Maggio's Summer Trip 2022 - Conservation Work in Maui

 

Day 1 

We arrived at camp site Olowalu at 4PM which is located on the western shore of the island of Maui.  We set up our tents just a few feet from the beach, allowing us to fall asleep each night to the sounds of the waves crashing on the shore, and then set up camp and got to work on cooking our first dinner together. We were also met by the lively wild chickens that live at the campground - the roosters loved to wake us up every morning at 4:15 AM and they all had the best time trying to get into the foods we prepared!  We even named one – NACHO!!!! 

   

We had fresh Mango's!!!!

My little tent!! 

Day 2

For our first day of Conservation work we drove to Mt Haleakala in Haleakala National Park after

breakfast at the camp.  We hiked up part of the mountain most visitors usually do not have access to

and ate our pack lunch on the mountain side.

We then got to work removing 2 invasive pine species. These pines had been planted by Ralph Hosmer, who imported tree species from around the world in hopes of creating a viable timber industry. In 1927 he began planting stands of pine, spruce, cedar and eucalyptus at this site, which can still be seen today in the grove.  A few thrived, escaping from Hosmer's experimental forest. The Mexican weeping pine (Pinus patula), Monterey pine (Pinus radiata), and eucalyptus have become aggressive invaders and are now recognized threats to the native ecosystems within Haleakala National Park. We worked to help the park's resource managers to reclaim remnants of the native shrubland around Hosmer Grove by removing the invasive trees and grasses. Due to their size we were not able to work on the removal of adult seed-bearing plants but we did work hard to remove the rapidly spreading seedlings. This work will help prevent an alien forest from overrunning the native shrubland between our location and the crater, thereby erasing a fragile Hawaiian ecosystem that has taken millions of years to develop. It was very satisfying to cut down those small pines and look back up the mountain at the progress we had made in one afternoon.

On our way back we stopped at a local beach to observe

the sea turtles resting on the sand getting some sunshine!

Day 3

This was the first of three days we got to work with  Edwin “Ekolu” Lindsey III, the president of the

Maui Cultural Lands.  The conservation nonprofit had been started by his parents and Ekolu took over

in 2009.  He welcomed us into the Honokowai Valley, and then led us in a Mele, a chant to the elders

and the place to ask for permission to do the work of the day.  You can watch a Ted Talk from Ekolu

about his kuleana, or responsibility to take care of the environment, here.Ekolu taught us about the Hawaiian concept of Mauka to Makai - taking care of the land from

mountain to ocean. 

We spent the afternoon pulling invasive plants in order help repair the water retention system that has

been in place since 1200 AD.  These areas that we helped clear were used to capture water and funnel it to the people and the lands below. 

Ekolu's 80 year old mom also spent the day this us out in the field!!

She cofounded the conservation nonprofit with her husband

This is one of the areas we cleared! 

After work Ekolu took us on a tour the preserve and introduced us to the wiliwili tree, Erythrina

sandwicensis, which is a flowering tree in the pea family Fabaceae and is the only indigenous Hawaiian

wiliwili. It is also one of the few deciduous trees on the island.  Its bark is light (as you can see from

picture below) and buoyant and so large trunks are used to shape the papa he‘e nalu (surfboards) ridden

by the island’s ali‘i (chief) and to make part of the canoes. Smaller pieces were used for the floats on

fishing nets. Ash from burnt wood was used as a dye, and the kahuna la‘au lapa‘au brewed a potion

from the flowers of the wiliwili to treat diseases.

After the hard work we headed to a beach pavilion for a lesson on coral biology and some free time

to go in the water or shop the local market. 

Day 4 

On our second day with Ekolu were traveled to his home, which has been in his family for 4 generations

and where he is the last native Hawaiin to still live on Kahekali Beach. We were split into 2 groups that

roasted through a microplastics in the ocean lesson.  The plastics you see in the picture below were all

collected in a 30 minute period from the bay not far from the house. 

Ekolu also led us on a walking tour on the beach. Ekolu told us of his efforts to partner with the other

owners and the beach front hotel to protect the corals right outside their homes by acquiring a

conservation status as a naive coastline.  He pointed out to us the native grassses growing along

the properties perimeter that works to control soil erosion and protect the land from storm surges.

Once we cycled through the 2 lessons we all got on our snorkel gear and went out into the water to

complete a coral fish survey - armed with our water safe pens and pencils and our fish ID cards we

spent 30 minutes logging the different fish and marine organisms we saw among the dying corals.

We then said our goodbyes to Ekolu and his mother, who had sung for us after lunch, and headed

to town for some shave ice and dinner with a view!

Here we saw the Banyan Tree, in Lāhainā Banyan Court. 

Information below found here: In front of the courthouse in downtown Lahaina is a Baynan tree one quarter of a mile in circumference planted on April 24, 1873, to honor the 50th anniversary of the first Protestant mission in Lahaina, which was started at the request of Queen Keōpūolani, the sacred wife and widow of King Kamehameha. At the time it was only eight feet tall.

After settling in, the tree slowly sent branches outward from its trunk. From the branches, a series of aerial roots descended towards the earth. Some of them touched the ground and dug in, growing larger until eventually turning into trunks themselves. Over the years, Lahaina residents lovingly encouraged the symmetrical growth of the tree by hanging large glass jars filled with water on the aerial roots that they wanted to grow into a trunk. In time, what was once a small sapling matured into a monumental behemoth. It now stands over 60 feet high, has 46 major trunks in addition to the massive original and shades nearly two-thirds of an acre.  It is the largest banyan tree in the entire United States.  

Pretty Cool Right?

Day 5

On our third and final day of work with Ekolu we traveled across the street from our Camp Site to

Kipuka Olowalu (The Olowalu Cultural Reserve) located in the breathtaking Olowalu Valley. 

Here, once again we were given the tools needed to cut down invasive trees to help the the restoration

of the native canopy of the forest.  

So this was one of the smaller seedlings I worked on. You can see the end product 

of my hard work in the second picture with the knife!

Shari however took it on a much larger project!

Look how much of that invasive she removed! 

After the hard work was done, we moved further into the preserve to meet Kipula, who showed us the work being done to restore the native taro cultivation. We also visited a site that had previously been cleared and had been planted with a variety of native species. 

Day 6 

On this day we were all excited to wake early and head to Honolue Bay for a morning of snorkeling

at a healthy coral reef.  After a week of hard work this was our time to relax and appreciate the beauty

found all over the island. There was a short hike through a protected rain forest to get to the bay, and

then we spent 2 hours snorkeling in the bay.  There were so many colorful reef fish and eels and even

a sea turtle hanging around.  The pictures below are courtesy of another teacher of the trip, Carla Corvin,

and her awesome underwater camera!

We then headed to a beach area for an afternoon of lesson and curriculum planning. After dinner we then headed back up Mt Haleakala in Haleakala National Park, this time all the way to the summit for a spectacular (if freezing) sunset view. 

                                        

Day 7 

On Day 7 we went out to Waihe’e Coastal Refuge which is a wahi pana, or significant place, in

Hawaiian Culture.  The refuge is in the moka, or district, of Wailuku and forms part of the ahupua’a

of Waihe’e. A ahupua’a is a traditional Hawaiian land division.  Usually it runs from the mountaintop

to the sea, providing a range of resources to sustain an ‘ohana (extended family or community). 

Here we met Kia ‘I Collier, who gave a brief introduction to the Hawaiian Island Land Trust that

oversees the ahupua’a.  You can learn more about their amazing work here.

We then drove into the mountain to meet the families we would be working with for the day.  And work we did! There was an irrigation ditch that was overgrown with invasive Cane Grass which was slowing the flow of water to the farmerland below.  Once the local families were armed with electric saws and the teachers with rakes, picks and machetes we got work on the grass.

Take a look at how high the water rose by the time we ended that afternoon!  What was at first only ankle high ended up close their knees!! 

We worked hard but were rewarded when we realized that along the bank of the ditch was a

macadamia grove. We found some suitable rocks and got to work cracking the shells and eating

the delicious nuts we found all over the ground. We just had to make sure the shells didn’t have any

holes in them - no one wanted little insects with our afternoon snack.

We had lunch at another beach location and continued with the lesson based activities we had been doing all week.

We ended the day with a short visit into the valley to visit Kepaniwai Heritage Gardens before heading back to camp for our last dinner together and to reflect on a amazing week of learning and conservation work.