On Jan. 3, more than 100 community members from Keaukaha and Panaʻewa Hawaiian homesteads gathered at Puhi Bay for a coastline cleanup from Palekai to ʻĀwili.
“Nui nā poʻe i ʻākoakoa mai no ka hoʻomaʻemaʻe i Puhi, a ʻae, ʻano pūʻiwa wau,” said Kaʻaka Swain, pelekikena of the Keaukaha Community Association (KCA).
The event known as “People for Puhi” was organized by KCA and the group Kānewala.
“The cleanup at Puhi Bay was initiated to utilize our resources and ʻike to support the transition of the park into more community-driven management,” said Makana Lewis, one of the founders of Kānewala.
Volunteers removed debris and cut grass. Rocks along the shoreline were replaced and broken picnic tables were removed.
“These efforts improved safety, access, and overall conditions of the space,” said Lewis, “Holes were also dug for sign installation intended to showcase the proper place names of the park, such as Palekai (“Breakwall”), Puhi, Kulapae (site of former Hawaiian Village), and ʻĀuwili (“Browns”).”
This shoreline area widely known as Keaukaha Beach Park is the piko of the community, said Dr. Halena Kapuni-Reynolds, a Keaukaha historian and former Hawaiian homesteader.
“Puhi Bay and Kulapae are places where we continue to gather as a community to teach our children about those who came before them,” Kapuni-Reynolds said.
Family gatherings, including baby lūʻau, weddings and funerals, are all held here, he noted. Generations of the community also learned to fish and swim here.
“We visit wahi pana (storied places) because they help us to recall history while remembering the importance of caring for these places for future generations,” said Kapuni-Reynolds. “If we are not able to physically access this place, it would be even more difficult to pass this information down to future generations.”
That is what makes these cleanup events so special, it’s an opportunity to not only steward the land, but the stories of this place that have been passed down for over 100 years.
The 16-acre Keaukaha Beach Park has been in the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands’ inventory since 1937. In recent months, DHHL has sought to offload its park management kuleana to another entity. Swain says this may be an opportunity for KCA, which represents about 400 households in Keaukaha, to steward their beloved beach park.
“After lengthy discussion the [KCA] board decided that it is something we should do for the community. So, we are,” Swain said.
In September 2025, the KCA submitted a proposal to the Hawaiian Homes Commission for the co-management of Keaukaha Beach Park. Swain says discussions with DHHL have only just begun, and any arrangement will require some level of participation from the department.
“After all they are not signing over the land, but merely leasing the land to us,” said Swain. “What participation looks like we still need to discuss.”
Swain says the process with DHHL could take up to a year to complete. In the meantime, planning is underway for the next “People for Puhi” event in 2026.
This article is reprinted with permission from OHA's Ka Wai Ola newspaper: "Community seeks co-management of Keaukaha Beach Park" by Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi, in its February 2026 issue, Vol. 43 No. 2. Read more at kawaiola.news.
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