses all that feeds us, from heavens to earth to ocean, especially relationships between places and the people who call them home, who have fed their families here across generations. Traditionally in Hawaiʻi, ʻāina, an embodiment of our Gods and ancestors, could never be bought, sold or owned, but was held in trust by the governing aliʻi of an area, who gave it to area ʻohana as their responsibility without right of ownership. Under Hawaiian land tenure, families could stay and pass this land to their descendants, even as ruling aliʻi changed, as long as they cared for it well. Today, long-time families from the island of Kauaʻi are finding it increasingly difficult to continue to live here and care for the lands that feed them. Under western and American law, people from other parts of the world, many of whom vacation on the island, can buy lands on Kauaʻi for vacation homes, real estate investments, or residence in a place that feels like paradise. The land here has become some of the most coveted and expensive on the planet, with over a million visitors a year recreating across the island. Meanwhile, long-time residents struggle, working multiple jobs to pay for food, rent, and rising property taxes tied to escalating land values; simultaneously, they face the loss of homes, decreased access to ʻohana fishing and gathering areas, and increased pressure to move from their communities and the island. Most who buy land on Kauaʻi have no idea they are displacing long-time area families, have no way to learn about the ʻāina they are becoming caretakers of, and have no connection to surrounding communities. Kīpuka Kuleana restores relationships between people and ʻāina by restoring land and the ability of local communities to care for it.