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We provide tailored support to families working to keep ancestral lands  Kākoʻo ʻOhana Support 2026 ʻOhana ʻĀina Workshop Series Property Tax Exemption Summer Series Join us for a Property Tax Exemption this summer! Our goal in this series is to create accessible spaces for ʻohana to ask questions and talk to tax office representatives about tax relief options, and to receive hands-on assistance with property tax exemption applications before the September 30th deadline. Each event will be held from 5-7pm, and include light pupus to enjoy while you work on your application. Registration is strongly encouraged, so that everyone has a chance to meet with a tax person! May 27, 2026 - Waipā Keanolani Hale Multipurpose Space; 5-7 pm June 24, 2026 - Līhuʻe Library Meeting Room; 5-7 pm July 15, 2026 - Waimea Library Meeting Room; 5-7 pm Mahalo nui to our partners at the County of Kauaʻi Real Property Assessment Section, Waipā, Līhuʻe Public Library, and Waimea Public Library for making these community events possible! Click here to register Have questions about tax exemptions? Not sure where to start? The County of Kauaʻi Real Property Assessment Section website has a list of tax exemptions, along with descriptions and applications. You can also apply for a tax exemption online from the county website. Go to the county website We collaborated with the County of Kauaʻi Real Property Assessment Section to create a handout about property tax exemptions, based on questions we have received from ʻohana (and asked ourselves!). Click the image of the handout to view and download. October Estate Planning Workshop We are delighted to announce our second annual Kauaʻi Estate Planning Workshop is happening this October! Join us as we learn about different estate planning tools to protect and pass down ʻohana ʻāina - from setting up family LLCs and trusts to navigating probate and identifying heirs. This year we have also added a financial planning segment to support ʻohana in keeping lands in their family. *Registration Link to be published soon Join our email newsletter and follow us here for workshop updates: Instagram Facebook We provide direct, tailored support to families working to keep ancestral lands. We work with ʻohana to craft respectful solutions tailored to particular ʻāina and circumstances, while also connecting area ʻohana to one another. Below are some examples of land protection tools that we share with ʻohana. See our Resources page for more details. Hoʻoponopono and guided facilitation/mediation : bring ʻohana together in discussions about ʻāina Genealogy research : help ʻohana research their ancestry to qualify for the kuleana tax exemption, to claim land, and to register iwi kūpuna Legal assistance : address probate, title issues, access challenges, quiet title/partition action, etc. Tax relief : work with the County of Kauaʻi tax office to qualify for any tax exemptions or set up a payment plan Conservation resources: protect ʻāina using tools like a cultural conservation easement and models like descendent-led nonprofit organizations Family land trust set-up: keep land within the ʻohana for generations to come Trust and estate planning : set up wills and trusts (revocable, irrevocable, etc.) Homeowner's financial assistance : receive grant funds and loans through groups like Hawaiʻi Community Lending Where families have lost lands, we connect them to resources for regaining ʻāina, sharing manaʻo from leaders like Keʻeaumoku and Uʻilani Kapu. We can also offer support in negotiating access and stewardship agreements, so that ʻohana can continue to care for ʻohana ʻāina without holding title. Projects and Events Estate Planning Workshop 2025 Resources Tax Exemption Workshops 2025 ʻOhana ʻĀina Workshop (2024) On February 10, we gathered again at Liliʻuokalani Trust for our annual ʻOhana ʻĀina Workshop. 65 community members, including 12 facilitators, shared manaʻo and resources for protecting family lands. ʻOhana ʻĀina Workshop (2023) On January 21, 2023, we hosted an in-person workshop at Liliʻuokalani Trust for 65 community members that provided resources for protecting ancestral ʻāina. Resources ʻĀpana ʻOhana (2020) We co-hosted an online workshop series with nonprofit Huliauapaʻa and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs that reached over 200 community members in 2020. This workshop provided resources for families and others seeking to protect kuleana and ʻohana heir properties. Resources Wawa's Legacy (2017) We advised and supported an ʻohana that successfully protected their ancestral land through a conservation purchase in 2017. Inaugural ʻOhana Workshop (2016) With support from Native Voices Rising, our founders brought together 20 community members at QLCC to discuss the protection of kuleana and ʻohana lands in 2016. The manaʻo from this workshop planted the seeds for the formal establishment of Kīpuka Kuleana from 2017-2018.

Perpetuating kuleana to place through protection of cultural landscapes and family lands. 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.

Way to support Kīpuka Kuleana 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 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

Supporting community care of lands and waters across the island of Kauaʻi Mālama Stewardship Supporting community care of ʻāina (lands and waters) across the island of Kauaʻi We participate in community efforts to mālama (care for) and restore culturally significant ʻāina. We lead cultural education programs and field trips, including our annual Kaiāulu Koʻolau Summer Program, that impart critical skills and knowledge grounded in place to the next generation of land protectors. We cultivate kīpuka (spaces of community caretaking and cultural restoration) so that families may gather, mālama, practice cultural traditions, and teach from places integral to their identities.

Get the latest updates from Kīpuka Kuleana 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 . 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. 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 .

Meet our awesome team. Our Team Kīpuka Kuleana was founded by four mothers living and raising their children on the island of Kauaʻi. These women include an associate professor, a lawyer, a GIS specialist and archival researcher, and a nonprofit director with expertise in conservation easements - all dedicated to perpetuating kuleana and connection to ʻāina across generations. A volunteer-run hui since 2016, Kīpuka Kuleana became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in 2018, hired its first part-time staff member in 2021 and welcomed its first executive director in 2024. Our Staff Tina Aiu Executive Director, Co-Founder tina@kipukakuleana.org Tina Aiu grew up in Wailua, Kauaʻi, where her family roots go back several generations. Her work with Kīpuka Kuleana is inspired by her kūpuna and stems from her 14 years of experience working with land trusts and other grassroots organizations to protect 'āina for communities across Hawai'i. After earning her Bachelor's degree in Biology from Loyola Marymount University, Tina returned to Hawaiʻi and worked to connect high school youth to ʻāina as a Team Leader with Kupu's Hawaiʻi Youth Conservation Corps. The experience inspired her to pursue a career in land conservation. Tina earned her J.D. and Environmental Law Certificate from William S. Richardson School of Law in 2013 and then worked as a Food Systems Planner for Kokua Kalihi Valley Comprehensive Family Services. She worked alongside the Kalihi community to establish the first farmers market and community garden in Oʻahu's largest public housing neighborhood. Tina then served as Oʻahu Island Director with Hawai'i Land Trust, managing conservation real estate transactions and mālama ʻāina projects, including the purchase and permanent protection of Maunawila Heiau in Koʻolauloa, Oʻahu. After practicing as a civil litigation attorney, Tina returned to the conservation sector to manage conservation easement, ʻāina-based education, and community stewardship projects in Maunalua for Livable Hawaii Kai Hui. Working in partnership with Maunalua community leaders, Tina was instrumental in establishing a community ʻohana garden and mala kalo for families residing in Honolulu's urban core. She has also taught Conservation Transactions as a Lecturer in Law at William S. Richardson School of Law. In 2020, Tina's heart called her home to Wailua, Kauaʻi where she currently resides with her husband Franz and daughter Makaʻalohi. Tina is the co-owner of Modesta Media , a digital media production company that primarily services the environmental sector. Having spent much of her career establishing kīpuka for communities of Oʻahu, Tina is glad to bring her expertise home to Kauaʻi through her work with Kīpuka Kuleana and volunteered her time to establish and grow the organization as a co-founder from 2016-2024. Tina enjoys spending time in the mountains, playing with her 5 year old, and practicing martial arts. Mālana Lopez ʻOhana Outreach & Education Coordinator malana@kipukakuleana.org Born and raised in Kapaʻa on the moku of Puna, Kauaʻi, Mālana Lopez was brought up through the Kaiapuni education system. Through her immersion in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi and ʻike kūpuna, she developed a deep understanding of the vital connections between ʻāina and the expression of Hawaiian culture and values. This foundation continues to guide her both personally and professionally. She went on to earn a B.A. in Sociology and Music from Colorado College, where we cultivated a broader social justice lens and a passion for community-centered work. Over the last four years, Mālana worked in the nonprofit sector supporting the unhoused community, gaining valuable experience in social work and program development. Returning home through Kīpuka Kuleana as the ʻOhana Outreach & Education Coordinator has been a meaningful opportunity for Mālana to reconnect with ʻāina, ʻohana, and the values that shaped her. She is honored to serve the Kauaʻi community and to support the vision of aloha ʻāina and ea for future generations. Board of Directors Malia Akutagawa Interim President Malia Akutagawa is from the island of Molokaʻi, Hawaiʻi. As a Kanaka ʻŌiwi, she was raised in a traditional, subsistence lifestyle; learning to fish, crab, gather limu (seaweed), prepare traditional foods and lāʻau lapaʻau (traditional herbs for medicinal healing). Malia was influenced strongly by her mākua (parent generation) and kūpuna (elders) in the aloha ʻāina movement to protect traditional lands from developers. This inspired her to become an attorney. Malia focuses her legal advocacy work on Native Hawaiian access, gathering, and religious rights; historic preservation and native burials protection; land use and environmental law issues; climate change law, policy, adaptation, and action planning; indigenous governance; native landback; and peacemaking utilizing traditional hoʻoponopono principles. Malia is an Associate Professor of Law and Hawaiian Studies and is part of Hui ‘Āina Momona, a consortium of scholars at the University of Hawaiʻi - Mānoa charged with addressing compelling issues of Indigenous Hawaiian knowledge and practices. Elif C. Beall Interim Vice President / Treasurer Elif Beall is a licensed attorney, community advocate, and budding writer. Elif was founding Executive Director of the Hawaiʻi Alliance for Progressive Action (HAPA), and has served in many non-profit positions including executive leadership, development, and communications. Elif lives on the north shore of Kauaʻi with her husband, where she has resided since 2004. In addition to Kīpuka Kuleana, Elif also serves on the Kauaʻi Island Council for the Hawaiʻi Land Trust. She's happiest when in nature, or when practicing hula or lei-making, or discussing good questions and hopeful futures with family and friends. Laura Kaakua Secretary Laura Hokunani Edmunds Kaakua was raised in Niu, Oʻahu, now lives in Waiʻalaeʻiki, Oʻahu, and has ancestral ties to Maui, Kāneʻohe on Oʻahu, and Kohala on Hawaiʻi Island. Laura is the Climate Mitigation Adaptation & Culture Manager at Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation (HDOT) where she oversees fulfillment of the historic Navahine v. Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation settlement agreement, leads development of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Plan, is helping to create a Native Hawaiian Consultation Policy, and supports collaborative transportation solutions and projects that are based in community, indigenous knowledge, and nature. Prior to HDOT, she served as Deputy Director of the State of Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), President and CEO of Hawaiʻi Land Trust, and Native Lands Program Manager for Trust for Public Land. She enjoys building and strengthening teams, strategic planning, facilitating unexpected collaborations, storytelling, and causing good trouble. Keiki sports games, ʻohana beach time, hula, and mālama ʻāina fill her free time. Co-Founders Mehana Blaich Vaughan Co-Founder Mehana Blaich Vaughan grew up in Namahana and Kalihiwai, Kauaʻi, on the border of the moku of Haleleʻa and Koʻolau. Mehana has worked for thirty years developing ʻāina-based education programs on Kauaʻi, in Hawaiian charter and immersion schools, and training teachers in culturally grounded education. She is currently a professor at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management and U.H. Sea Grant College program. Her research, teaching and outreach focus on understanding and nurturing community care and governance of land and waters in Hawaiʻi. Jennifer Luck Co-Founder Jennifer Luck is the Chief Operating Officer for Common Ground Kauaʻi . She previously served as Executive Director of the Kauaʻi Public Land Trust, Kauaʻi Island Director of the Hawaiʻi Land Trust, and Managing Director of the Porter Trust and Wai Koa Plantation, where she oversaw the perpetual conservation of a 4-mile walking trail, multi-stakeholder negotiations for a dam remediation project, tenancy contracts and master plan renovations of 500+ acres of agricultural land. In addition to Kīpuka Kuleana, Jennifer sits on the boards of the Hawaiʻi Land Trust and Namahana Charter School. She holds a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Southern California. Jennifer lives on the north shore of Kauaʻi with her husband Jason and daughters Midge and Frankie. She is happiest when she is spending time with them and her extended ʻohana, surfing, running and making lei. Dominique Leu Cordy Co-Founder Dominique Leu Cordy grew up all over Oʻahu and now lives and farms kalo with her kāne and their two keiki in Haleleʻa and Koʻolau, Kauaʻi. She does freelance research across the pae ʻāina. Focusing on land in Hawaiʻi, she specializes in archival research and GIS mapping. She has a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology from University of California at Davis and an M.A. in Pacific Island Studies from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. She has over 17 years of experience in the field of Cultural Resource Management (CRM) in Hawaiʻi, archaeology, EA and EIS review, community ethnography, historic land and historical research, and GIS research. She has guest lectured for six years for the Wahi Kūpuna Internship Program (WKIP) as well as the University of Hawaiʻi West Oʻahu. Ms. Cordy has managed and developed cultural and historical GIS databases for government agencies, including the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE-POH), the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and the Department of Hawaiian Homelands. She engages actively in community organizations that seek to protect, preserve, and educate about Hawaiʻi's precious wahi kūpuna (cultural resources) and is a participating member of the Kaliʻuokapaʻakai Collective, the Waioli Taro Valley Hui. Dominique is the Deputy Director of Huliauapaʻa and a co-founder of Kīpuka Kuleana.

Learn more about who we are. 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. Our Kuleana Enhance pilina, connections to place and between area ʻohana. Build a community archive of knowledge of Kauaʻi lands, cultural practices, and ʻike to guide future restoration, caretaking, education, and governance. Provide support to families working to keep ancestral lands. Connecting ʻohana to legal, counseling and hoʻoponopono, financial, genealogy, and other resources. Work with government on policies to protect ‘ohana and their lands. Hold lands in trust as kīpuka, spaces of community caretaking, family reunions, workdays, cultural workshops, education and resurgence. Discourage sale and development of vulnerable properties. Encourage local level, community-based natural resource management grounded in cultural approaches. Promote contemporary models of relationships to place based on kuleana.

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

Donate to Kīpuka kuleana Kīpuka Kuleana is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that accepts tax-deductible donations. To donate by credit/debit card or bank transfer, please complete the form below. Checks can be mailed to: Kīpuka Kuleana. PO Box #662132. Lihue, HI 96766. Mahalo for supporting our work on Kauaʻi!

Perpetuating kuleana to place through protection of cultural landscapes and family lands. 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 About Us Kīpuka Kuleana is a Hawai‘i 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to perpetuating kuleana, ahupua‘a-based natural resource management and connection to place through protection of cultural landscapes and family lands. Kīpuka Kuleana was founded in 2017 on the island of Kaua‘i. Support Our Vision Long time families continue to live in, take care of and share the practices and history of every ahupuaʻa on Kauaʻi. Our Mission Perpetuating kuleana, ahupuaʻa based natural resource management and connection to place through the protection of cultural landscapes and family lands. Learn more about us What's New What we do Who we are Ways to support us Our Why Prior to 1850, kuleana were “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) 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. Awarded to Hawaiian makaʻāinana families who lived on and tended the land. When land was privatized in 1850, less than 1% of all lands in Hawaiʻi were l ess than 28% of the eligible population of adult males was awarded. Extensive information was recorded about these 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 & often contain iwi. Lands where Hawaiian families continue to care for and live on lands in the same areas as their ancestors are increasingly rare. Those families which continue to hold kuleana and other family lands on the north shore of Kauaʻi are finding they no longer can due to rising property taxes tied to value, forced partitions by family members or others who acquire one of many shares, outstanding debts, and focused efforts at acquisition by 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 a presence, connection & fulfill kuleana to their home. Kīpuka Kuleana works to nurture contemporary models of relationships to place-based kuleana as “authority and obligation based in interdependence and community” (Goodyear-Kaopua 2011, 131).