The Conservation Fund completed the Green Infrastructure Technical Report for the Kona Community Development Plan in 2006. The report provides a strategic framework for guiding future land development and land conservation decision making within the North Kona and South Kona Planning Districts within the County of Hawai’i. Building on principles, objectives, and preliminary actions outlined in the County planning process, the Technical Report recommended an array of approaches for expanding the green infrastructure network in Kona, including using development as a tool for conservation and establishing Leadership Forums for long-term stewardship of critical lands.
The Kona Community Development Plan utilized an extensive public involvement process to identify desired locations for future development that will accommodate projected population growth over the next 20 years. Critical to the success of the plan is the identification of opportunities for enhancing green infrastructure within preferred growth areas and in Kona’s rural watershed lands that contain an array of working ranches, public lands, and other critical ecosystem resources.
Using the green infrastructure approach to strategic conservation, the Fund inventoried existing managed lands, identified opportunities for ecosystem service demonstration projects, and mapped potential ahupua’a connection opportunities where a natural link could be maintained between the shoreline and mountain lands. The report also outlined a set of planning guidelines to encourage sustainable land use activities within classified agricultural lands where critical native vegetation currently exists.
The Technical Report has been incorporated into the Community Development Plan process and is providing a framework for land conservation and land development decision making. Future efforts to develop Leadership Forums and craft specific development incentives and regulations are currently underway.
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