By Bianca Isaki, KAHEA Maunakea Legal Director, and Huliauapaʻa
On March 27, 2025, the National Park Service made the historic decision to list Maunakea on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Maunakea is now listed as a Traditional Cultural Property (“TCP”; currently termed “Traditional Cultural Place”) and District by the United States government.
The listing of Maunakea as a TCP will assist ongoing efforts to protect the mauna. In response to efforts at industrial development on Maunakea, such as the proposed Thirty Meter Telescope, Kānaka Maoli community leaders and other experts have pushed for thorough assessments that more fully honor Maunakea’s cultural significance.
TCPs are places associated with the cultural practices or beliefs of a living community that are rooted in a community’s history, important in maintaining its continued cultural identity, and historically significant.
Being listed on the National Register of Historic Places does not transfer authority or title over lands to the federal government.
In 2023, Hawaiʻi nonprofits KAHEA and Huliauapaʻa, along with Mauna Kea Anaina Hou – an association of Kānaka Maoli cultural practitioners of Maunakea – collaborated to nominate Maunakea as a TCP to the Hawaiʻi Register of Historic Places (HRHP), submitting ʻike kūpuna as well as relevant public records from administrative hearings, court cases, written comments, plans and reports.
The Hawaiʻi Historic Places Review Board approved the listing of Maunakea on the Hawaiʻi Historic Register in November 2023 and subsequently submitted a nomination for Maunakea’s listing on the National Register which was approved in March.
“I am so grateful that Mauna Kea and its sacredness will now formally be recognized as a TCP,” said Mauna Kea Anaina Hou President Kealoha Pisciotta. “This means that all proposed activities are now required to consider all the sacred sites and how they are culturally interconnected and protected in whole – not just randomly like they have been treating the mauna throughout the years – it is whole and that helps us as Kānaka Maoli to become more whole again also.”
With this listing, those seeking government permits or funding will be required to weigh the impacts of their proposed projects on the cultural and historic significance of Maunakea.
“Official registration helps lift the burden of debating the cultural significance of Mauna Kea. Listing Mauna Kea as a TCP means that we will not need to start from square one to prove the mauna’s cultural significance if any other project is proposed,” said Jonathan Kamaka- wiwoʻole Osorio, KAHEA Board president.
“Mauna Kea is inherently sacred to us. What’s important is that this recognition affirms our pilina and practices, and with that, comes a responsibility to consider how our cultural community and resources may be affected,” said KAHEA board member Shelley Muneoka.
For more information go to kahea.org or huliauapaa.org.
NOTE: The spelling of Maunakea as one or two words varies from group to group. OHA’s “standard” spelling is one word. However, the members of KAHEA, Huliauapaʻa and Mauna Kea Anaina Hou prefer the two word spelling and asked that their quotes reflect that.
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