HONOLULU -- Another 16,000 acres of important Big Island forest are safe from hotel and housing development, officials said.

The U.S. Forest Service and the state announced a deal Friday to keep the area pristine for future generations.

About 9,000 acres of native forest above Kealakekua Bay are among the lands to be preserved.

John and Gussie Pace bought the property four years ago to rescue it from a Japanese company planning to develop a golf course and 500 homes.

The Federal Forest Legacy program offered $4 million to partner with the Paces to save the forest.

"We have been conservationists throughout our lives. It means a great deal to us to improve everything we do," John Pace said.

About 3,000 acres in Kona will also be preserved through a deal worked out with Cynthia Salley of the McCandless Ranch.

"These are private landowners who have said that the preservation of these lands is more important than any profit they can make off of them, and I think they deserve a tremendous amount of credit for making that decision," State Land Board Chairwoman Laura Thielen said.

Another 4,000 acres at Honomalina in Kona will be protected in partnership with the Nature Conservancy.

The conservancy said it is already there restoring native koa trees.

"When you give it the opportunity, koa regenerates very quickly. If you give the koa seed bank a chance to break through, you really get wonderful koa regeneration," Hawaii Nature Conservancy Director Suzanne Case Said.

Landowners offering to preserve their forest land get hefty tax breaks.

Conservation officials said they hope other land owners will embrace the effort.