City marks Earth Day with Mālama ʻĀina Day at Hāwea Heiau and Keawāwa Wetland

HONOLULU – The City and County of Honolulu’s Department of Housing and Land Management (DHLM), through its Clean Water and Natural Lands (CWNL) program, hosted a Mālama ʻĀina Day today at Hāwea Heiau and Keawāwa Wetland in Maunalua, bringing together community members, partners, and volunteers for a morning of stewardship and restoration. Following Earth Day earlier this week, the event is part of DHLM’s ongoing efforts to support community-based stewardship through the CWNL program, which helps protect and preserve Oʻahu’s most important natural and cultural resources for future generations.

The event was held in partnership with Livable Maunalua (formerly Livable Hawaiʻi Kai Hui), which has played a leading role in the stewardship and restoration of the site. Those who participated in the workday include members from Hawaiʻi Land Trust (HILT), North Shore Community Land Trust, and City partners from the Office of Climate Change, Sustainability and Resiliency (CCSR), Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR), Office of Economic Revitalization (OER), and the Department of the Corporation Counsel (COR), reflecting a coordinated, cross-agency approach to stewardship and land management.

Participants supported a range of mālama ʻāina efforts, including removing invasive species, caring for native plants, and helping to restore areas within the dryland forest and wetland ecosystem. Activities also included planting native species and creating seed balls to support long-term restoration efforts.

Hāwea Heiau and Keawāwa Wetland is a wahi pana—a storied and sacred place—within the Maunalua region, where cultural history, traditional practices, and natural systems are deeply interconnected. The area includes portions of the Hāwea heiau complex, a traditional Hawaiian place of worship, as well as archaeological features such as terraces, petroglyphs, and remnants of a historic fishing village.

For generations, this area has served as a place for cultural practice, ceremony, and learning. Today, it continues to provide opportunities for community members to reconnect with ʻike kūpuna (ancestral knowledge) while helping to restore and care for the land.

The site also includes a spring-fed wetland that plays a critical role in improving water quality, supporting native species, and managing stormwater runoff in a highly urbanized region. The wetland provides habitat for native and endangered species, such as ‘alae ‘ula (Hawaiian moorhen or gallinule) and contributes to the overall health of the Maunalua watershed.

“Caring for places like Hāwea Heiau and Keawāwa Wetland requires long-term commitment and strong community partnerships,” said Van Matsushige, division chief of DHLM’s Conservation Office. “These spaces carry deep cultural meaning, and through events like Mālama ʻĀina Day, we’re able to bring people together not only to restore the land, but to strengthen that connection between people, place, and history.” For more information about the Clean Water and Natural Lands Program, visit: https://www.honolulu.gov/dhlm/cwnl/