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Wao Kele O Puna (Wao Kele) is Hawaii's largest remaining lowland wet forest,〔 about south of the city of Hilo, along the East Rift Zone of Kīlauea volcano on the Island of Hawaii. The name means the ''upland rainforest of Puna''. Puna is one of 9 districts on the island. Lava from Kīlauea continues to flow onto forest land.〔 In 2006, the Trust for Public Land (TPL) purchased Wao Kele, ending a twenty-year struggle to prevent tapping the sizeable geothermal energy resources that lie below it. Opponents believe that the area is the home of the fire goddess Pele. It is also known as the Puna Forest Reserve, located just east of the Puu Ōō vent at coordinates . ==History== The state of Hawaii owned Wao Kele until 1986, when the then Campbell Estate exchanged Kahaualea, an adjacent forest parcel, for it at the state's request. Campbell Estate was a private, for-profit trust set up for the heirs of Scottish-Irish carpenter James Campbell, established in 1900 and dissolved in 2007. Campbell bought more than of Hawaii land before his death. Environmentalists proposed the trade because they considered Kahaualea to be in better condition than Wao Kele. The Pele Defense Fund, however, sued, arguing that privatizing Wao Kele would end traditional hunting and gathering by native Hawaiians.〔 The suit led to a controversial Hawaii State Supreme Court ruling that granted natives access to such private property.〔 In the 2006 transaction, TPL paid $3.65 million for Wao Kele, $131/acre, using $3.4 million in U.S. Forest Service Forest Legacy program money, along with $250,000 from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA). TPL then transferred title to OHA. On 28 August 2007 OHA took formal ownership of Wao Kele. The Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources' Division of Forestry and Wildlife is responsible for managing the land until 2017. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Wao Kele o Puna」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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