The Hanalei Watershed Action Plan was initially developed as a requirement of the American Heritage Rivers Initiative through a community process in 1999. Since then, it has been updated annually to reflect accomplishments and project developments. Originally envisioned as a five-year plan to address the community's concerns, it has evolved into a guide for the Hanalei Watershed Hui staff and Board of Directors to plan, fund, and implement projects and programs. The original Watershed Action Plan contained forty-five project ideas. Some of these projects have been completed, the community initiatives have undertaken others, and others are in progress today.

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Ongoing projects include an inventory and assessment of the watershed's resources, published as “An Ahupua’a Assessment and Monitoring Program To Help Malama Hanalei Ahupua’a” by Jay Griffin, and a monitoring protocol developed by HWH staff to meet state and federal quality assurance criteria.

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High priority projects for future funding include sustainable funding for the Hanalei Watershed Hui, the planning and project design of a wastewater treatment facility for Hanalei, development of a Hanalei Watershed Science Center, Leptospirosis research, water science education program, a local flood alert system, a comprehensive flood plain study, protection of Hanalei’s scenic view planes and development of an interpretive walking tour of the Hanalei Watershed.