Pōhue Bay (Hawai‘i)

Photo credit: Matt Griffis

In 2022, the Wyss Foundation provided a $3,000,000 grant to the Trust for Public Land to purchase the approximately 16,451-acre Pōhue Bay property for transfer to the National Park Service as an addition to Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. This project's completion permanently protected a threatened ecosystem.

Pōhue Bay, containing a pristine white sand beach, represents a critical nesting habitat for the endangered Hawaiian Hawksbill Turtle and a pupping habitat for the endangered Hawaiian monk seal. The property also includes unique anchialine ponds—containing a mix of fresh and saltwater—home to a rare endemic red shrimp (‘ōpae ‘ula) and the endangered Orange Black Hawaiian damselfly. Native and migratory birds also frequent this wild shoreline, including frigate birds (ʻiwa), white-tailed tropic birds (koaʻe kea), pacific golden plovers (kōlea), noddies, tattlers (ʻŪlili), and black-crowned night herons (ʻAukuʻu). The property is part of a contiguous complex of adjacent protected state and county lands totaling an additional 380,000 acres. The entire southwest slope of the Volcano Mauna Loa is now under national park status—from its 13,678-foot summit to the ocean.

Pōhue Bay is an important cultural landscape for the community and native Hawaiʻians. The land includes well-preserved and significant Native Hawaiian cultural sites, including the largest recorded abrader quarry in Hawaiʻi (soap-bar-sized sanders), ancient lava tube burials, mauka-makai trails, fishing shrines, remains of once thriving coastal villages, and unique petroglyphs dating from ancient times to the 19th century. Approximately five miles of the 175-mile Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail, which preserves ancient coastal routes on the island, passes through the property.

This project was made possible through the work of The Trust for Public Land and the National Park Service.