Several trustees with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs are mulling the idea of making a bid for Moanalua Valley and Moanalua Gardens, even as the current owner, the estate of Samuel Mills Damon, considers other proposals. One of those would give ownership of the valley to the state.

At issue are two properties at the edge of Honolulu with significant environmental and cultural interest.

The nonprofit Trust for Public Land has put together and submitted to the estate a $5.5 million purchase package for the 3,714-acre Moanalua Valley, also known as Kamananui Valley. The package includes commitments of up to $3 million from the state, $1.6 million from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and $900,000 from the Army.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources would become the landowner under that plan. The Board of Land and Natural Resources approved the proposal last month.

But OHA trustee Dante Carpenter said he and several of his colleagues are considering a possible bid for both properties as part of an ongoing effort to acquire parcels of cultural significance that may one day be handed over to a sovereign Hawaiian government.

"Our interest is, ultimately, to hold title to those two properties," Carpenter said, noting that OHA is also looking at the environmental and cultural preservation of the two sites.

Where OHA members and the Trust for Public Land/BLNR group split is that he and his colleagues want OHA to gain ownership, Carpenter said. "The idea is to convey some land base" to any possible federally recognized Hawaiian entity.

Carpenter noted that the Trust for Public Land, the state land board and others have partnered with OHA in the past year to find the money to purchase both Waimea Valley on O'ahu's North Shore and 26,000 acres in the Big Island's Wao Kele o Puna rainforest.

In both cases, OHA or a successor Native Hawaiian government would be the ultimate landowner.

It's unclear how a possible late entry by OHA into the Moanalua ownership picture will be received by the estate and its trustees. Carpenter, who appears to have the support of colleagues Os Stender and Rowena Akana, has yet to take the matter to the full nine-member board.

Tim Johns, Damon's chief operating officer, said the trustees are currently evaluating the Trust for Public Land offer, and "trying to negotiate terms as well."

The valley has a rich history, according to the nonprofit Moanalua Gardens Foundation. In the 1600s, it was designated by then-O'ahu King Kakuhihewa as the center of hula and chant-ing. It is also believed that Kamehameha the Great, following the major battles of Nu'uanu and Kahauiki during his conquest of O'ahu, rested in Moanalua.

The property was later the home of Lot, who later became Kamehameha V, and was owned by Bernice Pauahi Bishop before she willed it to Damon, her husband's friend and business partner.

From an environmental standpoint, the valley is considered a sanctuary for several endangered and rare birds and plants, according to Joshua Stanbro, a local official for the Trust for Public Land.

"It's one of the most intact ecosystems on the island," Stanbro said, adding that the valley is considered among the main habitats for the endangered 'elepaio bird.

The 26-acre Moanalua Gardens, sandwiched between the Moanalua Freeway and the Moanalua Elementary and Intermediate schools and kept open to the public by the Damon Estate, is significant in its own right. It is home to the Prince Lot Hula Festival, the largest noncompetitive hula festival, which is named after the gardens' former owner.

It is also widely known for the so-called "Hitachi tree," one of two exceptional monkeypod trees on the property that are on the national historic register. Its nickname comes from repeated use in television commercials by Japan's Hitachi Corp., making it a popular photo stop for Japanese visitors here.

The property also features a taro patch and koi pond, as well as historically significant buildings put up by Lot and Damon.

The assessed value of the valley parcel is $5.5 million, and of the garden parcel $5 million.

Moanalua Valley's environmental qualities are a key reason the Trust for Public Land is teaming up with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, the U.S. Army Environmental Center and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Agency's Recovery Land Acquisition program for the proposal to purchase it.

The team did not submit a proposal for the gardens.

DLNR director Peter Young said he has had discussions with Carpenter and does not believe it is a problem that OHA also may be interested in the property.

"We share the same goal of wanting to protect the valley," Young said. "We share the same goal of wanting to make sure that the entities that have an interest in the valley have access to it — meaning Hawaiian cultural practitioners, scientists that want to study the birds and others who want to do evaluation."

Carpenter agreed. "I don't see us basically competing with each other," he said, noting that even if one group purchases the valley, he expects cooperation.

Carpenter said he also believes that the chances of OHA gaining possession of the gardens' parcel may be better if lumped together as part of an offer that also includes the valley.

"Whether or not they would go for a single buyer, versus selling it in bits and pieces, is ultimately up to them," he said. The worry, he said, is that a party outside of government interests might purchase either the valley or gardens.

Carpenter said he has been told outside parties have also expressed interest in purchasing both parcels.

Damon Estate representative Tim Johns confirmed that "some potential offers have come in from individuals" involving the two parcels, both as a package and separately.

If multiple offers are on the table at some point for the Damon trustees, Johns said, "the trustees will evaluate the offers and do the best thing for the beneficiaries as a whole."

Johns said there is no external deadline for sale of the properties although "the trustees would like to move expeditiously on it."

Stanbro, of the Trust for Public Land, said he does not want to comment on any acquisition plans by OHA members until he sees a formalized request.

However, Stanbro said: "We welcome the help of OHA in protecting any landscape of this importance, especially the gardens, which aren't currently contemplated in any sort of protective effort."

Young said initial discussions had DLNR bidding for the valley and OHA going after the gardens. "I thought that was a great combination," he said.

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com.