The horrific fire that destroyed Lāhainā razed centuries of history, reduced entire buildings to rubble, and displaced thousands of people. It devastated a beautiful town that generations of people called home, forever altering their lives, the landscape, and the Island of Maui as a whole.

In the coming months, focused effort will go into rebuilding Lāhainā, and now is the time to consider how to do that safely and respectfully. How can we honor the history we've lost? How can we work toward preventing disasters like this in the future? How can we recover quickly enough to avoid threatening our livelihoods any further?

The time is right to restore the Lāhainā wetlands. Restoration will:

• Reduce future fire risk on the West Side by re-hydrating parched land
• Speed the ʻaina’s recovery from the effects of this fire
• Increase long-term fresh water access on the West Side
• Uphold County Ordinance 5421, which urges the people to restore and protect wetlands across Maui Nui
• Center recovery efforts around the restoration of Lāhainā’s history
• Ensure the wetlands restoration is prioritized, rather than pushed off by another decade or more
• Revitalize the restoration efforts for Mokuʻula and Mokuhinia historic sites
• Create space for the installation of unobtrusive renewable energy systems
• Encourage an increase in ecotourism, which will ultimately protect the ʻaina further as our tourists learn more about what's important to the Island

Sign this petition and send it to your ʻohana so we can revitalize Lāhainā without paving over more paradise. Mahalo.