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Who Owns Hawaii's Lands?Note: The following information in based on a 1967 report of the Legislative Reference Bureau: Public Land Policy in Hawaii: Major Landowners by Horwitz & Finn. Ownership and use of Hawaii's scarce limited land resources has been a persistent concern of the Islands' governments from the early nineteenth century to the present. This concern has been intensified because only a relatively small portion of the land is of substantial economic value, and in addition, ownership has always been extraordinarily concentrated. The largest single owner is the state government which owns 38.74% of the total land area of Hawaii. (This includes Hawaiian Homes lands and lands purchased by the state for use of the counties.) The Federal government owns 9.78% of the total area. The greatest percentage of land, however is owned by 72 major private landowners (owning more than 1000 acres each) who own 47% of the total land area of the state, close to 2 million acres. Taken together, the state and Federal governments and these 72 private landowners own 95.36% of the land in Hawaii. The remaining private landowners are left with less than 5% of the lands. Of the 72 major private owners who own in fee simple 47% of the land, seven of them own nearly 30 percent. It is also notable that in Hawaii only about 19% of the land is classified as suitable for intensive cultivation. The major landowners own 43% of this land. Not all of it however is actually used for agriculture, but has been put to commercial, residential and industrial uses. Ownership data does not tell the full story of land in Hawaii. Who really controls land – the owner or the user? In addition to their fee simple holdings, 26 of the major private landowners lease land from the state government, the Federal government and from other private owners. Some of this leased land is sublet. The major private landowners effectively control 49.47% of the land of the state. This is not a significant difference, but the ranking of individual owners according to land owned and land controlled is quite different. Of particular interest to many people in 1972 is the land owned by the Federal government, especially the military. The Federal government has acquired land in Hawaii by purchase, condemnation, donation and cession. Federal title to ceded land dates to 1898 when Hawaii was annexed. At this time all public lands in Hawaii were ceded to the United States, but management was to remain in the hands of Hawaii's government until otherwise provided for. The Hawaii Admission Act of 1959 granted the State of Hawaii title to most of this ceded land, excluding land which had been set aside for use of the United States under act of Congress, executive order, proclamation of the President or of the Governor, or which was in Federal use under permit or license. Lands set aside by executive order or proclamation for the use of the Federal government were to remain the property of the States, but title to such lands may be conveyed back to the State by the Federal government if they are designated "surplus property". The Federal government holds fee simple title to 255,717 acres and controls 145,747 acres ceded land. An additional 14,865 acres are controlled through permits, licenses and easements. In addition it leases 65,542 acres, over half of which is on Oahu. Most of the Federal land in Hawaii is managed by the Department of the Interior which is responsible for the operation of the three national parks:' Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, National Park, and City of Refuge National Historical Park. The Department of Defense manages 27,267 acres of fee simple land and 143,982 acres of ceded land. About 75% of the land leased by the Federal government is in military use. On Oahu the largest single owner is the Bishop Estate with 15.5 percent of the total 380,000 acres of the island. State government owns 14.88 acres and the Federal government 14.4% of Oahu. 21 private owners own 57% of the total acreage. They also lease some land from Federal, State and other private owners, However, since these major landowners on Oahu also lease out much of their own lands to others they exercise effective control of only 30% of the total area of Oahu, quite a bit less than the acreage they own in fee simple.
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