By Karin Stanton
The Associated Press
HONAUNAU, Hawaii

With two U.S. senators basking in the natural glory of a major Big Island park expansion, residents heard Thursday that they've played a role in preserving "a slice in time" at the park.

Sens. Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka helped dedicated a large swath of land in the Puuhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park along the shore south of Kailua-Kona, which now covers 420 acres and includes the remains of an ancient fishing village.

"The saying is that it takes a village, but it took a community and lots of friends to bring this day to fruition," park superintendent Geri Bell said.

The ceremony capped a six-year federal process to incorporate the historically and culturally significant land into the park. It was first identified by the community as a potential park addition in 1977.

Akaka and Inouye led the effort to secure the $4.6 million in federal funding needed to preserve the land. Former U.S. Rep. Ed Case also supported the project.

"We have preserved in perpetuity one of the last Hawaii Island coastal villages," Inouye said.

"We must work to ensure we leave this place better than we found it," he told residents gathered under palm trees at the park's ancient trailhead.

Akaka said the Hawaii delegates to Congress believe preservation of cultural sites is important to future generations.

"This site is of great significance to Native Hawaiians, students of history and archaeology and the people of Hawaii today," Akaka said. "We worked very hard together to protect this culturally important land. This land can now be celebrated by the wider public."

The Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit land conservation organization, purchased the tract surrounding the park in 2001. This gave the National Park Service time to find money for the purchase.

The late U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink introduced a bill to include the Kiilae lands within the park in 2001. The bill was the last successful legislation authored by Mink, who died of viral pneumonia in September 2002.

Jon Jarvis, regional director of the National Park Service, pointed to The Trust for Public Land banner hanging behind the podium at Thursday's ceremony.

"That sums it up for me," he said. "A lot of people trusted a lot of other people to make this happen."

He noted the group, park service, legislators and the community had to "trust" dedication day would come.

"That trust is well placed," he said. "These things seem to take forever, but now this is protected forever," Jarvis said. "The National Park Service is in the forever business."

The addition more than doubled the park's size, from 182 acres to 420 acres. It includes coastline, an ancient agricultural field system and several species of rare plants.

Now that the National Park Service has taken control of the land, visitor interpretive programs are being developed, including trail markings for points of interest.

Following Thursday's dedication ceremony, park rangers conducted hiking tours along the 1871 trail, which is the only access to the new Kiilae lands and follows an ancient path that leads south from Honaunau to Hookena.

The site of Kiilae village lies within the coastal section of the south Keokea and Kiilae ahupuaa, or ancient land divisions. It was inhabited until the 1930s and may date back 1,000 years or more, Inouye said.

Kamehameha the Great gave the lands at Kiilae to his adviser, John Young, as a reward for his services in the 1790s. It later was the home of Kekelaokalani, mother of Queen Emma.

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On the Net:

Puuhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park: http://www.nps.gov/puho