West Maui Nonprofit Leading Effort to Save Kāʻanapali Beach from Chronic Erosion
Plan Includes Extensive Protections for Cultural and Natural Resources
LAHAINA, HAWAI‘I — Pilikahakai Foundation and the management association for Kāʻanapali Beach Resort today announced a plan to save Kāʻanapali Beach from accelerating erosion driven by rising sea level caused by human-induced climate change.
The proposed project involves carefully collecting offshore sand that has migrated beyond the reach of natural processes and returning it to widen and increase the height of the beach to its healthy condition and footprint in 1988.
“Kāʻanapali Beach is vanishing, and without action, we risk losing something irreplaceable. Not just a beach, but a gathering place that generations of families, paddlers, and cultural practitioners have relied on. This project is a science-backed, nature-based solution to help the shoreline heal and adapt so it can be enjoyed by future generations.” — Keolahou Hinau, executive director of Pilikahakai Foundation.
Shoreline Erosion
“We have over 30 years of scientific studies documenting how this shoreline is changing. As water levels rise from the impacts of human-induced climate change, more wave energy is reaching the shoreline, accelerating erosion and avulsion events while disrupting the natural processes that keep beaches healthy.” — Chris Conger, Vice President, Sea Engineering, Inc., the lead scientific consultant on the project.
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Photos comparing shoreline conditions at Hanakaʻōʻō Point between 2020 and 2024 highlighting seasonal and long-term changes.
Project Overview
The plan reflects the unique characteristics of Kāʻanapali’s two littoral cells. In the southern section, between Hanakaʻōʻō Beach Park and Hanakaʻōʻō Point, sand would be placed on the beach and in shallow nearshore waters to help restore the historic beach footprint and portions of the sandy beach that existed in 1988. In the northern section, between Hanakaʻōʻō Point and Puʻu Kekaʻa, the beach is much more dynamic, with large volumes of sand naturally shifting between seasons. In this section, the plan focuses on restoring beach volume by increasing the height of the existing beach and allowing the sand to be incorporated into the natural beach system over time.
Key Elements:
- Restore approximately 50,000 cubic yards of sand between Hanakaʻōʻō Beach Park and Hanakaʻōʻō Point, widening the dry beach in places by 41 to 78 feet.
- Enhance the berm between Hanakaʻōʻō Point and Puʻu Kekaʻa with approximately 25,000 cubic yards of sand, raising the berm elevation by 3.5 feet.
- Create protodunes and dune pathways in the Hanakaʻōʻō Littoral Cell, with a native vegetation planting plan to stabilize the dune and anchor sand on the beach.
Maintaining Safe Public Access During Construction
Construction will be phased and sequenced to minimize disruption, with only the active work areas temporarily cordoned off for public safety while heavy equipment is present. The project team will be onsite during construction to direct foot traffic, and daily updates will be provided to community stakeholders, public safety officials and the public.
RESOURCE: Project Overview Video with Chris Conger, vice president of Sea Engineering, Inc.
Evolution in Response to Community Feedback
“We are grateful for the community’s feedback over the past two years. It has significantly reshaped this plan, with enhanced environmental safeguards and greater protections for cultural resources, such as reducing the sand collection area to respect Pu‘u Keka‘a.” — Raphael Wellerstein, president and general manager, Kā‘anapali Operations Association, Inc., the management association of Kā‘anapali Beach Resort.
Key Changes Since 2023:
- Enhanced cultural protections: Expanded the protective buffer around Puʻu Kekaʻa from 150 feet to 280 feet and added a full-time cultural monitor with authority to observe work on the beach and in the water throughout construction and to work with the project team to halt work when appropriate.
- Reduced construction footprint and operational impact: Eliminated construction staging at Hanakaʻōʻō Beach Park, scheduled in-water work outside the canoe paddling season, and expanded community outreach through proactive coordination with first responders, canoe clubs, cultural practitioners, and the broader community.
- Long-term planning and stewardship: Commitment to developing a long-term Adaptation Pathway Plan, including dune restoration feasibility study, and a Beachwalk management plan.
- Expanded monitoring an environmental protections: Added surveys and monitoring, including additional water quality monitoring by an independent third party.
- Forward looking modifications: Changed the sand profile to protodunes and added native planting and reef safe landscaping
RESOURCE: Fact Sheet on Project Evolution
Environmental Safeguards
The project has been designed to protect nearshore water quality, coral reefs, and the marine life that depends on them. More than seven years of environmental study, shaped through consultation with state and federal agencies, scientific consultants, and community members, informed a plan that includes best management practices, independent oversight, and multilayered monitoring before, during, and after construction.
Key Environmental Protections
- Comprehensive monitoring before, during, and after construction: Water quality, coral reef health, and beach topography will be monitored on a defined schedule for three years, and possibly extending up to 10 years after construction, with an independent third-party conducting water quality monitoring. Drop-camera surveys of the sand collection site will also supplement the rigorous monitoring regimes.
- Specialized equipment to minimize disturbance and impact: Offshore sand will be collected using a moored crane barge equipped with an environmental clamshell bucket, a method specifically chosen to minimize turbidity and impacts to the marine environment, and delivered to shore under established best management practices to protect nearby coral.
- Measuring and minimizing turbidity: Turbidity containment barriers will surround active work areas, with daily visual inspections for best-management-practice compliance and a mandatory work stoppage if turbidity outside the project site exceeds established levels.
RESOURCE: Fact Sheet on Environmental Protections
Economic Impact
Kāʻanapali Beach is one of the world’s most renowned shorelines and a place of deep cultural, recreational, and economic significance. Recognized as one of the best beaches in the world, it is a gathering place for local residents and visitors, a site of Native Hawaiian cultural practice, and home to pristine coral reefs and native wildlife.
“Kāʻanapali is the economic engine of West Maui. Visitors come here for the beach — if we lose it, we lose everything that depends on it,” said John Pele, executive director of Maui Hotel & Lodging Association. “It’s not just livelihoods at risk; we also stand to lose a place with deep cultural significance where Maui families have gathered for generations.”
Kāʻanapali Beach Resort, Hawaiʻi’s first master-planned resort, spans approximately 1,200 acres along Maui’s western shoreline and contributes approximately $3 billion annually to the state’s economy, supporting thousands of jobs and generating significant tax revenue for Maui County and the state.
Community Benefits
The project — a restoration of a public trust resource to ensure it remains accessible for all to enjoy — is being privately funded by the property owners of Kāʻanapali Beach Resort.
Continuing Kāʻanapali’s ongoing investments in the shoreline, Pilikahakai Foundation is also providing up to $150,000 to construct and equip a new Maui County lifeguard tower on the northern end of Kāʻanapali Beach, where the nearest lifeguard stand is currently approximately 1.5 miles away at Hanakaōʻō Beach Park. The collaboration with Maui County Ocean Safety addresses a longstanding community priority to enhance public safety at one of Maui’s most-visited beaches.
Upon approval of the necessary permit applications, the project team has also committed to creating additional public beach parking stalls within the resort, expanding public access for residents who come to Kāʻanapali Beach to swim, fish, gather, and enjoy the coastline.
Kāʻanapali and Pilikahakai Foundation will also continue to support the community through donations and other contributions to education, recreation, environmental and cultural programs, and other community needs and will continue to work with the community to improve community access to and use of the facilities in Kāʻanapali.
The project is projected to create up to 100 temporary construction-related jobs.
Permitting Process & Timeline
The filing of the Conservation District Use Application with the Hawai‘i Department of Land and Natural Resources marks the first step in a comprehensive county, state, and federal permitting process. After receiving all required permits, construction is expected to begin in the fall of 2027 and take two to three months to complete.
Media Kit (courtesy of Pilikahakai Foundation)About Pilikahakai Foundtion
Pilikahakai Foundation was established in 2024 by Kāʻanapali Beach Resort property owners as the resort's charitable organization. The foundation works to perpetuate Native Hawaiian culture, advance environmental stewardship and sustainability, preserve cultural use of and recreational access to Kāʻanapali Beach, and build a more resilient future for West Maui. Learn more at www.pilikahakai.org.
