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!