Kona Land Trust

Hawaii Island Land Trust
PO Box 895
Honaunau, HI 96726
(808) 328-9635
inquiry@konalandtrust.org

Media

FORMATIONOF LAND TRUST REPORTED IN HAWAII ISLAND JOURNAL - published on June 1, 2002

Kona Land Trust joins the nation’s1,200-plus nonprofit, grassroots land trusts seeking to protect America’s open spaces in the face of growing development pressures. The land trust will serve the Big Island by preserving open space, agricultural and environmentally sensitive lands, and culturally and historically significant areas for present and future generations.

Land trusts acquire lands and conservation easements through gifts and purchases. In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the use of conservation easements, a legal agreement between a private landowner and a land trust that does not necessarily require that land be left untouched, but does permanently limit the scope and type of development. Land subject to a conservation easement remains in private ownership, usually leaving the landowner free to continue ranching or farming the land. Conservation easements and land donations often provide significant tax benefits for the landowners. "Voluntary land trusts allow next generation ranching families to survive estate taxes without a land sale, participating developers can achieve a significant tax shelter, and the community benefits from assured open space," stated Larry Baird, real estate appraiser and President of Kona Land Trust Board of Directors.

Kona Land Trust has appointed Ann Southwick Datta, as Executive Director. "Over 4 million acres of land are preserved through land trusts on the mainland and in the rest of Hawaii; the time is now for a land trust in Kona," said Datta. Land trusts already existing in Oahu, Maui, and Kauai have preserved hundreds of acres in the state of Hawaii.

Carey Lindenbaum, Larry Baird, Ann Datta

Kona Land Trust is operating under the guiding principle of Malama Ka ‘aina, Pulama Na Mea ‘Oiwi, a phrase chosen for the new land trust by an advisory group of Hawaiian kupuna, which means to care for the land and cherish the native people and culture. "Many of Kona’s principal landowners believe that good management of land and water, and preservation of natural splendor and diversity, are thetrue bases for wealth on a beautiful island. Kona’s open spaces are its key attractions and, therefore, its key to continued prosperity," said Carey Lindenbaum, a founder and Vice President of Kona Land Trust.

Kona Land Trust was formed last year with technical and financial assistance from the Trust for Public Lands, a national nonprofit working to protect open space.

Land trusts fund their land protection activities through generally tax deductible private donations, grants from corporations and foundations, and memberships.