Maunakea listed on National Register of Historic Places

Maunakea on Hawaiʻi Island is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The majestic mountain earned the designation on March 27, 2025, and is identified as a Traditional Cultural Property or TCP and District by the federal government of the United States.

Advocates say the listing as a TCP will assist in ongoing efforts for protection. In response to efforts at industrial development on Maunakea, such as the proposed Thirty Meter Telescope, Kānaka Maoli community leaders and other experts have pushed for thorough assessments that more fully honor Maunakea‘s cultural significance. 

“I am so grateful that Maunakea and its sacredness will now formally be recognized as a TCP,” said Kealoha Pisciotta, President of Mauna Kea Anaina Hou. “This means that any and all proposed activities are now required to take into account all of the sacred sites and how they are culturally interconnected and protected in whole not just randomly like they have been treating the mauna throughout the years—it is whole and that helps us as Kanaka Maoli to become more whole again also.”

With this listing, those seeking government permits or funding will be required to weigh the impacts of their proposed projects on the cultural and historic significance of Maunakea.

“Official registration helps lift the burden of debating the cultural significance of Maunakea. Listing Maunakea as a TCP means that we will not need to start from square one to prove the mauna’s cultural significance if any other project is proposed,” said Jonathan Kamakawiwoʻole Osorio, KAHEA Board president.

“This listing is significant not because we need government validation of our connection to Maunakea. Maunakea is inherently sacred to us. What’s important is that this recognition affirms our pilina and practices, and with that, comes a responsibility to consider how our cultural community and resources may be affected,” said Shelley Muneoka, a KAHEA boardmember. 

In 1992, the National Park Service published National Register Bulletin 38, which first described Traditional Cultural Properties. TCPs are places associated with the cultural practices or beliefs of a living community, rooted in a community’s history, important in maintaining its continued cultural identity, and historically significant. Listing on the National Register of Historic Places does not transfer authority or title over lands to the federal government. 

In 2023, KAHEA, a Hawaiʻi nonprofit organization, and Mauna Kea Anaina Hou, an association of Kānaka Maoli cultural practitioners of Maunakea, began a partnership with cultural resource management experts at Huliauapaʻa. The three entities worked in collaboration on a nomination for Maunakea as a TCP to the Hawaiʻi Historic Register by synthesizing ʻike kūpuna as well as relevant public records from administrative hearings, court cases, written comments, plans and reports.

In November 2023, the Hawaiʻi Historic Places Review Board approved listing Maunakea on the Hawaiʻi Historic Register and agreed to submit a nomination for Maunakea’s listing on the National Register. 

For more background on the effort to get Maunakea on the Hawaiʻi and National Registers see  https://bit.ly/TCP_background.