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April 14, 2022

HER at Revitalize Puna Event — April 11th

Community members visibly appreciated connection around our shared resources at the April 11th Revitalized Puna Event in Kea’au. The occasion was alive with interest as Hawaii Environmental Restoration welcomed many new volunteers onboard!

Tabling at this event was fruitful in so many ways as we engaged with active community members regarding renewed educational possibilities in schools. Several enthusiastic teachers have voiced an interest in implementing an environmental program for kids to learn their plant species in creative and engaging ways. HER looks forward to expanding in its collaborations within the community in this way as well!

Many organizations contributed support to the community in so many forms during this event! Resilience commitments include park and road recovery, village developments, enhanced food systems, emergency preparedness, painting pahoa town and more. A big thank you to our Puna Representative, Ashley Kierkiewicz and her fabulous team, for bringing County and Community together once again!

March 21, 2022

Keau’ohana Spring Equinox Volunteer Party

Jaya Dupuis Blog

On Saturday March 19^th, HER first quarterly forest volunteer event of the year was indeed celebrated in honor of Spring Equinox for new beginnings!

Our good friend Pat Conant from up Volcano, with the help of a few other Volcano Volunteers, loaded his truck with over 70 hapu’u from his land, and generously delivered to us on the morning of the event! Though Pat continues to assist in the biological control of weeds, he is retired from the State Dept. of Agriculture where he was an Entomologist in the Plant Pest Control Branch for many years.

HER is grateful to all 23 volunteers who came through on a glorious day together for the health and well being of Keau’ohana. Hapu’u is an important addition to the shade bearing ‘ohe trees we have planted in the past. All hapu’u were planted in the volunteer swath in the near interior; some of them were taller than those of us planting them! We are hopeful that one day, the entry into the forest will offer the sweet shade of a restored Rainforest!

March 14, 2022

UH Hilo Vegetation Class — February 26th

Jaya Dupuis Blog

On February 26^th Professor Jonathan Price from the University of Hawai’i at Hilo brought 20 students into the forest for his yearly vegetation class. It was encouraging to hear many of the students well versed in Hawaiian Protocol. Together we discussed HER restoration project in light of the management challenges involved with confronting invasive plants, rapid ‘ohi’a death, and other threats. Other class objectives included learning the primary species and basic ecological characteristics of Lowland Wet Forest followed by an exercise in surveying tree size and abundance in managed vs. unmanaged plots.

Dr. Price was once upon a time my advisor when conducting my Master’s in Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science at UHH. In fact I have fond memories of completing that very class one decade ago! It is with great pleasure that I assist him in the Keau’ohana forest today!

January 14, 2022

Taylor University, Indiana Field Trip

Jaya Dupuis Blog

The New Year started off with a hardy group of students from Taylor University, Indiana! During this January trip they studied ecosystem-to-organism level biology and ecology, wrapped in themes of Native Hawaiian culture and conservation ideals.

One of their goals for this class trip was to instill in the students the importance of actually getting their hands dirty in the practice of stewardship. So in addition to touring native ecosystems (rainforest, cloud forest, dry forest, costal, etc), they included a volunteer restoration experience in Keau’ohana. In four hours, this group of 16 students and 2 kumu accomplished a great deal of clearing in the central volunteer loop. It was truly a pleasure to work with such spirited youth! Thank you Indiana!

December 27, 2021

2021 Winter Solstice Volunteer Event

Jaya Dupuis Blog

The weather did not look promising during this rainy spell, but 10 troopers showed up for a Wonderful Winter Solstice planting event in the forest! Weather conditions were so much better than predicted; it was a comfortable day with a few sprinkles, and even some sunshine!

We began with a short introduction and Hawaiian protocol at our ahu overlooking a beautiful native forest composition in the core of our volunteer area. We planted 30 beautiful ‘ohe trees started by Ann Kobsa in our Kapoho nursery, along with 2 kopiko and 12 akia, for a total of 44 trees! Jon and I planted 6 lovely clusters of the endangered ha’iwale as well!

We all enjoyed being nestled in the forest and getting to know each other. Thank you once again Keau’ohana volunteers for honoring the return of the light with us by doing something meaningful and helpful for our Hawai’i home!

Kanako and Liz planting on the Solstice

Kearney Tourist volunteer family planting ‘ohe tree

Kearney Tourist volunteer family giving back

Weeding too!

Jaya planting endangered ha’iwale

Jon Rathbun most dedicated crew member

James Elston, Outreach Volunteer of the Year 2021

We at Hawaii Environmental Restoration wish to extend our warmest wishes to all of you over this holiday season! And a big THANK YOU to all of you for another productive year together!!!

October 5, 2021

Special Verto Education Program Event
October 4th and 5th

Jaya Dupuis Blog

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!

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