Maui Takes 1st Steps Toward Restoring Historic Royal Site In Lahaina
Moku‘ula, the royal compound where Native Hawaiian nobility resided for centuries, is buried beneath the burned remnants of a ballpark. Maui County officials hope to restore the Lahaina landmark over the next several years.
More than a year after the governor threw his support behind efforts to restore one of the most culturally significant sites in Lahaina, the county has begun setting plans in motion — albeit slowly.
Mokuʻula, a sandbar island surrounded by a historic fishpond that was once the center of the Hawaiian Kingdom, remains buried just a few feet beneath a derelict ballpark with a rusted backstop, patches of brown grass and overgrown weeds in the historic Maui town.
It has been that way for generations, but calls to restore the wetland have gained momentum after the park was destroyed during the 2023 wildfire that devastated much of Lahaina as officials and activists stressed the need to factor in the town’s cultural heritage with rebuilding efforts.
In August, to mark the first anniversary of the fire tragedy, the state transferred control of the property to the county for cultural and ecological restoration.
Flash forward, and the county is still in the beginning stages of plans to unearth the long-buried royal island compound and refill the fishpond. The project is expected to take years, but county officials said they are preparing to solicit community feedback that will inform how they proceed.
Kalapana Kollars, a cultural specialist at the Lahaina Restoration Foundation, acknowledged the effort will be “a huge, huge undertaking,” not only because of the enormous scale and likely cost, but also because the community doesn’t appear to have a unified vision for what a restored Mokuʻula would look like.
“Is it possible to make it look like it did 400 years ago?” he said. “I don’t know.”
People Of Lahaina To Determine Direction
Previous attempts to unearth the royal compound, where King Kamehameha III signed the Hawaiian Constitution of 1840, and burial ground for nobility failed to gain traction as the effort will be a massive and costly undertaking.
Gov. Josh Green took up the mantle last year when he asked the Department of Land and Natural Resources to pave the way for the county’s efforts to restore Mokuʻula and create a separate cultural corridor to honor Lahaina’s unique history and diversity.
Green signed papers on Aug. 8, 2024 — exactly one year after the fire — officially transferring the relevant properties to Maui County for cultural and ecological restoration, according to Dawn Chang, who leads the state’s Department of Land and Natural Resources.
“The intent was to allow the people of Lahaina to determine the future of these spaces,” Chang said. “The county is the closest level of government to the people, so it was most appropriate for Maui County to have jurisdiction.”
About 10 months have passed since the governor set the land aside, and the county said in a statement that it doesn’t have significant updates related to the project. But it has established a Department of ʻŌiwi, or Indigenous, Resources, which is tasked with safeguarding Native Hawaiian resources. The department was approved by voters in 2022 but officially launched last July.
It’s A Start
The planning and implementation of recovery and restoration of Mokuʻula, Pākalā, Mokuhinia and the Lahaina royal complex is embedded as a priority in the new department’s five-year strategic plan released on May 29.
The 42-page document unveiled new details about how officials intend to approach these efforts, which will be spearheaded by a kīpuka division. It will work alongside Native Hawaiian community leaders to formalize restoration plans, zone these areas as wahi pana, or sacred places, and oversee the long-term development.
The department’s director, Kaponoʻai Molitau, says the restorations are an important part of Lahaina’s long-term recovery, but the county wants to “move correctly” and make sure the project is “led by our Lahaina community.”
“This is going to be part of the entire healing of Lahaina, looking at the cultural lands and the way we care for them because they donʻt have voices for themselves,” he said. “Our waters, our ocean, our land, our streams, all of these are going to benefit all of Lahaina.”
To start, Molitau says, county officials will establish a “planning group” to engage the community to better determine next steps and form “the picture of what these spaces will look like.”
“The opportunity to restore culturally relevant spaces and heal these lands in an appropriate culturally mindful intent is our biggest focus,” he said.
Also top of mind, he adds, is educating the community and working to connect locals and visitors with “the history, the ancestral intellect of this host culture to our community.”
The project doesn’t yet have a budget, and will likely require funding from and coordination between the local, state and federal governments, according to Maui’s recovery website.
Cultural, Spiritual And Political Significance
Over the years, Lahaina has been known as a quasi-resort town visited by tourists from across the globe and a bustling 20th century neighborhood where the island’s plantation workers returned home after a long day of work.
But up until the the mid-1800s, Lahaina was dubbed the Venice of the Pacific because of its large network of coastal wetlands. Mokuʻula sat in the center of Loko o Mokuhinia, then a 17-acre fishpond surrounded by lush lowland forest. Both the island and the fishpond were considered sacred and culturally significant spaces.
Mokuhinia began to dry up over the course of the later half of the 19th century after sugar plantations diverted the area’s water. The pond was later filled and eventually became MaluʻuluoLele Park, according to the county.
For many people, the restoration of these landmarks would “signal the return of Lahaina’s prominence culturally, spiritually and politically,” said Kollars, whose family ties to Lahaina go back generations. “There definitely needs to be something done that demonstrates how significant this place really is.”
The Lahaina Restoration Foundation is not involved in the county’s plans but has long been dedicated to educating the public about the site’s history and recently produced a 360-degree animated film that gives viewers a glimpse of what life at Mokuʻula might have looked like.
Chang said state officials have supported the county’s efforts to restore Mokuʻula and Mokuhinia since wildfire recovery efforts first began.
“This initiative must be community-driven; we are supporting wherever we can,” she said. “When the people are ready, the conversations happen; the plans solidify. We come into the equation when the people need kōkua — they need land, they need water, they need expertise, etc.”
She added that “there are other lands in Lahaina that would be more appropriately stewarded by the county and the people,” and state officials were “working on getting those lands back as well.”
Mokuʻula and Mokuhinia are in Lahaina’s Historic District, which was devastated by the 2023 wildfire. Efforts are underway to restore numerous historic properties that were destroyed or damaged, and to eventually create a broader cultural corridor.
Kollars said there is an enormous educational benefit to maintaining Lahaina’s historic landmarks.
“Lahaina has been featured prominently in every era of Hawaiʻi’s human history,” he said, from the earliest human settlements to the rise of the whaling and sugar industries and the World Wars. “That makes it really special.”
CORRECTION: This story has been updated with the correct spelling of the ancient island.
Civil Beat’s coverage of Maui County is supported in by a grant from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation and its coverage of environmental issues on Maui is supported by grants from the Center for Disaster Philanthropy and the Hawai‘i Wildfires Recovery Fund and the Doris Duke Foundation.
