Koʻieʻie Wetland is located within the Loko Kuapa (fishpond walls) of Kalepolepo Fishpond.Ko‘ie‘ie Loko I‘a (fishpond) (also called Kalepolepo Fishpond.) Fishponds are strongly associated with streams (kahawai) and muliwai (wetlands, esturies). The Kalepolepo fishpond pictured below has no obvious wetland today, because the Menehune Shores hotel was built on top of the wetland. However, the wetland hydrology remains underneath. Springs still flow underneath the ground and into the ocean here. And sometimes when it rains the original spring can burst out of the ground near the beach and take out a mass of sand. After one particular rain event, it took 50 truckloads of sand to “fill the spring back in”.
Koʻieʻie muliwai estuary wetlandThe Koʻieʻie Wetland shows us that wetlands hydrology is very persistent and is always active although it may be hidden for long periods.
In the next diagram you can see the flood footprint and the various Kahawai associated with the Kulanihakoi gulch:
Kulanihakaoi Gulch flooding, muliwai, and kahawai.
About the area: During the 1850s Kalepolepo was not so barren looking a place. Coconut trees and kou trees grew beside pools of clear water, along the banks of which grew the taro and the ape (a giant plant which grows nowhere else on earth to-day), and was the scene of the labors of David Malo. (Wilcox)