Traditional Environmental Stewardship
Kuaʻāina Ulu ʻAuamo (KUA)
Kuaʻāina Ulu ʻAuamo (KUA) means “grassroots growing through shared kuleana (responsibility)” the acronym KUA means backbone. KUA is an organization that supports movements for community based natural resource management (CBNRM) called into creation in 2011 by a statewide network of grassroots indigenous and local CBNRM efforts and groups called E Alu Pū (“move forward together”).
KUA works to empower communities to improve their quality of life through caring for their environmental heritage together to better Hawaiʻi and achieve ‘āina momona— an abundant, productive ecological system that supports community well-being.
KUA employs a community‐driven approach that currently supports three statewide networks: E Alu Pū (40+ groups), Hui Mālama Loko Iʻa 60+ traditional Hawaiian fishpond restoration projects and their practitioners and a growing group of limu (native seaweed) practitioners called the Limu Hui.
KAʻEHU at Kaʻehu Bay
KAʻEHU is a Native-Hawaiian and women-led nonprofit organization managing 64-acres of coastal wetlands in the district of Wailuku on the island of Maui, Hawaii. Our goal is to restore the land and perpetuate traditional Hawaiian culture using a community-based, inclusive, family-oriented approach to environmental stewardship and sustainable agriculture.
Our nonprofit coordinates workshops in Hawaiian culture and practices, the Ahupuaʻa Stewardship wisdom, natural resource management, archaeology and more.
Mālama Hulē‘ia
Mālama Hulē‘ia is a Native Hawaiian nonprofit based on Kaua‘i, caring for Alakoko, a 600+ year-old Hawaiian fishpond, and the surrounding Hulē‘ia watershed. As a Native Hawaiian Organization, we lead with cultural values and ancestral knowledge to restore this traditional food system and the ecosystem that supports it.
Our work includes removing invasive mangrove, rebuilding the kuapā (fishpond walls) using traditional dry-stack methods, replanting native wetland species, and restoring water flow. Centrally located in Līhuʻe, Kauaʻi we serve as a hub for hands-on, place-based learning. We welcome students and community members from across the island to reconnect with ʻāina and the practices that sustained our ancestors.
Hui O Kuapa on Molokai
Education is the kua or backbone of the Hui o Kuapā mission. Hui o Kuapā educates the local and global community about Native Hawaiian resource management and innovations through hands on experience in the loko iʻa or fishponds as well as through advocacy of native rights and issues. The organization has been instrumental in raising awareness about the need to care for our planet and food security in rural communities. It proudly continues to carry out that mission today.
Working with the local community, Hui o Kuapā rebuilds and rediscovers traditional knowledge to build and manage loko iʻa and restore ahupa’a.
Hui Makaʻainana o Makana
The Hui Makaʻainana o Makana (The Hui) is a non-profit organization dedicated to perpetuating and teaching the skills, knowledge, and practices of our kūpuna (ancestors) through the interpretation, restoration, care, and protection of natural and cultural resources in Hāʻena, Kauaʻi.
The Hui embodies the tenets of a fully in-tact ahupuaʻa system, where the stewardship of natural and cultural resources serves as the foundation for its objectives. In this model, the careful management and sustainability of natural resources create the basis for thriving communities that nurture vibrant and living cultural traditions. Collaborative partnerships ensure that the ahupuaʻa remains a functional and intact system fostering environmental health and cultural vitality.
Through the thoughtful guidance and direction of their ʻOhana Council, comprising of 37 lineal descendant families, The Hui, has demonstrated that stewardship of an ancient agricultural complex, the nearshore fisheries, and a popular tourist destination can be done regeneratively and responsibly.
Hui Makaʻainana o Makana
Maunalua Fishpond Heritage Center
Established in 2007, Maunalua Fishpond Heritage Center is a community-based nonprofit whose mission is, " E hoʻōla kākou i nā loko i’a a Maunalua – Let us properly preserve the fishponds of Maunalua ".
These ancient loko iʻa located at Kānewai and Kalauhaʻihaʻi, Oʻahu, are some of the last remaining in Honolulu. In 2017, the organization partnered with the Trust for Public Land to purchase back the communityʻs freshwater source of Kānewai Spring.
In 2024, after a 17 year effort, the Center gained a lease for the community to steward Kalauhaʻihaʻi Fishpond. Today the Center is working to rebuild the next generationsʻ pilina (connection) through stewardship and education. The Centerʻs vision for the future is an East O‘ahu where the fish are plentiful, Hawaiian cultural sites, especially fishponds, are restored and Native Hawaiian practices are perpetuated.