text: Aloha Max Well, I put your question to Jeff Dunster, president of the non-profit Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative (HLRI).  Dunster says HLRI has a standing offer to buy the property on which 400,000 native trees have been planted in behalf of donors at Kukaiau Ranch on the Big Island. He says upon purchase, HLRI would put a conservation easement in place to protect the forest. He says it has always been the intent of landowner Kuakaiau Ranch to protect the reforested land in perpetuity. But for now, everything is at a standstill concerning HLRI offer with one of the ranch owners gravely ill and the other recently deceased. HLRI has a 60 year lease on the property.  He says 60 years is a long time for more and more trees to be donated by individuals or as memorials or as events to honor families. Dunster says,"With the public support we have already seen for this forest and vesting, the blowback if  anyone (legally or otherwise) tried to cut the forest would be insurmountable."