Linking Hawai`i’s conservation community with news and information
Two meetings of the Legacy Land Conservation Commission will be held on December 7, 2009, and December 8, 2009. The December 7, 2009, meeting will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in Room 322b, Kalanimoku Bldg., 1151 Punchbowl St., Honolulu, Hawai`i. The December 8, 2009, meeting will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Board Room (Room 132), Kalanimoku Bldg., 1151 Punchbowl St., Honolulu, Hawai`i.
Both meeting agendas are available on the Legacy Land Conservation Program website.
Last week it was announced that two-thirds of Ulupalakua Ranch will be placed in an easement to the Maui Coastal Land Trust. Some 12,000 acres will forever remain agricultural lands. The land extends from coastline property a mile south of Makena to the 6,000-foot elevation of the Polipoli Spring State Park.
Ranch operations won’t change. However, the deal, which is the largest of its kind in Hawaii history, will preclude future generations from selling off the Ulupalakua land to developers, said the owner of the ranch, 78-year-old Pardee Erdman. It’s a family legacy all of Maui deserves, he said.
“Personally, to see the Erdmans make this donation is to see their hearts and how they care for the land,” Bonar said. “They view it with the reverence of an icon.”
Check out Maui Coastal Land Trust’s website for links to the news stories relating to this conservation easement.
A survey distributed by the Maui county Farm Bureau at the recent Maui County Fair reveals that almost all Mauians think farming is important. Out of 800 completed survey forms, 95% of respondents said that agriculture is very important or extremely important. Read the full article from the Maui News here.
Bring the family out to the Waihe’e Refuge!
MCLT is proud of their restoration work and they are eager to share their progress with you. Join them for a free BBQ, entertainment, keiki activites, guided tours & more.
When: Saturday, September 5 / 10 – 2 p.m.
More info on this event available at www.mauicoastallandtrust.org
Please RVSP: 244-5263 or info@mauicoastallandtrust.org
As is normal with most conservation easements, the federal government’s Farm and Ranchland Protection Program (“FRPP”) and Wetland Reserve Program (“WRP”) require subordination of the landowner’s mineral rights. This creates a problem in Hawaii where the state purports to own all the mineral rights.
The landowner cannot agree to subordinate the minerals where someone (in this case the state) holds the rights. The administrator for the FRPP and WRP programs, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (“NRCS”), tried to remedy this problem by working with the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (“DLNR”), which is in charge of managing the state’s minerals. In August 2008, NRCS and DLNR entered into a memorandum of understanding to set up a process whereby DLNR would determine, on a case-by-case basis, whether it would subordinate mineral rights for a proposed conservation project (review MOU). (Interestingly, the MOU’s provisions imply that the state was not willing to conclude that every FRPP or WRP project would be more beneficial to the public compared to maintaining the state’s prospective rights to extract minerals from the property.) If you found this interesting and want to mine for more information, check out Hawaii Revised Statutes (“HRS”) section 182-2, entitled “Mineral rights reserved to the State.” Also take a look at HRS 182-1, which defines “minerals” — note that geothermal resources are considered a “mineral” for purposes of HRS 182, but not “sand, rock, gravel, and other materials suitable for use and used in general construction.” Also keep in mind that a typical donation of a conservation easement (not involving a FRPP or WRP project) involves different minerals issues which will be discussed in a future entry. But while we’re on the subject, you should be aware that because of HRS 182, most conservation easement donations in Hawaii will require a “minerals remoteness opinion” issued by a geologist. This is unfortunate because it costs land owners more money to complete their easements in Hawaii. A possible fix for this would be an amendment to Hawaii’s conservation easement law, HRS 198, providing that the state relinquishes its minerals rights where lands are, and remain, encumbered by a conservation easement conveyed in accordance with HRS 198.
