(BIVN) – The Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, closed since January 2016, has been sold to a Kona-based nonprofit.

The former owner, the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, issued this media release on Monday:

Melanie Ide, president and chief executive officer of Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, and Maile Melrose, president of Friends of Amy B. H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, announced today the sale of the Garden from the Museum to the Friends, a Kona-based nonprofit organization. Ownership of the Garden, closed to the public since January of 2016, has been transferred to the Friends. The Museum has pledged financial and programmatic support to work with the Friends for the Garden’s long-term success. With Bishop Museum as a partner, the Friends will open Greenwell Garden once more to resume its position as a valuable and unique educational and cultural resource and place of rare beauty for residents and visitors alike to enjoy.

The Friends raised the 1.4 million dollar purchase price using public and private funds, including grants from the state of Hawaiʻi’s Legacy Land Conservation Program under the DLNR and the Community Forest Program under the USDA Forest Service. Funds were also granted by the Atherton Family Foundation and Cooke Foundation, Ltd. The County of Hawaiʻi is also providing financial support from the Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Conservation (PONC) Fund through the purchase of conservation easements, which will help permanently protect and preserve the Garden. Katie Friday, of the USDA’s Community Forest Program, noted, “this is a unique collaboration with a local community-based nonprofit, private funders and funders at the federal, state and local levels to preserve and protect a Community Forest and working ethnobotanical garden.” Melrose also noted that additional support from individual donors and other grant-making organizations made the acquisition possible, as well as Cades Schutte LLP, which has actively supported the Friends since its founding through pro bono legal work necessary for establishing a nonprofit and navigating this complicated real estate transaction.



“This purchase represents a remarkable group effort,” said Melrose. “When the Garden closed, our Friends organization sprang into existence, determined to open the Garden’s gates once more. Our board members decided to think big, to apply for huge grants, and to never give up hope. Wonderful volunteers have showed up regularly to attack the weeds. Without their help, our garden would be a jungle by now. Mahalo to everyone who has helped garden manager Peter Van Dyke and assistant Kanoa Kimball keep our treasures alive!”



“Melanie Ide’s decision to come to Kona in 2018 to meet with us and to share her vision of the Museum’s future was a turning point for our organization,” said Melrose. “Having Bishop Museum as an ally changed everything. It has been fantastic. But, the silver lining after these years of uncertainty is the Garden now belongs to us, the entire community, and it can never be sold—ever.”



“We are full of gratitude for the tremendous effort made by the Friends to secure the future of the Garden,” said Ide. “Our goal now is to build a lasting and fruitful partnership that will honor Amy Greenwell’s vision, utilize all of the Garden’s unique assets, support its educational and conservation efforts, and reactivate the Garden as a vibrant community resource.”