Kīpahulu ʻOhana
A Native organization
Background
Kīpahulu is a moku, a district on the eastern side of Maui. Thousands of people once lived there on the resources of the ʻahupuaʻa, the land division that runs from the mountain to the sea, and the Hawaiian ali'i prized the district for its fertile ʻāina and kai long before the first Europeans arrived. Restoration at the Kapahu area began in 1978, and the organization was founded in 1995 by Native Hawaiian residents who carried that work forward, incorporating as Kīpahulu ʻOhana, Inc. as the vehicle for a formal cooperative agreement with Haleakalā National Park. The work runs mauka to makai, from the mountains to the sea: loʻi kalo restoration, a 9-acre pasture and fruit orchard, a shared-use certified commercial kitchen and ag processing facility, feral animal control fencing, invasive species removal in native forest at Cable Ridge, and a community-based marine management plan called Mālama Ke Ka i. The organization states its purpose as educating residents and visitors in the ways of old through cultural demonstrations and hands-on work, and keeping the community going on the resources of the place.
Visit and learn
Kapahu Living Farm
The working taro farm the organization runs in partnership with Haleakala National Park, and the main place it hosts school and community groups. Visits are by arrangement rather than walk-in: request an ʻĀina Education Work Day for a group, or ask about the Cultural Interpretive Hike Tour for individuals. The farm sets its own protocols and asks every visitor to follow them.
Tribal lands have their own laws. Check the nation's site before you visit.
Parks on its homelands
Haleakalā National ParkThe Kīpahulu ʻOhana, a Hawaiian 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 1995, has managed the Kapahu Living Farm, a traditional Hawaiian wetland taro farm, since 1995 through a partnership agreement with Haleakalā National Park. Kīpahulu is now the third community-based subsistence fishing area in Hawaiʻi, after Hāʻena on Kauaʻi and Miloliʻi on Hawaiʻi Island. Source
Programs
Kapahu Living Farm
A traditional Hawaiian wetland taro farm, with loʻi kalo cleared and returned to production and other crops grown alongside, including ʻulu, maiʻa, ʻuala, ko, mamaki and ʻohiʻa ʻai. Poi and other products are processed at the Kīpahulu Kitchen for distribution into the local Maui Nui community.
ʻĀina Education Work Days
Hands-on days at Kapahu Living Farm for schools, organizations and cultural groups, built around loʻi kalo cultivation, restoration practices and traditional Hawaiian land stewardship. Work days are available on request, all participants sign waivers and follow the farm's protocols, and every request is reviewed and confirmed by staff. A Cultural Interpretive Hike Tour is offered for visitors who are not coming as a group.
Sources
Checked September 2026.