Hawai‘i Forest Legacy Program
E malama i ka ululaʻau
Care for the forest
OVERVIEW
The Forest Legacy Program is a Federal grant program that aids States in identifying important private forest lands thatare threatened by development or fragmentation. Through the program, interested landowners are provided with alternatives to selling their land for development in order to cover costs associated with increased taxes, management of the land, among others by selling the land or a conservation easement on the property to a government organization. For more about the National Forest Legacy Program please visit the USDA Forest Service website.
Goals
Hawaiʻi Forest Legacy Program targets forest lands as identified in the Hawaii Forest Legacy Program Assessment of Needs (AON) and contribute to overall program goals, including:
- Protect Hawaiʻi’s unique and fragile environmental resources
- Encourage the protection of rare and/or endangered species
- Promote the preservation of aesthetic beauty in Hawai‘i
- Preserve watershed health and protect the sustainable yield of fresh water
- Protect working forests as economic assets for the state and counties of Hawai‘i
- Protect traditional and cultural forest practices and resources
- Protect recreational forest practices
Process
Interested parties are asked to contact the Program Manager several months prior to the deadline. State agencies will work with applicants to compile and submit acquisition proposals for competitive review and ranking. If a project is accepted, it will be reviewed and ranked against other proposals at the regional then national level. The entire process generally takes over a year before funding determination is known, after which the acquisition process may take equally as long.
The deadline for applications for federal fiscal funding 2025 is July 3, 2024.
Our Current Projects
Current projects and descriptions can be found here.
Contact
Please contact the Program Manager, Tanya Rubenstein, for examples of applications at (808) 587-0027 or via email.
