Blog - Hawaii Environmental Restoration

October 5, 2021

Special Verto Education Program Event
October 4th and 5th

Young adult students from across the U.S. have come for a semester of learning through Verto, an education program directed by Kelly Teamey and based in Hawai’i that supports first year undergraduate students to obtain credits through general education courses that are taught through an immersive and experiential learning approach to higher education.

Environmental Science class Kumu Mokganedi Tathego, and Hawaiian Cultural Studies Kumu Leila Kealoha from the Ke Aloha ‘Aina Foundation, brought 86 students (divided into 4 groups) to the forest of Keau’ohana over the course of two days on October 4th- 5th. The objective of these visits was to learn about forest restoration, and discuss local environmental and cultural issues.

It was an honor for HER project director, Jaya Dupuis to co-facilitate this special event with Leila and Mokganedi to help bridge environmental science concepts being taught with current initiatives occurring in the Puna District, and share in Hawaiian cultural discussion and protocol.

September 25, 2021

September 25th Fall Equinox Volunteer Work Party

Jaya Dupuis Blog

The Fall Equinox Event was a bright and beautiful day in the forest! Ten troopers carried and planted 140 more ‘ohe trees down in the sites new south edge, where most of our endangered ha’iwale (Cyrtandra nanawalensis) dwell safely within various enclosures. This we call the heart of Keau’ohana because it is where we have the largest population of naturally occurring ha’iwale. And so our planting efforts were to help procure more shade around these important creatures over time! Rapid ‘Ōhi’a Death has really affected the forest site making it increasingly more vulnerable to invasive species. Fortunately most of the ha’iwale is surrounded by thriving understory species such as kopiko trees and hapu’u fern.

Volunteers once again helped make the day, and we are so grateful for it! It is always such a joy to see the familiar faces of those loyal, and to meet new vibrant people coming to make a difference!

Ann Kobsa

Masa Sumida

Mary Lee Knapstad

Kumiko Hasegawa

Jeff Regan and Jon Rathbun

Cynthia Lahi Verschuur

August 1, 2021

Planting native Hawaiian plants in your yard

Jaya Dupuis Blog

Planting native Hawaiian plants in your yard is one of the many things you can do to support the lowland environment. When they reach maturity, birds and animals have an opportunity to help spread their seeds as they too often do non-native plant species. With ferns, it is the wind that helps to spread spores into neighboring areas. You can feel good about spreading native species rather than invasive species!

Among the original groundcover existing in Hawai’i’s lowland rainforest are:

When our efforts began in Keau’ohana, there were only a couple small clusters of the Kamanamana; today it is widespread throughout our forest site. It is an easy plant to grow; we invite you to come collect seeds on a volunteer day in the forest! That is also easy, as the seeds are very sticky, and like to hitch hike home with you of their own volition.

July 23, 2021

Core Dance and Global Waters Dance Events in Hawai’i June 11th, 2021

James Elston Blog

As promised, here are two videos displaying the artistry of June’s collaborations with Core Dance Keau’ohana, for the Global Water Dances (GWD) event on Friday, June 11th. This was GWD’s sixth yearly event, a movement which began 10 years ago working and dancing together for safe water! More than 180 locations danced this 2021 from June 8th (World Ocean Day) through June 13th!

Keau'ohana Core Dance Event 2021

The Keau’ohana video was produced to offer a blessing to the Keauʻohana Rainforest and all the forests and waters of Hawai’i and around the globe. It is aimed at raising awareness about the importance of our forests as fresh water sources for natural ecosystems and human sustenance.

The event’s activities highlight the challenges facing Hawaiʻiʻs lowland native rainforests, and why it is important to protect and preserve the small amount of lowland forest that remains. Although Rapid ‘Ohi’a Death (ROD) has affected portions of the forest as seen in this footage, much of Keau’ohana still thrives under a shady canopy.

Global Water Dances Compilation Hawaii 2021

The compilation of all three events facilitated by Core Dance in Hawai’i between Hawai’i Environmental Restoration, Hawai’i Wildlife Fund, and Volcano Art Center over the same period was produced to inspire action and international collaboration utilizing the art of dance to illuminate water issues on a global scale. We encourage you to watch, engage and offer your support.

July 12, 2021

July 12 Special Event in Keau’ohana Rainforest

Jaya Dupuis Blog

Members from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Mary and Ryan Richards are on a mission here in Hawai’i from their homeland in Utah! They coordinated an event with HER on July 12th in order to facilitate the “Young Single Adult Branch” who love to volunteer and give service. They are a vibrant group of young adults, committed to building faith and community through service and fun.

And fun it was, to share this time with them! It is always a gift when people come together in the heart, to do good! The forest looked great after everyone worked so hard pulling the many invasive species away from the now prospering natives! Thank you so much for striving to help take care of our ‘aina here in Hawai’i; it is deeply appreciated!

July 12, 2021

The New HER Online Store

Jaya Dupuis Blog

May we request that you have a look at our new online store? We are very excited to present this new way of supporting Hawaii Environmental Restoration (HER)!

James Elston, who poses here with one of our many t-shirt designs, has been dedicated to many of HER administrative duties, such as webpage design/maintenance, outreach and technical support and rare visits to work in the forest, since the launching of Hawaii Environmental Restoration in January of 2019. We so appreciate his technical expertise!

Thanks to him, HER now has a line of products such as t-shirts, cups and water bottles! These come with many choices of Hawai’i images from Jaya’s art selection, including of course, Hawaii Environmental Restoration’s official logo. Please take a moment to view HER’s new products, which all support our local Keau’ohana rainforest!!!

Jaya Dupuis, president of Hawaii Environmental Resources modeling the HER logo t-shirt

HER stainless steel water bottle and ceramic mug with a splash of color on the handle and inside.

Some of the HER t-shirts available in different designs and colors.

Important note: This week, July 12 – 18 is National Forest Week! It is time for humankind to return wilderness its space upon the earth for diversity of life to prosper all over the world! Please visit the National Forest Foundation website.

July 1, 2021

July 1, Connections Charter School in the Forest

Jaya Dupuis Blog

Not everyone has worked hard in the forest before; and this fine group of students ranging from grades 7 to 11, showed a clear effort to help clear many weeds in the west loop on this beautiful day together. It may not have been the easiest thing they have ever done, but there were plenty smiles and laughter as we conquered the rugged grounds. I believe there was some sense of satisfaction for many in the end too, as we looked back at the results of our hard labor. It was a pleasure to work with Connections Charter School, and their big yellow bus load of young adults. Even Gordon the bus driver, decided to join us in the forest!!!

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July 1, 2021

HER July Newsletter — A Rich Month

Jaya Dupuis Blog

Have you had the pleasure of seeing the glorious ‘ie’ie in bloom? This fantastic vine has coexisted with the native ‘ohi’a for millions of years; it spirals up the tree in splendid symphony. Once part of the dominant vegetation composition in the Puna District along with an eloquent diversity of other species. Keau’ohana provides essential habitat to its survival.

‘ie’ie — Freycinetia arborea

If you follow us on Facebook you’ll see that we are adding posts with 3D photos of native plants on the Hawaii Environmental Resources Facebook page. There are a few lines of description about the history, biology, and/or mythology of each plant. We are doing this as part of our mandate to educate the public and to bring attention to Hawaiian native plant life and forest restoration that we do at Hawaii Environmental Restoration (HER).

Volunteers of the month, Will Stein and Rain Pacifico

Aside from our regular Monday crew days joined by forest volunteers, the month of June was filled with adventures in the forest with The Core Dance/Global Waters Dance Event on June 11th; HER Quarterly Summer Solstice Volunteer Work-party on June 20th; followed by the Liko Na Pilina special volunteer event on the 21st. Stay tuned for more to come in July! Already we have hosted an event with Connection’s Charter School from Hilo, and are scheduled with the Church of Latter-day Saints for later this month. HER welcomes a diversity of people to meet with a biodiversity of plant cousins!

June 28, 2021

June 21st University of Hawaii Hilo Group

Jaya Dupuis Blog

Liko Na Pilina assistants

Senior Plant Ecological Research Technician, Amanda Irish and five other Liko Na Pilina field assistants from the Hybrid Ecosystem Project of University of Hawaii (UH) at Hilo assisted our crew in the forest this past Monday. It was pure joy to work along-side such well learned individuals, who have been supporting Dr. Becky Ostertag’s hybrid forest project in Keaukaha Military Reserve (KMR). Dr. Ostertag has since 2013 been conducting research on 20 KMR hybrid forest plots to help support compromised native forest environments. The overall goal of the project is to use the hybrid restoration model to allow for native seedling regeneration and keep out invasive species.

Native Kamanamana seeds

I personally derived much pleasure in the satisfaction the group felt with the pulling of clidemia (also known as Koster’s curse), one of the weeds that somehow is more tenacious on the KMR site. We covered a large area and cleared a great deal of clidemia that morning! Before escorting the group back out of the forest following a lively lunch discussion, we all took pleasure in visiting the ha’iwale clusters at the heart of Keau’ohana. Ten ha’iwale fruit were collected for propagation at Ann Kobsa’s native plant nursery. Finds up to $10,000 are issued for the taking from an endangered species. Fortunately, Ann and I have permits from the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) to help perpetuate the species with expertise. It was refreshing to find such kindred souls! Thank you to the Liko Na Pilina ‘ohana!

Liko Na Pilina field assistants from the Hybrid Ecosystem Project of UH at Hilo.

June 20, 2021

2021 Summer Solstice Volunteer Work Party

Jaya Dupuis Blog

The June 20, 2021 Summer Solstice was a wonderful occasion shared among a dozen volunteers! The solstice sun had a strong presence as well! We circled in the forest to share introductions and Hawaiian protocol, to then tackle an open weedy area near the road in the upper east volunteer loop. Jeremiah, who has served on the forest crew for a year and a half, co-facilitated the event with Jaya. The group enjoyed a long discussion over lunch. We were very touched by the community interest in learning about the project, as well as vegetation issues so prevalent in Hawai’i.

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