A recent state audit of the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs found better land planning and grant monitoring will help us fulfill our duties.

Some allege this means we are somehow putting our mission at risk. Nothing could be further from the truth. We are doing a good job.

Yes, there is always room for improvement. We are working tirelessly to improve.

The audit is simply a snapshot of an earlier point in time. It addressed OHA’s activities from 2010 to 2012. During this period, OHA expanded its land holdings significantly as a result of opportunities that could not have been foreseen in years prior.

Since the audit period, OHA has taken steps to address its growing role as a landowner and manager as well as its emerging role as a land developer.

OHA’s land-management portfolio is run responsibly, and we are taking great strides to make it better. It is a responsibility we take seriously because our land portfolio must support programs to better the conditions of Native Hawaiians.

Within two months of receiving the 30-acre Kakaako Makai settlement, the board of trustees adopted a policy that guides the development and management decisions for those parcels. It commits OHA — as a Hawaiian landowner acting in the best interests of its Native Hawaiian beneficiaries — to carefully consider how best to balance the opportunities to use lands for cultural efforts and to generate income to serve beneficiaries.

And we have made great strides in other areas:

» Under our leadership, Waimea Valley has gone from losing money to generating income. Visitor counts are up and there is much reason for optimism.

» We are hiring some of the best and brightest land managers to move us forward.

» We have hired leading international real estate companies, Collier’s International and CBRE, to help manage day-to-day operations of Gentry Pacific Design Center and OHA’s Kakaako Makai properties.

» We have stepped up our oversight of OHA’s contract with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources to manage Wao Kele o Puna, requiring the DLNR to develop a sound management plan for this valued Hawaii island resource.

Much attention has been given to the fact that some of our lands are not self-sustaining. We do own land that we acquired for the purpose of preserving it for cultural and conservation reasons. And yes, we might wish to instantly have a balanced portfolio. But acquiring or selling land simply to have a perfectly balanced portfolio would be a bad idea.

One of the audit’s criticisms is that at times, our trustees have not followed advice of consultants to a "T." However, the board has a fiduciary responsibility to make its own decisions, not just based on consultant advice but from the advice of many others.

Our trustees come from many walks of life, such as business, real estate, banking and education to name a few, and have much business acumen. We ask our consultants to come up with their best advice, and the trustees evaluate that along with other factors in making the best decision for OHA.

Finally, the auditor says we could do a better job monitoring our grants. Even before the auditor started her work, we had already identified grants-monitoring as a problem and put in place new policies and procedures to increase accountability and improve the system overall.

We welcome the state auditor’s input, and view this as an opportunity to reevaluate our policies and procedures and improve what we do as we strive to better conditions for all Native Hawaiians.