Land Values

Wildfire expert Clay Trauernicht and Pua‘ala Pascua (both NREM) are co-authors of a paper recently published in the Journal of Ecology and Society, “Bringing Multiple Values to the Table: An Assessment of Future Land-Use and Climate Change in North Kona, Hawaiʻi.” The article, part of a special issue on ecosystem services, land use, and climate change, describes a collaborative approach to assessing the multiple values that different ecosystems in Hawaiʻi provide and how working with stakeholders can help in evaluating and comparing the potential future uses of pastureland. It uses as a case study the Ka‘upulehu dry forest restoration project in North Kona on the Big Island, a successful community-based effort to restore one of the most threatened ecosystems in the world. Many of the community members who work there are from cattle-ranching families who see tremendous value in mixed-use landscapes, including native forest and pasturelands, but worry about encroaching urban development. As the paper’s authors explain, much research is being done into the ways that land-use choices influence societal well-being and how multiple values of land can be factored into decision-making. However, less work has been done to integrate these different values, whether they be biophysical aspects, monetary value, or broader social and cultural values, which makes it difficult for decision-makers to consider them all. The paper is one of the results of a multi-year, interdisciplinary project in which researchers have worked closely with conservation organizations, landowners, and other stakeholders in Hawai‘i to bridge this divide. Read the paper here, and check out the UH News story to find out more.