Nancy M. McPherson (she/her/hers)

Planner V, Land Use and Environmental Planning
State of Hawai'i Dept. of Hawaiian Home Lands
Aiea, Hawaii

Nancy McPherson is a Land Use and Environmental Planner in the State of Hawai‘i Dept. of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) Planning Office. She has 33 years of professional planning experience, including long range planning, cultural and natural resource management, transit-oriented development, coastal zone management and community resilience planning. Her professional practice has a strong focus on coastal hazard mitigation, climate change adaptation, and multi-disciplinary approaches to community planning with Hawaiian Homes Commission Act beneficiaries that is grounded in a sense of place and culture. Nancy has worked in city, county and state government and brings native values to her practice, employing seven generations thinking when planning for resilient and healthy communities and adaptive management of dynamic ecosystems. Recent projects include a shoreline erosion management plan and a community resilience plan prepared in collaboration with homesteaders living along Molokai’s southern shoreline, an analysis of coastal zone management options for DHHL, and a comprehensive update of the DHHL Molokai Island Plan which will be examining hazards, risks and vulnerabilities as well as options for hazard mitigation, climate change adaptation and strategic relocation of homestead communities. Her maternal line is Hunkpapha Lakota and she is descended from Standing Rock Sioux tribal members.

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Presentation(s):

• Living on the Edge: When Managed Retreat Looms

  Monday, April 27, 2026
  1:00 PM - 1:45 PM CT