Kānewai Spring

Today, one of Honolulu’s last remaining springs to deliver fresh, clean water to the ocean has been permanently protected.

The spring feeds into Kānewai Fishpond, the Paikō Wildlife Sanctuary, and Maunalua Bay. The mixing of fresh and salt water between the spring and fishpond provides a fertile estuary habitat for rare freshwater limpets and brackish water mollusks (pīpīwai and hapawai) and the endangered ae‘o (Hawaiian stilts). Knowledgeable kupuna (elder) Uncle Henry Chang-Wo explained the spring is where the mountain gives birth to the ocean.

Most kids growing up on Oahu today never see a freshwater spring. Over the years, springs that once dotted the southern coastline of Oahu have been filled, or dried up when development disturbed an upland section of the lava tube carrying water to the spring.  Trust for Public Land, and Maunalua Fishpond Heritage Center wanted a different end to the story of Kānewai Spring in Kuliouou.

Since 2010, Maunalua Fishpond Heritage Center (MFHC), has been restoring and bringing life back to Kānewai Spring, and welcoming school groups, community volunteers, and Hawaiian cultural practitioners to help and learn from the storied site. In 2017, we purchased the property and transferred ownership to MFHC to permanently protect the site. MFHC continues to maintain the spring and offer educational opportunities—teaching skills for the next generation of caretakers such as invasive species removal and native plantings, traditional Hawaiian dry-stack stone masonry, and water-quality monitoring.

When the private landowner needed to sell the property on which the spring sits, interested buyers wanted to subdivide and develop the property, and cut off community access. Trust for Public Land negotiated a sale with the landowner, and the two nonprofits raised $2.65 million from the State Legacy Land Conservation Fund ($1.3M), the City & County of Honolulu Clean Water and Natural Lands Fund ($1M), and private donations ($350,000). On May 30, 2017, Trust for Public Land purchased the property and conveyed it with State and City development restrictions to Maunalua Fishpond Heritage Center, which will forever protect and care for Kānewai Spring and maintain access for community caretaking, cultural practice, and education.