Prior to Cards Against Humanity's 2014 purchase, the Bedke/Fox Family Trust owned Birch Island and allowed it to be used by the public. Since the early 1980s, locals had used the location to picnic, swim, camp, and vacation.
2014 purchase
In 2012, Cards Against Humanity LLC fundraised for the Wikimedia Foundation. In the company's announcement of this, they joked that the company could have bought a private island instead. For their 2014 fundraiser, the company brainstormed what gifts could be sent via first-class mail, weigh less than, measure within, and be "really flexible." Remembering their 2012 joke, CAH liaised with the CBRE Group to buy a private island. Inspired to conserve some small piece of wilderness, raise money for charity, and "make people laugh", CAH bought Birch Island from the Bedke/Fox Family Trust on October 31, 2014 for. The island, located near Liberty, Maine in St. George Lake, was renamed Hawaii 2 because "it's the Maine island". Though Google Maps updated the name upon seeing the deed, CAH forwent filing with the United States Board on Geographic Names because of the time involved and geographic name changes must benefit the community, by honoring a local hero or something."
Controversy
That year CAH organized a fundraiser called "Ten Days or Whatever of Kwanzaa" wherein participants contributed to receive ten "mystery gifts"; $1 of the donation was given to the Sunlight Foundation. The tenth gift, sent to approximately 250,000 people, were certificates entitling the bearer to of Hawaii 2: "You may name your square foot of land. You may use the entire private island for passive, non-commercial, non-motorized recreational activities You may tell people at parties that you own part of a private island." The island's official website clarifies that certificate-holders do not actually own any of Hawaii 2, but that they "have rights to use it as a license holder." In February 2015, CAH explained that though they initially wanted to deed one-square-foot parcels to their contributors, too many factors stood in the way of this. According to Liberty's code-enforcement office, the town considers the certificate licenses to have been sold, and that "the island 'continues to be advertised and marketed. Liberty official Donald Harriman told the Bangor Daily News that some license-holders had trespassed in order to reach Hawaii 2, though he didn't know whether the Waldo County sheriff's office was involved. In spring 2015, the code-enforcement office wrote to CAH "and gave them until April 15 to cease all commercial activity on the island, revoke the 250,000 'licenses' that grant the exclusive use of 1 square foot of land and remove the shed and platform from its present location." Harriman claimed that, failing this, CAH could face fines of $625million per day. Harriman also accused CAH of "unpermitted commercial use on, in violation of the Liberty Shoreland Ordinance, The entire scheme appears to be a development and/or divisions of land for profit with the possibility of intense use at various times." CAH had not responded to the town by April 10, though two months before Liberty's letter CAH had posted on tumblr saying that not only had they purchased Hawaii 2 for conservation, but the company also "joined the local Liberty Lake Association, and we’ll work with them to deal with any issues as they come up." By April 2015, CAH's empty safe—previously containing "sloth cards" and a bottle of Scotch whisky for visitors—had been removed from Hawaii 2, and the company had updated their rules for the island to include allowable hours and prohibitions against leaving or removing anything. By that August, the BDN reported that despite locals' fears, Waldo County, Liberty, and Hawaii 2 had not been overrun, and "he island remained peaceful and free of litter". Liberty Selectman Steve Chapin told the newspaper that Liberty lawyers were still working with Cards Against Humanity "to work out between ourselves some land use agreement that’s acceptable to them and us".
