Kealia Trail - Seed Collecting with WMWP

On Saturday, October 25, 2014 the Tree Huggers were led by Uncle Keoki of the Wai'anae Mountains Watershed Partnership on a short seed collecting hike along Kealia Trail. We were looking for Aulu or Lonomea (Sapindus Oahuensis) seeds that look kind of like large olives. We got more fresh seeds than Uncle Keoki anticipated. He believes the recent storm helped to bring some down from the canopy onto the trail. Along the trail Uncle stopped us to tell us about the various native species that can be found on Kealia Trail. Some of the ones he talked about besides lonomea were Milo, Ilie'e, and Wiliwili. Although we didn't make it to the picnic table this time we'll be back again for more hiking another month!

It was nice to see some new and returning faces on this trip! We look foward to seeing everyone next month!

Mokauea Island

On September 27, 2014 the Tree Huggers visited Mokauea Island. We learned about the cultural significance of the place as well as the more recent history of the land. We also got to Malama the land by planting cuttings of native 'Akulikuli to replace a patch of invasive pickleweed that had previously been removed. After using the "Big Gulp Method" to plant the cuttings the group walked out into the marine environment to look for marine organisms. We found lots of fish, sea cucumbers, feather dusters and other worms as well as anemones.

See you at Kealia in October to work with the Wai'anae Mountains Watershed Partnership to collect seed and hike!

Wai'anae Kai with MHS

In what has become an annual event, the MMS Tree Huggers visited Wai'anae kai with Hui Malama o Mililani from MHS. The past three years we have started off our school year with a trip to the cultural site on the Kumaipo Trail.

The students did an excellent job removing invasive strawberry guava and weeded some under story weeds around native plants that had been planted to replace the strawberry guava. We will work with the Wai'anae Mountains Watershed Partnership as they continue to plant native plants in the area and remove invasive species.

Mahalo nui loa Tree Huggers!