Kahuku Kawela Forever

Stretching 5 miles between Kawela Bay and Kahuku Point lies Kahuku Kawela Forever—a secluded span of beach lined by rugged, wild, windswept coastline offering loads of idyllic outdoor adventure.

Families, fishermen, and surfers enjoy what Kahuku Kawela Forever offers. Residents and tourists flock here to escape O‘ahu’s urban centers and enjoy uncrowded beaches, surfing, fishing, and hiking.

This stunning coastline surrounds the Turtle Bay Resort and is also home to endangered monk seals, green sea turtles, and whales that breach just offshore in the crystal-clear ocean.

As one of the last undeveloped wild shorelines on O‘ahu, Kahuku Kawela Forever was threatened with development because of past entitlements granted decades ago that allowed as many as five new hotels, thousands of resort residences, and additional shopping and commercial centers that would crowd the beloved untouched coastline. For decades, community members fervently opposed development on O‘ahu’s rugged North Shore.

Trust for Public Land, in partnership with the North Shore Community Land Trust, negotiated a conservation agreement with the State of Hawai‘i, the City and County of Honolulu, and the landowner. TPL secured $2.5 million from the U.S. Army to complete the $45 million effort. In October 2015, TPL completed the historic agreement to conserve 630 acres of this irreplaceable wild shoreline, ensuring that these beautiful lands will remain undeveloped forever.

TPL also facilitated public access to trails around the Turtle Bay Resort and ensured that public parking and facilities were provided.

“There’s a permanence with the work that we do. It’s satisfying knowing that this land is going to be protected forever,” says Lea Hong, state director of TPL Hawai‘i. “It is an amazing feeling to see families going to the beach, enjoying the hiking trails, and surfing—and to know that will continue.”

Both public and private funds helped protect this coast through a combination of a fee purchase of lands around Kawela Bay and a conservation easement that achieves the following:

• resolve the decades-long threat to this scenic shoreline forever

• guarantee that the land will never be developed

• protect high-quality wildlife habitat near the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary and the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge

• safeguard nesting and feeding sites of the threatened green sea turtle and pupping beaches of the endangered Hawaiian monk seal

• protect land around Punaho‘olapa Marsh, home to four species of endangered Hawaiian waterbirds

• keep the coast open to the community, island residents, and tourists for hiking, fishing, surfing, and exploring without burdening the government with expensive ownership, trail maintenance, and management costs

• protect Native Hawaiian burials, or ‘iwi