Corals: Living Rainforests of the Sea
By Stefan Verbano Hanau ka ‘Uku-ko‘ako‘a, hanau kana, he ‘Ako‘ako‘a, puka “Born was the coral polyp, born was the coral, came forth” —Kumulipo, Hawaiian Chant of Creation, line 15 Surrounding the islands, inhabiting a narrow column of warm water—with destructive…
Maile Lei, Lovely Maile Lei…is Growing Sustainably on Hawai‘i Island
Maile Lei, Lovely Maile Lei… You weave your magic charms around Hawai‘i nei. Every day in your subtle way, You tease the tradewinds with your fragrance, maile lei. – Maddy Lam, 1963 By Marcia Timboy For centuries, lei made from…
Celebrating the 2% Land Fund Successes
By Mālielani Larish A Hawaiian yellow-faced bee zips through the air like a flash of black lightning, attracted to the fragrant white flower of the endemic maiapilo shrub. On this weekday morning, the shoreline of ‘O‘oma in North Kona is…
A Garden of Trees: Ulu La‘au, the Waimea Nature Park
By Brittany P. Anderson The sky overhead is pure cobalt blue with low-lying clouds steamrolling across the landscape, their shadows dancing on the bright green grass below. Here, in the heart of downtown Waimea (Kamuela), is Ulu La‘au, the Waimea…
Mālama Mokupuni—Caring for Our Island Environment: Know Your Place
By Rachel Laderman As we celebrate the 50th Earth Day, we are faced with environmental problems that are larger than ever—sea level rise, coral bleaching, extinctions, extreme weather. What can we possibly do in the face of these super-sized challenges? One…
Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden: Restoring and Protecting Hawai‘i Island’s Biodiversity
By Brittany P. Anderson The isolation of Hawai‘i Island, surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and born of volcanic lava flows from the ocean’s floor, shaped the biodiversity of the island. Our unique position makes the Island of Hawai‘i one of…
Mālama Mokupuni—Caring for Our Island Environment: Mauna Loa Observatory’s Keeling Curve Reveals Carbon Dioxide Rise to the World
By Rachel Laderman For more than 60 years, at a station perched at 11,000 feet on Mauna Loa, researchers have been meticulously collecting data that has changed our relationship to the earth. Based on their work, we have learned that…
Growing a Sustainable Future on Hawai‘i Island
By Stefan Verbano David Reppun walks barefoot along the mounded rows of taro. He stops at a full-grown hedge of the broad-leafed Polynesian staple, announces its variety name, and leans into the mass of green, selecting a stem and bending…
Aircrete: A Versatile DIY Building Material
By Mālielani Larish Adopting a yoga tree-pose, Stefanie Fisher effortlessly holds an aircrete block skyward. Surrounded by the model aircrete home that she is helping to build, the sunlight streaming in through the dome’s atrium illuminates her smile. “Here, try…
The Gift of Trees: Hilo Nursery Arboretum
By Brittany P. Anderson In the heart of Hilo, between the old downtown and new city center, sits the Hilo Nursery Arboretum. As cars bustle along Kīlauea Avenue, a chicken shuttles her chicks to gather under the shade of one…
Mālama Mokupuni—Saving Our Island Environment: Can We Protect ‘Ua‘u, The Hawaiian Petrel?
By Rachel Laderman Imagine gazing out over the Hawaiian ocean to a sky darkened by swirling seabirds. That was the view, thousands of years ago. Many of those species are extinct today, while others fight for survival. ‘Ua‘u, the federally…
Kawaihae I: Bringing an Ahupua‘a Back to Life
By Jan Wizinowich During Kamehameha’s time, the ahupua‘a (land parcel) of Kawaihae fed thousands of people with its rich ocean resources and highly developed field system, irrigated from the abundant Kohala watershed. Now there are only remnants of that time…
Hawai‘i’s Endangered Birds
By Stefan Verbano Hawai‘i’s islands were once tropical paradises for birds. Ten million years ago, the winged founders of Hawai‘i’s endemic bird populations touched down on a partially formed, mid-Pacific island chain markedly different than any humans have since “discovered.”…
A Return to the ‘Āina: Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge
By Brittany P. Anderson Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge was created in 1985, making it the first national wildlife refuge to encompass rainforests since the program was established in 1908. The 33,000 acres running above Hakalau along Maunakea’s eastern side…
Seeds of a New Industry: A History of Cannabis on Hawai‘i Island
Editor’s Note: Our local agriculture feature story was originally planned to cover the production of Hawai‘i’s legal cannabis crop. However, due to circumstances beyond our control, we were unable to pursue it. Instead, here is an overview and history of…
Preserving Natural Resources by Protecting Native Forests
By Sara Stover When Maunaloa erupted in 1926, it was impossible to stop the lava from destroying much of the forest found within what is the modern-day Kona Hema Preserve. Stopping bulldozers and building plans from taking their toll on…
Hilo’s History Through the Banyan Trees
By Denise Laitinen During the 1930s, a virtual who’s who of celebrities, sports stars, and politicians including our nation’s 32nd president all made their way to Hilo. While here, many participated in planting a banyan tree on the Waiākea Peninsula.…
A Lifetime in the Trees: The Vision of Skye Peterson, Treehouse Aficionado
By Lara Hughes Skye Peterson moved to Honolulu on O‘ahu in 1980. He was a young pilot flying small planes, and he didn’t really like the work or life in the city, so he moved to the countryside of Lanikai…
Malama Mokupuni—Caring for Our Island Environment: Invasive or Essential? A Rare Moth Depends on a Roadside Weed
By Rachel Laderman A tiny shining orb on the underside of a leaf—is it the egg of an endangered, endemic moth? A team of volunteers systematically turns over every leaf on tree tobacco shrubs along a transect near Pu‘uwa‘awa‘a Forest…
Hawaiian Islands Land Trust: A Legacy of Land
By Brittany P. Anderson There is a place on Hawai‘i Island where clouds come down from the sky to walk amongst the trees. Noe kolo (creeping mist) overcomes the jungle as an ‘i‘iwi (scarlet honeycreeper) call rings out—its location masked…
Letting the Bees Be: A Simple, Sustainable Approach to Bee Farming
By Sara Stover Can bees smell fear, or is this a myth? The Bee Boys are the ones to ask, with their noses inches away from hundreds of wild honeybees on a daily basis. The Bee Boys are Kevin O’Connor…
Mālama Mokupuni—Caring for Our Island Environment: Saving ‘Oha Wai—How a Rare Hawaiian Plant Has Been Given Life
By Rachel Laderman “When we think something is gone and we find it again—there aren’t adequate words to describe it,” says Rob Robichaux, University of Arizona professor and rare plant recovery collaborator. “It’s beyond thrilling.” In about 1999, the last…
Hawai’i Island Is the Orchid Isle
By Denise Laitinen There was a time when fields of orchids covered wide swaths of East Hawai‘i, especially Kapoho in lower Puna. So popular were orchid flowers from Hawai‘i Island in the 1950s and 1960s that they were shipped to…
Mālama Mokupuni—Caring for Our Island Environment: A Plastic-y Solution in Compost
By Julia Meurice Ever heard of bioplastics? Though derived from corn or sugar and labeled “commercially compostable,” they are not accepted at composting facilities on Hawai‘i Island. Sadly, many of these products end up in landfills. Over the past year…
Future Forest Nursery: Say YES to Planting Trees
By Fern Gavelek “Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky.”—Khalil Gibran Trees make us look up. Their canopy provides shade and collects rain to replenish the watershed. Their roots sequester carbon, mitigating global warming, and store rain…
Refuse–Reduce–Reuse–Recycle: Doing Our Part
By Stefan Verbano The Great Pacific Garbage Patch Soiled plastic foam takeout containers fly out of a dumpster and whip through the streets on gusts from the tail end of a tropical storm. Some get caught in trees, on fences,…
The ‘Alalā: Save the Crows, Save the Forest
By Stefan Verbano Long ago — before the chirp of coqui frogs, before the buzz of mosquitoes, before the scuttle of mongooses—Hawai‘i Islandʻs mountain forests rang out with a different sound. Shrill and piercing, these shrieks rose above the understory…
Reforest Hawai’i: Feeding the Forest, Feeding the Soul
By Jan Wizinowich Aloha is at the heart of everything Joe and Kristen Souza do and when the forest spirits called, they answered by creating Reforest Hawaiʽi, whose sole purpose is to rebuild Hawaiʽi’s native forests where “the journey of…
Statewide Boat Mooring Program Boasts Kona Roots
By Fern Gavelek From time to time, something is done purely because it is the pono (right) thing to do. How the statewide day-use mooring (DUM) system came to be is one of them. The strategically placed moorings protect marine…
Amy B. H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden: One Woman’s Vision to Preserve Hawaiian Heritage
By Lara Hughes The Vision Amy Beatrice Holdsworth Greenwell was a woman with ideas beyond her time. As it goes, when one has a vision, itʻs essential to have help from others to carry it forward into the future. Amy…
