Almost an entire Moloka'i ahupua'a. A secluded Big Island bay where hawksbill turtles nest. A culturally significant portion of the southeast Maui coastline. A wildlife-rich portion of Kaua'i's north shore. And room to expand a unique Wai'anae organic farm.

Those are the 907 acres of special lands that the state agreed to help buy for preservation yesterday, using $4.7 million from its Legacy Land Conservation Program.

The state's contribution to the land acquisitions on five islands will ensure the public can enjoy them, with ownership going to nonprofit preservation groups and to Hawai'i County, said Paul Conry, administrator of the state Division of Forestry and Wildlife.

The total value of the five parcels is estimated at $19 million, according to the state Board of Land and Natural Resources, which approved the projects recommended by the Legacy Land Conservation Commission from among 11 applicants.

The projects encompass "so many different conservation values, cultural or scenic or access or habitat," said Dale Bonar, commission chairman. "Our goal is to select the best projects out there, especially if it has multiple characteristics."

For example, the Nu'u Makai parcel that the Maui Coastal Land Trust is buying from Kaupo Ranch "has lots of cultural elements, petroglyphs, pictographs and one of the best quality wetlands in Hawai'i, with native plants and endangered species — and it's a flyway stopover (for birds) between Maui and the Big Island," Bonar said.

Hawai'i County, state and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service money, plus $2 million from seller Ed Olsen, will protect 551 acres of the Ka'u Coast from development, Big Island Mayor Harry Kim said.

Kaua'i's Kahili Beach will continue to be enjoyed by the public, while inland areas will be rejuvenated for wildlife, said Jennifer Luck, Kaua'i Public Land Trust executive director.

MA'O Organic Farms, a program of the Wai'anae Community Redevelopment Corporation, trains area youth to grow healthy food and learn about the land.

"They're bringing kids in, giving them productive entrepreneurial training and sustainability," Bonar said. "It's such a great program."

The Legacy Land program is funded with a portion of the state conveyance tax on real estate sales.