Ulupalakua Ranch
Maui creates Hawaii's largest conservation easement
Associated Press Sunday, November 29, 2009 By Audrey McAvoy - Associated Press
HONOLULU - A ranch owner concerned about construction in parts of upcountry Maui signed over 12,000 acres of his property to a Hawaii land trust Saturday, creating the state's largest conservation easement.
Pardee Erdman, owner of the Ulupalakua Ranch, told The Maui News that he approached the Maui Coastal Land Trust almost two years ago after watching parts of the island become carved up by giant homes or exclusive subdivisions.
"We saw development creeping up, and we didn't want it to happen here," he said.
The land trust will monitor the property to make sure the land is preserved in perpetuity. The agreement quadruples the area under the trust's management.
The property, in the hills above the posh resort communities of Wailea and Makena, is particularly valuable for preserving Maui's natural resources because it includes one of the state's few remaining dry forests. The dry forest in the ranch is home to rare sandalwood and other native trees.
Mark White, director of the Nature Conservancy's Maui program, said Hawaii has already lost about 90 percent of its dry forests.
"The dry forests that remain are pretty beat up and fragmented," White said. "Any dry forest left in Hawaii is significant."
The Erdman family is giving up all rights to subdivide the property and develop homes on the land. They will be able to continue to use the land for agriculture and will reserve the right to build renewable energy projects.
In return, the landowners will be entitled to tax benefits. Future owners also will have to abide by the terms of the conservation easement.
The ranch is Maui's second largest cattle ranch, with about 6,000 acres of the property used primarily for cattle grazing and farming. The rest encompasses Auwahi, an entire ahupuaa, which is a traditional Hawaiian mountain-to-ocean farming and residential development. Few ahupuaa remain intact today on any island.
Early Hawaiians planted sweet potatoes and dry land taro in the area. They also harvested wood, birds and pigs from the forests.
More than 34 million acres of land across the country are protected by agreements similar to Erdman's. The state's largest conservation easement so far is the 8,304-acre Puu Kukui Watershed Preserve, which was set aside by Maui Land & Pineapple under an agreement with the Nature Conservancy in 1992.
The Erdman family has owned Ulupalakua Ranch since 1963, when it was purchased from the Baldwin family. The ranch runs 2,300 brood cows, most of which are sold to Maui Cattle Company. The company is owned by Ulupalakua and six other Hawaii ranches.
This project was funded by a grant from the Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program. Go to Western SARE website