Puu Waa Waa Ranch Airport

The primary reason for closure was a change in land ownership and purpose. The airport was a private facility for the Pu'u Wa'awa'a Ranch. In a series of transactions culminating around the year 2000, the State of Hawaii acquired the ranch land to establish a forest reserve. With the transition from a private cattle ranch to a state-managed conservation area, the private airstrip became obsolete and was abandoned.

The site is now part of the Pu'u Wa'awa'a Forest Reserve, managed by the State of Hawaii's Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), Division of Forestry and Wildlife. The faint outline of the former runway is still visible on satellite imagery, but it is completely overgrown with grass and other vegetation. The area is now used for native dryland forest restoration, conservation projects, scientific research, and public recreation, including hiking and bird watching.

Puu Waa Waa Ranch Airport was a private airstrip that served one of Hawai'i's largest and most historic cattle ranches. Its most notable user was the ranch's owner, Francis Hyde I'i Brown (1892-1976), a prominent Native Hawaiian legislator, sportsman, and businessman. The airfield, featuring a single unpaved 3,000-foot runway, provided crucial air access to the remote ranch for Brown, his guests, and for ranch operations, facilitating the transport of people and supplies in an era before modern road infrastructure was fully developed in the area.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening the airport. Its location within a protected state forest reserve dedicated to ecological conservation makes any future aviation use extremely unlikely. The state's management plan for the area is focused on preserving and restoring the unique dryland forest ecosystem, which is incompatible with operating an airfield.