Kuaokala Road

On Saturday, April 21, 2014 the Tree Huggers went on a road trip across the Wai'anae Mountain range with the Wai'anae Mountains Watershed Partnership.

We traveled from the Wai'anae side up Kuaokala Road and exited on the north shore. The experience was a unique four wheel drive trip across the mountain for the few Tree Huggers who dared to venture. The experience was unique because the road is closed to those without security clearance and/or a special permit. We saw several jeeps along the way of those likely out for a drive or possibly headed to Peacock Flats to camp.

While on the ride, we collected seeds from many native plants. The seeds will be germinated and the plants grown in the campus greenhouse for out-planting in the Wai'anae Mountains as part of the WMWP's reforestation projects.

Seeds we collected included those from species like 'a'ali'i (Dodonaea viscosa), 'uhaloa (Waltheria indica), 'ilima (Sida fallax), and ko'oko'olau (Bidens torta). While we spent most of our time collecting at one location, we did drive-by collections when we saw mature fruits along the road.

We had a great adventure, with mostly-dry road conditions and look forward to next month's trip which will be in the Wai'anae Mountains again.

Makua Kea'au

On March 8, 2014 the Tree Huggers ventured to Makua Kea'au Forest Reserve to collect seeds with the Wai'anae Mountains Watershed Partnership.

The hike was very quick up to a patch of wiliwili trees (Erythrina sandwicensis) where we hunted for tiny orange "Easter eggs" of wiliwili seeds.

The endemic wiliwili had been attacked by a non-native gall wasp but this patch seemed to be doing well post-biocontrol efforts. While we did not get very many seeds, recruitment of seedlings within the patch was fairly prevalent.

Some groups of Tree Huggers helped to collect 'Ilima (Sida falax) seeds, too. 'Ilima is a small shrub in the hibiscus family with small black to brown seeds in little dehiscent capsules.

Unfortunately, the area was covered with an non-native weedy species (Leonitis sp.), potentially shading out a lot of native ground cover and understory species.