Auwahi Forest

About forestry service, 96748, Kaunakakai, HI, US, Hawaii

Kula is a district and census-designated place (CDP) of Maui, Hawaii. It stretches across Upcountry Maui, the western-facing slopes of Haleakalā. Most residential areas lie between about 500 to 1,100 m (1,600 to 3,600 ft) in elevation. The district is distinct from the generally hotter and busier coastal areas. The population of the Kula CDP at the 2020 Census was 6,942, while the larger Kula Census County Division, which includes the communities of upland Keokea and coastal Wailea and Makena, had a population of 12,864. == Description == Kula roughly extends from Haleakala Highway (Hawaii Route 37) in the north to Keokea in the south—a distance of about 16 miles (26 km) around 20°47'32" N, 156°19'37" W. The largely rural area known as Upper Kula includes the region up-slope (southeast) from Lower Kula, the more densely populated area spread along the Kula Highway. The word Kula means "dry, open country" in the Hawaiian language. On Maui, Kula is one of the island's 12 "foundation" districts of ancient Hawaii called moku. The Kula district is the island's largest, extending from dry coastal areas to the wetter high pasture lands of three major ranches (Haleakala, Erewhon, and Ulupalakua) that cap the region about halfway up the slopes of Haleakala. It laterally extends from Keokea to near Makawao where the rainforest of East Maui once began.