KULA, HI – On Friday, December 16th, Skyline Hawaiʻi – the United States’ first
commercial zipline company– celebrated 20 years in operation. The award-winning
company invited staff and community partners to its original Haleakalā Ranch location
to share stories and get their hands dirty helping to plant the 20,000th native tree at the
Pōhakuokalā Gulch Community Forest Restoration Project, part of the companyʻs
successful Skyline Conservation Initiative.

“It has been an incredible journey and a lot has changed since 2002,” said Danny
Boren, Skyline’s Co-founder and President. “When we opened it took months before
we sold our first tour, and in that first month of sales we only had six paying guests,
people just didn’t know what zipline tours were. But now, 20 years later, there are over
20 zipline tours across Hawaiʻi and several hundred across the United States. Over the
last two decades the road hasn’t always been easy, but I’m most proud of the fact that
through it all we’ve maintained our focus on sustainability, and supporting local Hawaii
non-profit groups, no matter how our business was doing.”

Over the last two decades, Skyline has remained a zipline industry leader – opening
locations across Hawaiʻi, as well as a location in Tennessee – and has consulted on
many other zipline projects. Skyline has hosted more than one million guests on its
zipline tours since 2002. In 2018, Skyline was awarded a concession contract with
Haleakalā National Park to operate bus and van tours into the park – creating a new
land tour division of the company with the honor of sharing Haleakalā with guests daily.
Founded by father and son team Buck and Danny Boren, the Skyline business idea was
sparked during a surf trip to Central America in 2001. On the trip, Buck and Danny
experienced canopy tours in Costa Rica and decided to bring the idea home to Maui
where Danny had grown up. The business saw a slow start in December 2002, and in
order to keep staff working Skyline started a native forest restoration program, fencing
out cattle from a one-acre zone around a group of three ancient koa (Acacia koa) trees.
After that, they began inviting local school and youth groups to plant native trees in the
area.

Skyline expanded its conservation area to approximately four acres in 2004, planting a
couple hundred trees per year until Joe Imhoff, a zipline guide at the time, took a deep
interest in native forest restoration, and was able to begin ramping up the program. By
2015, under Joeʻs leadership, the Skyline Conservation Initiative program was planting
thousands of trees per year, and greatly expanding its reach. Today, Skyline has
protected a 46-acre area along the zipline location at Pōhakuokalā Gulch. The company
has continued its invasive species eradication efforts and native tree plantings with the
help of a dedicated in-house conservation team of six employees. These efforts are all
primarily funded through revenue from Skyline’s zipline and national park tours, in
addition to significant federal, state and Maui County grants that fund native ecosystem
restoration.Skyline has also developed innovative synergies between tourism and conservation by creating a new Skyline Conservation Guide position, where workers
guide zipline tours during tourism’s busy season and then transition into full time
conservation field workers in slower times.

“We are noticing the positive impact we can have on the landscape when the pieces of
the puzzle come together,” said Imhoff, now Skyline’s Conservation Program Manager.
“Resources are being leveraged to restore an ancient ecosystem that has been lost, but
not forgotten. This endemic forest deserves to occupy the land just as much as we do,
and now the native honeycreeper forest birds have returned to Pōhakuokalā, which is
the ultimate endorsement for the hard work that we do. This has become a place where
people can witness a Hawaiian ecosystem being reborn.”

Protecting Hawaii’s environment has been a core part of Skyline’s mission since its first
day in business. Over the last 20 years, Skyline has donated more than $1,800,000 to
non-profit groups – primarily environmental organizations on Maui. Carbon neutral since
2006, Skyline was the first zipline tour in the world to become a member of 1% For The
Planet (a group who independently verifies all of Skyline’s donations) and is the only
land tour operator in Hawaiʻi to achieve Certified B-Corp status. Skylineʻs staff-led
beach clean-ups have also removed over 10,000 pounds of trash and marine debris
from Maui’s coastlines, and the company’s Kamaʻāina Month food drive each
September has brought in over 77,000 pounds of food for the Maui and Kauaʻi food
banks since the program began. Skyline remains committed to being a sustainable
business leader in Hawaiʻi, and plans to expand its support for Hawaiʻi’s environment
and community even further over the next 20 years.

“Haleakalā Ranch Company congratulates Skyline EcoAdventures on 20 years of
successful operations,” said Scott Meidell, President and CEO. “The Ranch is
proud to support Skyline in its commitment to community service, ecological
awareness and the provision of top-line activities that inspire and educate people
about our unique culture and environment. Skyline has truly distinguished itself as
an organization that understands and is motivated by a core sense of kuleana –
and our community has been enriched in so many ways through its efforts.”

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About Skyline Hawaiʻi:
Since 2002, Skyline Hawaii has hosted thousands of eye-opening and
memory-making adventures on Maui. In fact, Skyline Hawaii was the first zipline
company in the United States! From thrilling zipline tours over lush rainforest and
90-foot drops to world-famous sunrises at the summit of Maui’s Haleakalā National
Park, Skyline Hawaii Tours will always reflect our commitment to conserving the
natural wonder of the Hawaiian Islands. With thousands of 5-star reviews and the
most experienced team in the industry, our guests agree that Skyline Hawaii’s
Zipline & National Park Tours are an unforgettable experience. For more
information, visit www.skylinehawaii.com.