Add $5 million Green Fee to Legacy Land Conservation Program

Direct $5 million of the Green Fee to the Legacy Land Conservation Program (LNR101), administered by the State of HI Department of Land and Natural Resources, for projects that substantially advance one or more of the three Green Fee purposes — environmental stewardship, climate and hazard resilience, and/or sustainable tourism (recent grant awards have included land acquisition projects to establish trailheads to manage visitor impacts).

Context: the Legacy Land Conservation Program provides competitive grant awards to State agencies, counties, and nonprofit land conservation organizations to acquire and protect land that is home to exceptional, unique, threatened, and endangered natural and cultural resources. Examples of lands protected/purchased through the program include the Kane’ohe Pali lands that are the backdrop to Ho’omaluhia Botanical Garden on O’ahu and a critical watershed providing fresh drinking water to O’ahu residents; portions of MA’O Organic Farm in Wai’anae, O’ahu, which supplies fresh, locally grown produce to HI residents and provides educational programs and tuition waivers to college for West O’ahu youth; portions of the Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail in Ka’u that conserve heiau, historic trails, petroglyphs, and other important cultural sites, Hawai’i Island; Halulu Fishppond Access for the Waipa Foundation on Kaua’i, which has protected a critical part of a Hawaiian fishpond; and Ma’alaea lands that are the trailhead to the Lahaina Pali Trail on Maui.

The program is funded through a set aside of up to 10% of the real estate conveyance tax paid by sellers when land is sold, but the Legislature annually caps the program at much less 10%. Currently, only about $5.1 million will be available for this upcoming 2026-27 cycle, and the program always receives applications that far exceed available program funds in light of rising land prices and increased community concerns regarding lands threatened with conversion.

The existing infrastructure can absorb the additional funding without new administration: a Commission of volunteer experts and program staff already exists that can solicit project applications, vet and rank projects, and make recommendations to BLNR for approval (a public hearing is already required), and the program already distributes funding through grant agreements, tracks the funding, and ensures the projects comply with applicable laws and requirements of the program. The additional funding would be available to public agencies and NGOs to compete for funds in an open and transparent way, and have lasting effects for generations to come.