Fury as stunning limestone cave is forced to shut to tourists after billionaire landowner's shock move

A stunning limestone cave in Hawaii was forced to shut down after its billionaire landlord blocked grants to keep funding it.

The Makauwahi Cave Reserve, located on the coastline of Kauai's south shore, has been a popular tourist destination since paleoecologist David Burney and his wife, Lida Burney, founded a nonprofit nature park at its site in 2004.

The two had transformed it from a graffitied, neglected spot into a thriving oasis with more than 10,000 native and Polynesian plants around the cave as they provided tours to up to 80,000 visitors each year, according to the San Francisco Gate.

But at the end of October, the Burneys announced they had to sell the reserve after their landlord, Grove Farm, blocked a $2.3million grant for conservation initiatives from the Department of Defense Readiness and Environmental Protection Initiative Challenge program as well as a state grant for $260,000.

The land management company, owned by billionaire Stephen Case - co-founder and former CEO of AOL - had said it didn't want any 'encumbrances' on the property following staff changes and after converting the lease to month-to-month last year.

'The closing down is a financial one,' Burney told the Gate. 'We simply can't run the place without being able to obtain grants.'

He noted that he and his wife were able to keep the Cave Reserve open for almost a year by expanding two pre-existing grants from the Hawaii Tourism Authority and Pacific Birds and Habitat Joint Venture.

They also had to use some small donations and work with a skeletal staff to keep it going.

'It takes more than that to pay your staff to provide tours for 200 or more people per day, while maintaining the restrooms, native plant nursery and over 10,000 native and Polynesian plants translocated to abandoned quarry and farmland around the cave,' Lida explained.

'All the money is spent now, and as people in our mid 70s, we can't afford to dip into our personal savings to keep it going while Grove Farm decides what to do to the place.'

Her husband added: 'It's sad for Lida and me to give up after 33 years of working here, but it's time, we feel to shove this canoe offshore and see who paddles.'

The Burneys have since rehomed its 1000-pound tortoises and gave away thousands of potted native plants as they plan to turn over the property.

The paleoecologist noted that Grove Farm has not told them what it plans to do with the property and so 'after cherishing this place, studying it in detail, publishing a lot about it, interpreting it to over a million visitors since we opened up, we had a lot of concern about, you know, what's going to happen next.

'Our concern, as much as anything is that the place will now be neglected,' he said.

But a spokesperson for Grove Farm said its 'intent is to continue to preserve this important resource,' noting the land management company 'has formed a nonprofit, which will oversee the cave in order to continue to provide access for educational (including school groups), scientific and cultural research.

'We have reached out to current docents to continue their exceptional expertise,' the spokesperson told the San Francisco Gate.

'The lessee chose to terminate the lease which had been on a month-to-month term since 2019 at no cost,' it added.

Kaui resident Elizabeth Okinaka, who has been working as a docent for more than two years, said she is going to ask to be involved in whatever future plans the Grove Farm has for the property.

'Places like Makauwahi Cave Reserve are truly like no other,' she said. 'Visitors walk out of there with so much knowledge and more respect for the island, and that is what we need for tourism in Hawaii.

'There has to be a balance, and it's a huge loss,' Okinaka added. 'Hundreds of visitors are educated daily.'

She went on to say that if it had not been for the Burneys' dedication, the cave would have been destroyed long ago.

'Everybody should be grateful for the work that Burney and Lida have done, also people like Pila Kikuchi and Kapaka, who were founding members of the reserve and dedicated some of the last years of their life there.

'Ultimately, I am sad it had to end this way,' Okinaka concluded.

'I'm hopeful that Dr. Burney's legacy will be honored if the cave is ever to be operated again in the future,' she said.