As part of the land claim settlement for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA), data gathering conducted by PBR HAWAII for this project focused on an inventory and identification of State lands by use, size, lease rent, and location. The State parcels examined encompassed 1.2 million acres and were located on all major islands.
Once identified as potentially suitable for achieving OHA’s established goals, these lands were categorized into one or more of the following four groups: traditional use and cultural significance; income production potential; agricultural use; and housing development.
Native American Models of self-government were reviewed for potential applicability to the current efforts by Native Hawaiians to form a sovereign land-based nation recognized by the federal government.
The work product PBR HAWAII produced for this project consisted of: 1) Research and analysis of State land inventory; 2) Detailed inventory of public trust lands; 3) Development of a strategy for land selection based on potential income production, housing development, agriculture/aquaculture use, and traditional/cultural use; 4) Prioritized listings of public trust lands for income production, housing development, agriculture/aquaculture use, and traditional/cultural use; and 5) Descriptions and analysis of Native American land and natural resources management approaches for income production, housing development, agriculture/aquaculture use, and traditional/cultural use.
The computerized database prepared by PBR HAWAII permitted maximum flexibility in performing sorts, searches, and compilation of data.
