HBL Dirt – Fall 2025 Newsletter

Hawai’i MTB Hui – Statewide Meeting

Mountain bikers on the islands of O’ahu, Maui, Hawai’i, and Kauai are now getting together virtually to exchange information, insights, and brainstorm/work on things we can all do together, that makes us stronger.

HBL dirt created this safe space for bikers across the state and serves as the facilitator of this conversation.  We started in August 2025 and will be holding monthly meetings.

O’ahu Na Ala Hele Update

One of our steering committee members is serving as a mountain bike advocate on O’ahu Nā Ala Hele Advisory Council which meets every two months.  There are two areas in O’ahu that will be added to the Nā Ala Hele trail and access programʻs portfolio: Hono’uli’uli Forest Reserve and Halemano Wilderness Area.

Hono’uli’uli Forest Reserve

The Trust for Public Land purchased a 3,592 acre lot from the James Campbell Company, LLC (formerly the Estate of James Campbell), which had been managed by The Nature Conservancy’s Hawai’i Program. The Nature Conservancy changed its focus to other areas, and the James Campbell Company put the land on the market. The Trust for Public Land, with the help of private and public partners, bought the Preserve in September 2009.  The Trust for Public Land then transferred to the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW), and became Hono’uli’uli Forest Reserve.  

Mountain biking has been identified as one of the appropriate recreational activities along the Hono’uli’uli Contour Road.  DOFAW has hired a contractor to make the trail safe for the community.  We are in discussion at the Council to see if mountain bike trails can be created by mountain bikers during this preparation phase.  Will keep you posted! 

Halemano 

In 2018, DLNR acquired 2,881 acres of forest and fallow lands in Central O’ahu, previously owned by Dole Food Company, Inc., in cooperation with The Trust of Public Land, and Halemano Wilderness Area was born. DLNR’s DOFAW manages the area as the Halemano Section of the ʻEwa Forest Reserve and part of the State of Hawaiʻi’s Forest Reserve System, which aims to strengthen the community’s connection to the land through stewardship, recreation, and cultural practice.

Recently, DOFAW partnered with a local land management firm Forest Solutions, Inc., to lead the final phase for the Forest Reserve Management Plan for Halemano.  As part of this process, Forest Solutions hired Progressive Trails Design to support the development of a sustainable recreational plan, of which mountain biking is a big component, while ASM Affiliates is currently conducting a Cultural Impact Assessment. The next step will be to integrate the findings from all planning and assessment efforts into a comprehensive management plan, followed by the completion of an Environmental Assessment. 

Big Mahalo to those who were able to submit the DLNR survey re: Halemano!! 200 plus mountain bikers submitted them!! Most amongst all recreational groups. The Halemano Working Group had a meeting with Progressive Trails Designs, who’s been contracted to do a recreational plan, and they were super appreciative of all the feedback.  The next step is for the Progressive Trail Design to come up with a detailed plan based on all the feedback and it would become open to public input. 

And no, Halemano isnʻt a typo!  While we are used to calling the area Helemano, Halemano was the original Hawaiian name.  It was switched around the time Dole started to encourage folks to “hele on” over to the plantation.  Most recently, the official name has been switched back to its original form, Halemano.