Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 27, Number 4, 1 April 2010 — CEDED LANDS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

CEDED

LANDS

BY FRANCINE MURRAY KA WAI OLA

THE KIA'A 'ĀINA PROJECT AIMS TO PIECE TOGETHER THE CENTURY-OLD PUZZLE OF HAWAI'I'S LAND

'L/ m i -cūVEr feature 8 " H a mo olelo nui

! CEDED LANDS i 1 ĪIMELINE ! ii 1898 With the annexation of Hawai'i by the United States, 1.8 million acres of crown and government lands of the illegally overthrown Hawaiian Kingdom are "ceded" by the Republic of Hawai'i to the U.S. government. 1921 The federal Hawaiian Homes Commission Act sets aside 200,000 acres for Hawaiian homesteads. V These lands are taken from the lands "ceded" during annexation. 1959 Statehood Act returns 1.4million ® acres of "ceded lands including the 200,000 acres of Hawaiian home lands, turned over by federal govern- ' i ment to the State of Hawai'i. The remaining 400,000 acres of ceded ' lands are retained by the federal government for defense, national parks and refuges and other puhlie purposes. The Act also establishes five purposes for the state ceded lands trust, one of whieh is the betterment , . of conditions of Native Hawaiians. 1978 l State Constitutional Convention establishes the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to receive state ceded land revenue for the betterment of conditions of Native Hawaiians. 1990 i- Act 304 is passed by the Hawai'i state Legislature, requiring a 20 percent pro rata share of ceded lands revenues to go the Office of Hawaiian Affairs for the betterment of conditions of Hawaiians. 2001 Act 304 rendered null and void by Hawai'i Supreme Court on a technicality. Court affirms state's obligation to Hawaiians; remands matter to state Legislature. 2003 Gov. Linda Lingle issues executive order restoring trust land revenue payments to OHA and state attorney general determines that receipts derived from ceded lands could be provided direct to OHA without legislative appropriation.

The Kia'a 'Āina Project has been indexing, translating and digitizing volumes of records, piecing together the century-old puzzle of Hawai'i's land. "The vision that we have developed with Hui 'Aina Lahui ... is a vision of training 252 Hawaiian Land Managers over the course of the next 12 years

who would know as mueh as the 252 Konohiki of the 1848 Buke Mahele," says University of Hawai'i professor Lilikalā Kame'eleihiwa, referring to the Mahele Book, whieh recorded the transac- ^ tion that divided - . lands between & Kamehameha III, the chiefs and konohiki.

"The historical konohiki could divide the 1,004 ahupua'a from lists they carried in their heads. They knew whieh lands were best suited for lo'i kalo and those that were used for mala 'uala. They knew all of the water resources and where eaeh fishpond was situated," she said. "Now that

we are on the eve of federal recognition, it is important that we have Hawaiian land managers who know some of that ancient knowledge regarding lands that ean be used to feed and house our people." For decades people have wondered exactly whieh lands in Hawai'i are ceded lands. Curiosity sparked the Kia'a 'Āina Project researching the land of Hawai'i to determine whieh lands were ceded land and whieh were not. The brainchild of Kame'eleihiwa, in 1997, she had her Hawai-

ian Studies Mahele Land Awards class start matching a state Department of Land and Natural Resources list of ceded land with tax maps. The class immediately found discrepancies between the documents. DLNR had given the list of ceded land it controlled to OHA in 1993, and a copy of that list had been given to Kame'eleihiwa. The list included only about 20 percent of the ceded lands. From humhle beginnings, they built upon their research and annually improved the ceded land inventory project receiving several grants from OHA and the federal government to continue expansion of their work. "By the end of the year, we will have a web site up and running in the new Hawai'inuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge that ean host the past years of Hawaiian Land Research and make doing research in Hawaiian land so mueh easier for all of our Hawaiian people," Kame'eleihiwa said. "We will also have many more federal grant requests submitted and pray that they will all be awarded." What are ceded lands? In ancient Hawai'i people were stewards of the land, managed by konohiki, land managers, under the watchful eye of ali'i. With the introduction of the Western philosophy of land ownership, King Kamehameha III, Kauikeaouli began the Great Mahele distributing land awards in an effort to keep Hawaiian lands in Hawaiian hands. Lands were first distributed among the chiefs. According to Kame'eleihiwa, the King split the lands managed by ali'i and konohiki letting them keep half, setting aside 41 percent for the government and retaining 18 percent for himself. In 1848, in the Buke Mahele, 252 chiefs signed receiving the Konohiki Land Awards. The 252 chiefs included the King, nine

other Ali'i Nui (high chiefs) and 24 Kaukau Ali'i (chiefs). The remaining 218 were the king's konohiki. All kuleana awards were then issued to maka'āinana from the konohiki awards or government land. Because the kuleana awards, whieh were usually only about 3 acres, were not plotted,

it isn't clear whieh are crown, government or private land. Further complicating the matter of ceded land, Kame'eleihiwa explained, was that "during the time of the 1893 overthrow until 1900 when the American military took over, there seems to have been a lot of reshuftling of lands, with some crown and government lands going to privately held sugar plantations. In part this was because while there were 1,004 ahupua'a recorded in the Buke Mahele; subse-

quently, after detailed maps began to be made in the 1880s, it was discovered that there were another 104 ahupua'a that had been unassigned." The Hawaiian Islands have a total land area of more than 4 million acres. And in the annexation of Hawai'i, 1.8 million acres of crown and government land were ceded by the Republic of Hawai'i to the United States. These lands are what is referred to as the ceded land. During statehood through the Admission Act, 1 .4 million acres of ceded land from the federal government was given to the state to manage in trust. Land is money in Hawai'i. But for many Native Hawaiians, it means more than just a source of revenue. Land in these islands remains significant to Hawaiians, who are all bonded to their motherland as if it were an ancestor. "There are often mythological and historical associations with ahupua'a names, and of course these names eome up in chants and mele, teaching us the poetic value that land had for our kūpuna," said Kame'eleihiwa. In Hawai'i, the majority of state-owned lands are ceded lands. And the state has a responsibility required by the federal government to use ceded land revenue for five specific purposes, as outlined in the Admission Act: for the support of puhlie education, for the betterment of the conditions of native Hawaiians, for the development of farm and home ownership, for puhlie improvements and for puhlie use. In other words, ceded land in its highest and best use should benefit all residents of the state of Hawai'i. In 1978, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs was established by the state Constitutional Convention to receive a portion of ceded land revenue to better the conditions of Native Hawaiians. OHA strives to achieve this by focusing on six priorities - eeonomie self-sufficiency, governance, education, heahh, land and water, and culture. ■

2006 State Legislature establishes Act 178 affirming interim revenue to be transferred to OHA from the puhlie land trust "for the betterment of conditions of native Hawaiians" in the annual amount of $15.1 million beginning with fiscal year 2005-2006. :L_ -

2007 The acquisition of Wao Kele o Puna rainforest on Hawai'i Island by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs in 2007 marked the first time that ceded lands formerly belonging to the Hawaiian Kingdom were directly returned to a representative of the Hawaiian people. - -

January 2008 Hawai'i State Supreme Court ruling cites the U.S. Apology Resolution and related state legislation in concluding that the State of Hawai'i has a "fiduciary duty to preserve the corpus of the puhlie lands trust, specifically the ceded lands, until such time as the unrelinquished claims of the Native Hawaiians have been resolved."

January 2008 OHA and state administration announee agreement on a settlement of disputed ceded lands trust revenue. Settlement calls for OHA to receive a mix of land and cash worth $200 million. Legislature fails to approve settlement. Provisions of Act 178 to provide OHA with $15.1 million annually remain in effect. . _ _ ... . ■

March 2009 The U.S. Supreme Court reverses and remands the 2008 Hawai'i State Supreme Court decision saying the state could not sell ceded lands "until such time as the unrelinquished claims of the native Hawaiians have been resolved." In part, the court concluded that the U.S. Apology Resolution could not be used as a basis for the Hawai'i court's earlier decision. .

May 2009 All parties in the U.S. Supreme Court case except for plaintiff Jonathan Osorio enter into agreement to dismiss the case "without prejudice," on the condition that the state Legislature pass a measure requiring two-thirds majority vote for passage of eoncurrent resolution pertaining to any sale of certain puhlie lands, including ceded lands.

July 2009 State enacts Act 176 establishing strict approval requirements - two-thirds majority vote - for sale of certain lands, including ceded lands. - ■ , __

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