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!!!
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!
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.
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.
It was a special honor to host Core Dancers in the forest of Keau’ohana on June the 11th. Understanding that we were an integral part of a Global Waters Dance event being held around the globe, offered to all of us a sense of deep connection with so many other environmentally conscious and caring beings the world over.
For HER it was a unique opportunity and gift to host deeply intuitive and intelligent beings to creatively represent and respond to the power and beauty of our rainforest through movement and dialogue. Intuitive movement in a rainforest that suffers from loss of its primary canopy, inevitably leads to a need and desire to support it in gaining equilibrium and resilience. Core Group members were particularly sensitive to this reality.
Their levels of awareness lead them to prioritize restoration work prior to accomplishing our creative objective together. This offered them grounding and familiarization with the environment they wished to represent. I call that wisdom.
Being an intimate part of this movement between we humans and the forest beings felt deeply sacred. There is something very powerful about non-verbal communication; something that touches more profoundly. Learning to develop deep listening has so much to do with aligning ourselves with the earth, and like the plant world reaching for the skies, to hold a growing presence in this middle world. Though we look forward to seeing what will come of this in the form of videos, it is the actual sharing between us that is embodied, and will be cherished.
The Revitalize Puna event held on June 9th at the Leilani Estates Community Center was a good step in the right direction, with more than 100 residents attending the first quarterly event. The County’s Disaster Recovery Division and County Council District 4 seek to involve community members in helping to plan and support us in becoming more empowered as a community on all fronts (social, cultural, economic, infrastructure, and last but not least (yet perhaps most importantly?) the environment, which we need for everything else to happen!
The event was well organized with discussion panels occurring at various booths depending on participant interest. It was a dynamic occasion for those present to bridge lives and build on future ideals. We hope that continued opportunities might invite more curiosity and engagement from the Puna public community over time.
Our environmental panels joined in discussions around restoration/reforestation, invasive species control, and climate change over three separate time periods throughout the afternoon. Several members of HER joined forces to greet the public with enthusiasm in support of developing a growing awareness of what it means to Malama O Ka ‘Aina!
Hawaii Environmental Restoration (HER) is excited to announce our collaboration with Core Dance, a movement organization based on the mainland with a global reach, as we join forces to host a special Global Water Dances (GWD) event on Friday, June 11th. Over the past 40 years, Core Dance has engaged in thoughtful dialogue with many issues of importance to our world. Their work is deeply embedded in the challenges that their communities face, both locally and globally. They seek to act as environmental advocates by representing the natural world and its inherent rights to be honored and protected.
As such, they have been partnering with Global Water Dances since 2019, an organization that uses the art of dance to illuminate water issues on a global scale. They seek to inspire action and international collaboration for safe water, and encourage participants to take direct action in joining the effort. Core Dance will act as a facilitator of this GWD event, joining with volunteers from HER to offer a blessing to the Keau’ohana Rainforest and all the forests and waters of Hawai’i and around the globe.
The June 11th event at Keau’ohana will aim to raise awareness about the importance of our forests as fresh water sources for natural ecosystems and human sustenance. The event’s activities will highlight the challenges facing Hawai’i’s lowland native rainforests, and why it is important to protect and preserve the small amount of lowland forest that remains.
This event is not open to the public, but a video montage will be posted on our website and social media accounts shortly afterward. We encourage you to watch, engage and offer your support.
Malamalama Waldorf School — Grade 7 and 8 students
Hawaii Environmental Restoration enjoyed a special restoration event with a group of 14 Malamalama Waldorf class grade 7- 8 students this week! Teacher, Karen Rose Jenkins and her supporters, Kalia Avery and Marcus Lage, along with our weekly crew, conducted several hours of restoration work together, totalling 51 volunteer hours between 17 volunteers. We divided up into 3 groups of 7, and were able to observe social distancing within the spacious forest environment. It did not take away the joy of being together working toward the important cause of preserving Keau’ohana.
The upper west loop was cleared of clidemia and erichtites along with other secondary weeds. Large compost piles showed evidence of enthusiastic hard working forest helpers. As we introduced ourselves, I asked the students to share with us, why the forest was important to them/or to humanity, and our crew was deeply touched by their willingness to speak from the heart and their amazing level of knowledge. We then gathered at the ahu; the students of Malamalama were also well versed in Hawaiian protocol. Both E Ho Mai and Na Aumakua were offered by all; this added to the power of the experience and the learning.
The beautiful month of May greets us warmly! It is important to us that the community is aware of what Hawaii Environmental Restoration (HER) is doing in support of our local Hawai’i environment. We thank you again for being attentive to HER developments. Keau’ohana is alive and well considering the tragic loss in canopy caused by Rapid ‘Ōhi’a Death (ROD) since Hurricane Iselle in 2014. We are happy to share that since the lava event of 2018, ROD as dramatically slowed down in Keau’ohana, we presume due to sulfuric acids that may have had an impact on the fungus. We have not only observed very little new death occurrences, but in some cases the ‘ōhi’a trees have actually sprouted new growth!
Keau’ohana is a reservoir of rare native biodiversity, which offers the forest a certain degree of resilience; there is a variety of naturally occurring sub-canopy tree species that offer the native understory necessary shade in many areas within the site. Among others, these species include the following:
We at ‘Hawaii Environmental Restoration’ (HER) wish to acknowledge our first two volunteers to “Adopt a Plot” in Keau’ohana! Meet local residents, Pedro Tama and Linda Larish! They are very excited to begin stewarding each their own plots in Keau’ohana. Linda was on the Keau’ohana crew for close to a year not so long ago, and it is so wonderful to have her back!
Pedro Tama
Linda Larish
You too can become a steward of your own 10X10 meter area in the forest! Create your own schedule to tend a sweet spot in the last remaining lowland (<1,000ft) rainforest of Hawai’i. This opportunity can offer you meaningful connection to HER Keau’ohana community, and a quiet connection to the sweet earth. Nurturing a direct relationship to the earth in such a way is so essential to our well being; it brings peace to the heart and mind. We hope that on Earth Day you will consider such a commitment, because deep down inside, we all know, that every day is Earth Day!
