Grants awarded to 210 projects

HONOLULU – The Hawai’i Tourism Authority, in partnership with Hawaii’s four county governments, has selected more than 120 events and projects statewide to receive funding under its County Product Enrichment Program for 2011.

CPEP was created in 2002 to strengthen and diversify Hawaii’s tourism product and provide a quality visitor experience.

Maui County programs to receive money are:

Arts Education for Children Group: Maui Invitational Music Festival and Aloha Peace Festival.

Ebb & Flow Arts: North South East West Festival.

Hana Cultural Center: Aloha Spirit: Tradition of Worship & Music in East Maui Ho’olaule’a.

Hawaii Nature Center Inc.: Earth Week in Iao Valley.

Japanese Cultural Society: Maui Matsuri.

Kapalua Maui Charities Inc.: Kapalua Wine & Food Festival.

Kihoalu Foundation: 20th Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Festival.

Lahaina Restoration Foundation: The Hawaiian Music Series and Lahaina Plantation Days.

Lanai Community Association: Lanai Pineapple Festival.

Maui Academy of Performing Arts: Summer Under the Stars.

Maui Arts & Cultural Center: Visual Arts Exhibit Program; Na Hoku Hou; Ka Mai Ka Hula; Ukulele Festival; Ku Ka Maka.

Maui Classical Music Festival.

Grants available for Native Hawaiian cultural programs

The Hawaii Tourism Authority is accepting funding applications for 2011 Native Hawaiian cultural and natural resources programs.

The agency announced it is seeking applications for projects that honor and perpetuate the Hawaiian culture and community, and that strengthen the relationship between the visitor industry and the Hawaiian community.

It also is seeking projects that manage, improve and protect Hawaii’s natural environment and areas frequented by visitors.

Request for proposal packets are now available at HTA’s office at the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu, on the agency’s website or by contacting HTA by phone.

The deadline to apply for either program is Nov. 4.

Grants available for Native Hawaiian cultural programs – Hawaii News – Staradvertiser.com

Hawaii rural companies get fed clean energy grants

HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii businesses are receiving federal money to help increase renewable energy production.

Hawaii Director for Rural Development Chris Kanazawa said the grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will help create jobs and reduce energy use for rural communities.

Lalamilo Farm Partners in Kamuela will receive nearly $170,000 to help buy and install a 95 kilowatt photovoltaic system.

O Guest Ranch Maui in Kula will get $70,000 for a 43 kilowatt photovoltaic system on a dairy farm.

Hawaii rural companies get fed clean energy grants – Yahoo! Finance

$12.8M to help protect lands across Hawaii

Several nonprofit organizations, a state agency and three local counties have been awarded $3.3 million from a state land preservation fund to protect 753 acres on the Big Island, Kauai, Molokai and Oahu.

The money from the Legacy Land Conservation Program will be matched with about $9.5 million from federal, county and private sources to acquire land or protective easements for public benefit.

Seven projects are being financed, including four land purchases totaling 25 acres and three easements covering 728 acres.

Laura Thielen, chairwoman of the state Board of Land and Natural Resources, said the fund provides an efficient way to protect land containing important natural, cultural or agricultural value. “By providing these grants as incentive, the state is utilizing mostly private and federal funds to protect these resources,” she said in a statement announcing the awards.

Delays in state waivers stall environmental projects

A University of Hawaii coral research project doesn’t sound like a major threat to the environment, but it has been stalled because researchers have been unable to get an exemption from the law requiring a costly environmental impact statement.

UH researchers can’t take tissue samples from live coral or remove test plates with new coral growth until the EIS issue is cleared up, said Michael Hamnett, executive director of the Research Corporation of the University of Hawaii.

The delay is hurting research aimed at saving coral from the effects of things such as storm water runoff, Hamnett said. Several million dollars in research grants could be in jeopardy if the issue isn’t resolved, Hamnett said.

Tri-Isle RC&D – About – Tri-Isle

In 1962, Congress established a unique program within the U.S. Department of Agriculture that empowered rural communities to improve themselves while protecting and developing their natural resources. Local councils would provide direction, planning, coordination, and implementation of specific projects within their boundaries.

The focus on local direction and control has made Resource Conservation and Development one of the most successful rural development programs of the Federal Government. To date, three hundred eighty five RC&D areas have been authorized throughout the Country. Over 70,000 projects have been adopted nationwide since 1964, and more than 50,000 have been completed.

Hawaii’s four RC&Ds, cover all the major Islands. Through the leadership of Maui County’s five Soil and Water Conservation Districts and with assistance from the Soil Conservation Service, Tri-Isle RC&D Council, Inc., the oldest of the Hawaii RC&D areas, was established in 1970.

The Tri-Isle Council meets on a quarterly basis and is made up of a 15 member Board of Directors who bring a variety of backgrounds and professional expertise to the organization. The office staff includes the Executive Director, NRCS Coordinator, Administrative Assistant and Financial Assistant. The Council membership includes:

  • 5 members from Maui County’s Soil and Water Conservation Districts
  • 2 members from County Departments
  • 8 at-large members from the community

    RC&D provides a mechanism for local residents to work together and actively solve economic, environmental, and agricultural problems. We help utilize the abilities, knowledge and energy of local volunteers to get projects done. Interested groups may approach Tri-Isle for project sponsorship by submitting an application.

  • Lawrence Berkeley Lab gets $1.8M for government energy efficiency – San Francisco Business Times

    Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will help the federal government save energy with expert help paid for by $1.8 million in stimulus funding.

    The grants — most of them from the Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Management Program — will be spent on advice and assistance to various federal agencies about how to use energy-efficient heating, ventilation and air conditioning.

    The Department of Defense chipped in $445,000 of the $1.8 million.

    Arun Majumdar, who runs the lab’s Environmental Energy Technologies Division, said the money will be spent on “advanced energy assessment tools” to help the agencies improve energy use “for years to come.”

    Specifically, this money will pay for help to:

    • Federal data centers for the DOE, the U.S. Marine Corps and the military’s Pacific Command in Hawaii.

    Federal aquaculture grants being made available to Hawaii farmers | San Francisco Examiner

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    HONOLULU — Aquaculture farmers in Hawaii are now able apply for federal stimulus money to help offset high feed prices experienced by the industry last year.

    The state Department of Agriculture said Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has allocated $150,000 as Hawaii’s portion of $50 million feed stimulus funding.

    The Hawaii grants are being administered through the state department’s Aquaculture Development Program.

    State officials say reimbursement amounts are limited to available funds. That means if the amount of eligible applications exceeds the grant amount available, recipients will receive a prorata adjusted amount.

    Federal aquaculture grants being made available to Hawaii farmers | San Francisco Examiner

    Monsanto Hawaii Science Education Grant Fund Applications Now Being Accepted – The Honolulu Advertiser

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    Applications are now being accepted for the Monsanto Hawaii Science Education Fund. This Monsanto Fund grant program is open to public schools serving students at the intermediate, high school and college grade levels on the islands of Maui, Molokai, Oahu, and Kauai.

    Established in 2005, the Fund helps provide Hawaii public schools with programs, tools, supplies and equipment to enhance science education in the schools, and encourage today’s students to consider a future career in the sciences.

    Monsanto’s recent round of grants supported a wide variety of educational endeavors such as alternative energy solutions, forensic studies, biotechnology studies, an aquaponics facility, solar powered cars, hydroponic lab, robotics competitions, and supplies and equipment for courses in chemistry, biology, and agriculture.