Lānaʻi Culture & Heritage Center leads work day at Hiʻi Agricultural Heiau

Lānaʻi Culture & Heritage Center led a group of volunteers to a sacred and remote heiau on Saturday. The stewardship day took place at Hi’i Agricultural Heiau, located about two miles from Kōʻele. 

The center’s volunteers have worked for the last nine years to protect and preserve the site, which includes an ancient heiau and remnants of traditional house sites. Efforts have been ongoing since 2015 to eliminate introduced trees and clear invasive plants from the area, helping to open up the canopy to restore the native understory.  

This heiau was first documented during a 1920s archaeology study by visiting archaeologist Kenneth Emory. In summer 2016, student participants in Lānaʻi CHC’s cultural literacy program remapped the area. Hiʻi is a place of cultural significance. It sits on a terrace of land that’s about 1,100 feet above sea level on rich agricultural lands stewarded in traditional times by native tenants. 

Lānaʻi CHC brings the community together to preserve and protect important cultural sites across the island like Hiʻi. The cultural center was founded as a community-based nonprofit in 2007, and aims to provide thoughtful information and stewardship in the legacy of Lānaʻi. Focusing on preserving, interpreting, and celebrating the island’s natural, social, and cultural histories, the center includes a climate-controlled display area of artifacts and archives and runs educational programs focused on stewarding the island’s living landscape.