Monday, May 9, 2016

Na Mea Kupono

On Saturday, April 30, 2016 the Tree Huggers made their first visit to Na Mea Kupono.







They worked in the lo'i, removing weeds and invasive apple snails and their eggs, and then cleansed themselves in the fresh water spring.




They learned about kukui and got to make a kukui nut top and ended the day with some makahiki games.






Mahalo Aunty Ku'uipo for the experience!

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Kealia Trail

On February 20, 2016 the Tree Huggers hiked Kealia Trail up to the picnic bench with the Wai'anae Mountains Watershed partnership.



Although they hug trees they couldn't keep their hands off their phones at the end of the trail!



Along the way we collected seeds of the native Lonomea from the trail floor as well as directly from the tree. The WMWP folks are looking into which types (ground or tree) will have higher germination rates.



We also collected some 'a'ali'i seeds for propagation, too.

Thanks for all your efforts Tree Huggers!

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Revisiting Mokauea

On Saturday, January 9, 2016 the Tree Huggers took another trip to Mokauea Island to learn and work on the land. We got the usual warm greeting from Auntie Joni Bagood, resident and president of Mokauea Fishermen's Association. Then, Auntie Kehau Kupihea shared the history of the island and surrounding Ke'ehi Lagoon.

After the briefing, we gathered nets, buckets, and look boxes to go check out the marine life at low time. We found lots of organisms, including Kualakai (sea slugs and sea hares), sea cucumbers, eels, and crabs.

After a quick snack, we got tools to plant 'Akulikuli, a plant that has been very successful on the island until recently. Last year's heavy rains seemed to have revived some plants that we thought had died off with the lack of rain as well as allowed some of the native seeds in the seed bank to sprout and flourish. Unfortunately, the a few of the slow-growing 'Akulikuli plants that had grown to be very large patches have died off from the heavy rains. While it was sad to see them as big black mats of dead leaves, it was so great to see nanea, 'ohai, ma'o, 'ahu'awa, and others begin to come back to the original native out-planting area.





After planting, students put away the tools....except this student...and I'm not sure I accounted for this in our safety plan. Yike's Horstman, you just need to be constantly monitored don't you.


See you all in February!