For centuries, Native Hawaiians managed their lands in a balanced and holistic way, viewing the ecology of the entire watershed — from the forested uplands to the agricultural land and the fisheries — as one place. Hawaiians thrived under this ahupuaa land system that acknowledged that actions upstream affect the living environment downstream.

But can it work in a highly urbanized area such as modern-day Honolulu?

A group of small nonprofits, with the help of government partners, is looking to find out.

The groups, lead by Malama Maunalua, have been awarded an $8 million National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration grant to utilize the traditional ridge-to-reef ahupuaa strategy to address habitat degradation in the Niu, Kuliouou, and Wailupe watersheds of Maunalua Bay.

According to a NOAA description of the project, it will be the first time this approach has been used in a heavily urbanized area, and it aims to create watersheds and reefs that withstand future climate conditions.

“I’m excited,” said Doug Harper, executive director of Malama Maunalua, which has been working for nearly two decades to restore the bay. “From my perspective, this is a really good way to show how we can effect big change.”

Maunalua Bay can definitely use the extra help. Stretching along more than eight miles from Black Point to Portlock, the bay has been labeled by the state Department of Health as an “impaired waterbody” with some of the most highly degraded coral reefs and lowest fish counts in the state.

The impacts come not just from actions taking place in the water, but those on the land. In the mountains the degraded forests have led to erosion that ends up choking and killing the marine habitat, including coral reefs.

In the flatlands, development has transformed a once-forested and agrarian community into a heavily urbanized one. More than 90% of the coastal land is hardened with homes, commercial centers, parking lots and roads that promote stormwater runoff and pollution.

The streams are channelized and nearly all concrete-­lined, offering fast transport of pollutants to the ocean. A 2019 water quality study found everything from glyphosate to ibuprofen in nearshore waters, and fish toxicity studies revealed elevated levels of arsenic and lead in the marine life.

Harper said a number of nonprofits, including Malama Maunalua, have been working for years to improve the bay and its East Honolulu watersheds.

“We were already working together,” he said. “But we decided to come together and really pitch this to NOAA.”

The three-year project will focus on the Niu, Kuliouou and Wailupe watersheds, three of the most heavily affected in the Maunalua Bay region.

In the mauka areas, the Ko‘olau Mountains Watershed Partnership, Protect and Preserve Hawaii, the state Division of Forestry and Wildlife, and the Aloha Tree Alliance will launch a reforestation campaign that will include removing invasive species, planting native species and installing nearly a million dollars’ worth of special fencing to eliminate the devastating impact of pigs on the forest.

Close to 500 acres of the Pia Valley Natural Area Reserve above Niu Valley will be fenced and targeted for reforestation, said JC Watson, program manager with the Ko‘olau Mountains Watershed Partnership.

With the pigs locked out of the forest, the understory will return, and so will the watershed’s optimum ability to absorb precipitation.

“There will be less bare dirt, allowing more rain to soak in, and there will be less runoff,” Watson said.

Another fencing effort will protect the popular Kuliouou hiking trail, one of the most heavily used — and eroded — trails in the region, according to the project’s grant application.

In the flatlands, Malama Maunalua, 3RWater, the city’s Department of Facility Maintenance and Roth Ecological will work with businesses and homeowners to install various forms of “green infrastructure” that will help property owners capture rain and direct it to infiltrate the soil, thus reducing runoff and minimizing flooding.

The streams, which serve as the transport infrastructure for sediment, stormwater and pollution, have been studied, and an application has been chosen that will modify and reduce each one.

Inter-Fluve, an engineering firm that specializes in this kind of work, will create shallow sections and pooling areas in Wailupe Stream, the last unlined stream in the region and the last one with native fish and shrimp species.

The modifications will aim to provide habitat for native plants and animals, reduce flood volume and velocity, and improve the quality of water reaching Maunalua Bay.

In the bay itself, Malama Maunalua will expand its community-led coral restoration efforts with help from Kuleana Coral Restoration, NOAA, the state Division of Aquatic Resources and the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology.

Launched in 2021, the Restore With Resilience initiative identifies corals in the bay that have broken off or are damaged and places them in an ocean-based nursery in Maunalua Bay.

After they are tested for their ability to survive warming waters, the corals are fragmented and replanted in the bay with the aim of creating reefs that will survive the warming waters of climate change.

Harper said the NOAA money will enable the acceleration of the project, leading to more resilient corals being planted.

After three years the plan is for the environment of the bay and the three watersheds to be significantly improved.

“There’s a lot of work that has to be done,” he said. “It’s not going to happen overnight, and it needs to be sustained, but it should be a huge step in the right direction.”

Harper said he hopes the project will provide a blueprint for other locations in Hawaii and the broader Pacific.

Watson, of the Ko‘olau Mountains Watershed Partnership, called the effort “really awesome.”

“We’re stoked to be part of it,” he said.