STATE Ahupuaʻa Signage - ʻO wai ka inoa o kou ahupuaʻa
Makahanaloa Fishing Association has worked with the Department of Transportation to get signage installed to mark the Ahupuaʻa our association members call home. Makahanaloa and Kulaʻimano were the first of our ahupuaʻa to get signs in 2025. In 2026, Kahua, Kaupakuea, Makea, Kulaʻikahonu, and Kaʻakepa got installed too!
This project is something that we have been honored to help bring to life and has been special to our community as well. We hope other communities will be inspired to take on this kuleana for the ahupuaʻa they represent to help bring back the inoa kupuna of our ʻāina and hear their names spoken and spoken often.
What is the name of the Ahupuaʻa that you live in or are from?
Speaking the names of our ʻāina breathes life into the stories, traditions, and knowledge rooted in our ʻāina, and hopefully inspires awareness in our community of the cultural and historical significance of these places. Do your research, ask your kupuna and community and please reach out if we can help.
How to get Started with State Ahupuaʻa Signage
Process
Decide on your Pathway
You have the opportunity to advocate for more signage by completing one of two different applications.
* Application that is used when you agree with the Ahupuaʻa boundaries demonstrated on Hawaii's Statewide GIS program Ahupuaʻa layer. This was put together by OHA, DLNR, and SHPD and is fairly accurate, but there are still errors. Do your research!
* Application if you disagree with those boundaries, and it has a few more requirements than the other one.
Please note, there is a third application for installing a physical ahu as well, but we did not cover this too much in our resources or in the video recording. That's a whole other can of worms!
Info Resources (more Below)
1. Video Recording: This LINK will take you to a video recording of an informative Zoom session that we held in July
2. Ahupuaʻa slide deck that is also listed below.
At the bottom of the page are resources you can download to help learn about the process as well as the applications needed to apply.