WAILUKU >> Maui County is taking ownership of one of the last undeveloped shoreline parcels of a once famous and vast network of wetlands and fishponds between the mouths of Waiehu and Iao Streams. 

The Trust for Public Land says a public-private partnership made the nearly $1 million purchase of 64 acres along Kaehu Bay possible.

The property is home to numerous Hawaiian cultural sites, including agricultural terraces, former fishponds, shrines, and burials. 

The trust said in a statement Wednesday the coastal wetlands are potential future habitat for endangered Hawaiian waterbirds such as the aeo or Hawaiian stilt.

Last year, the Maui County Council had authorized paying up to $1.7 million for the land. But the trust advised the county to delay buying after the property was put in foreclosure.