Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge

Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge is a 691-acre coastal salt marsh on Maui that preserves one of the island’s key wetland habitats for about 30 species of waterfowl, shorebirds, and migratory ducks, including the ʻaukuʻu, Hawaiian stilt, and Hawaiian coot. Its waters rise in the rainy winter and recede by spring and summer, sometimes leaving a salty crust that gives Keālia its name, “salt encrusted place.” Before becoming protected land, Kealia was an ancient Hawaiian fishpond and later part of an area that included Māʻalaea Airport and World War II Marine training grounds. Protection began in 1953, and the refuge joined the National Wildlife Refuge System in 1992.

Kihei, Hawaii · United States