The Trust for Public Land and the Maunalua Fishpond Heritage Center have worked together to purchase and forever protect this fishpond, one of Honolulu’s last natural springs to still provide fresh, clean water to the shore.

Kūpuna say that Kānewai Spring is “where the mountain gives birth to the ocean,” because these headwaters flow into Kānewai Fishpond, then to Paikō Lagoon Wildlife Sanctuary, and finally Maunalua Bay. When the spring is in poor condition, they all suffer. Once overgrown, dark, and murky - Kānewai Spring and the surrounding land are now brimming with life thanks to seven years of hard work by the Maunalua Fishpond Heritage Center and hundreds of volunteers. And now, the site is permanently protected and owned/stewarded by the community via the nonprofit Maunalua Fishpond Heritage Center.

Nearly all of Hawai‘i’s freshwater springs have disappeared – many filled in for development, ending the fresh and salt water connection that is critical to the life cycle of many native species. In Kuli‘ou‘ou, we had a rare opportunity to permanently protect a fertile estuary that is home to rare freshwater limpets pipiwai and hapawai that cling to the Hawaiian drystack wall lining the spring, ‘ama‘ama (mullet) and āholehole (young Hawaiian flagtail) that feed on the prized green limu ‘ele‘ele that blankets the spring floor, native shrimp ‘opae ‘oeha‘a and ‘opae huna, and endangered ‘ae‘o (Hawaiian stilts) that feed in Kānewai Fishpond. This effort also protects the many cultural sites surrounding the spring including the mākāhā (fishpond sluice gate), and kū‘ula (fishing stone shrine) with an upright Kū stone balanced by a low Hina stone where the fishermen of old would have given offerings asking for a plentiful catch.