Baldwin Beach Park Is Pulling Back From the Water, One Planted Gap at a Time

Where did the pavilion go, and why is that patch of low vines and sand still roped off two years later? If you've walked Baldwin Beach Park since 2024, you've seen a lot go missing. The pavilion is gone. A row of shoreline coconut palms is gone. Over the summer, signed-off sections moved from one end of the park to the other.

All of these changes follow one plan. Kapukaʻulua, also known as H.A. Baldwin Park, is being moved back from the shoreline in deliberate steps. Every gap near the sand has been either planted as dune or saved for it, and the county's planning documents put the park's next gathering place farther inland.

The Pavilion Footprint Is Now a Dune

The pavilion fell onto the eroding shoreline in 2024. It was removed once long-term and seasonal erosion had undermined its foundation. The Maui County Department of Parks and Recreation has said severe weather destroyed the pavilion while coastal hazards were also wearing down the shoreline. That combination is why planners decided the park's master plan needed updated information.

The county didn't rebuild on the old spot. It planted it. In October 2024, crews put ʻakiʻaki and pōhuehue into the former pavilion site. Both are native dune plants. Maui Now reported in January 2026 that ocean action took about half of that first planting. The plants that survived did well and started holding sand.

So that sandy, vine-covered patch where people once sheltered from the afternoon sun is working ground. The plants are there to catch and hold sand where a concrete slab used to be.

Eighteen Palms Out of Seventy

The coconut trees disappeared in January 2026. The county removed 18 of the roughly 70 coconut trees at Baldwin Beach Park, saying coastal erosion and saltwater intrusion had caused the shoreline trees to slowly decline and die. County arborist Timothy Griffith explained that coconut palms tolerate saltwater but aren't immune to it. He said the 50 trees farther inland are still protected from shoreline impacts.

That split matches the pavilion. What stood closest to the water came out, and what stood inland stayed. The county also pledged to plant more trees in the future and said the master plan puts a future pavilion and new trees closer to Hāna Highway.

A Summer of Signed-Off Sections

The roped-off areas this year came from a phased dune restoration project. The county announced it in July. Access was supposed to stay open while specific work zones were closed. The 2026 schedule, which depended on weather, ran in this order:

1. July 27–31: partial access restrictions while crews flush-cut hazardous trees next to the Pāʻia Youth and Cultural Center. Flush-cutting means cutting invasive trees down to ground level.
2. Aug. 3–21: flush-cutting of trees across the park, with no excavation or grinding, to limit environmental and cultural impacts.
3. Aug. 24 to Sept. 4: setting up kipuka, which are pockets where native vegetation is being reestablished, with some restrictions near the main Baldwin Beach Park entrance.
4. Sept. 7–18: more clearing, flush-cutting, and removal of stumps and shoreline debris between Lower Pāʻia Park and Baldwin Beach Park.
5. After November bird-nesting season: a final round of pruning and flush-cutting where sensitive species may have been found.

The county's Department of ʻŌiwi Resources leads cultural and archaeological monitoring under a plan reviewed by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and approved by the State Historic Preservation Division. Biological monitoring checks that no species of concern are present during the work. The project is led by the University of Hawaiʻi Sea Grant program with the Surfrider Foundation Maui Chapter and the county parks department, and a National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant pays for it.

The approach suits this particular beach. In Maui Now's October report on this year's storm-season erosion, Michael Cain of the state Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands said the right fix varies by beach. He named Baldwin Beach Park as a place that does well with dunes and coastal vegetation. He contrasted it with West Maui, where development sits right on the water. The same story said the county now runs a dedicated "dune crew," and Baldwin is one of its recent sites. Baldwin has room to move back, and the work so far is using it.

Where the Next Pavilion Is Drawn

Pulling back depends on space, and Baldwin has a lot of it. The county calls H.A. Baldwin Park its largest beach park, with 86 acres of beaches, open lawns, trails and forest tracts. The Pāʻia Youth and Cultural Center and the Rinzai Zen Mission are both inside it. The county has also bought nearby Alexander & Baldwin land since 2014, and those parcels need a stewardship plan too.

That's the job of the H.A. Baldwin Park Adaptation Plan, which the county parks department is preparing with consultant SSFM International. According to the project fact sheet, the plan takes the county's earlier master plan and its 2022 Beach Park Vulnerability and Adaptation Study and turns them into Baldwin-specific adaptation pathways. These include timelines, thresholds and strategies for when future decisions get made. The study area covers more than the main lawn. It extends to Lower Pāʻia Park at one end and Wawau Point and Baby Beach at the other.

The earlier master plan already sketched what a rearranged park could include:

• Coastal ecology restoration, with restored dunes or berms
• Relocated parking and drop-off areas
• Better pedestrian, bicycle and vehicle circulation and safety
• Unpaved trails
• Playground equipment and expanded recreation

These ideas come from the earlier planning round and are the starting point for the adaptation work. Nothing has been decided. They point the same way as the past two years, though. Parking, drop-off and the future pavilion all show up in planning language as things to move or place farther from the shore.

The Calendar From Here to Summer 2027

The first public meeting on the adaptation plan was held Nov. 4 at the Pāʻia Community Center, with a Zoom option. Here's what comes next:

The Nov. 13 gathering is hosted by the county parks department and UH Sea Grant with partners at the Pāʻia Youth and Cultural Center. HandsOn Maui's listing links to the Pacific Whale Foundation sign-up page. Volunteers who plant that afternoon will be adding to the same dune system that has been filling the pavilion footprint since 2024. For later workdays, the UH Sea Grant Maui Dune Program page is where 2027 dates will be posted. To get updates on the adaptation plan, use the SSFM project homepage. It has a mailing-list sign-up and contacts for the project team. The county's plan page links to both.

The next big chance to weigh in on where Baldwin's pavilion, parking and trails end up is March 3, 2027, when the draft plan goes public at the Pāʻia Community Center.

North Shore beach parks like Baldwin are part of everyday life for our family, and we follow how they change. If you have questions about Pāʻia or the North Shore, from how the park plan moves forward to what nearby homes are like, call or text MacArthur Team Maui. We're glad to talk it through.