Net Results Keiki Learn About Hawaiian Fishing Techniques at Summer Camp

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July 8, 2011 At age 18, kahu and Hawaiian historian Danny Akaka Jr. learned how to throw net along the shoreline fronting Eva Parker Woods Cottage at Mauna Lani Resort. Everywhere Akaka looked, he saw rainbow-colored waves full of fish. It was the 1970s, a time when Akaka said he could throw net once, eyes closed, and still bring home plenty of fish for his family, friends and neighbors.

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Used with permission from West Hawaii Today

Rare Find in Kohala Volunteers seek to aid epiphyte plant presumed extinct

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July 7, 2011 A voluntary coalition of private landowners and state land managers hopes to preserve and propagate a rare Hawaiian plant species presumed extinct until it was discovered last summer in a North Kohala upland forest. Kohala Watershed Partnership received in June a $7,550 grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Recovery Branch for protection and restoration of oha wai, or Clermontia peleana singuliflora.
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Used with permission from West Hawaii Today

From Farm to Fork – One possible solution to our local food system

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June 8, 2011 by Melanie Bondera Mauka to Makai / Imagine: It’s Saturday morning. You take the kids and head down to your local farmers market to pick up your weekly box of fruits, vegetables, taro and sweet potatoes from your ahupuaa co-op. You were able to get add-ons of mahimahi, Island beef, eggs, milk, bread, ohelo berry jam, and Kona coffee to round out your meals for this week.
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Used with permission from Honolulu Weekly

‘Lefty’ the turtle flipping through life

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May 3, 2011 by Caroline Neary One of the greatest things about ReefTeaching is getting acquainted with the Hawaiian green sea turtles that frequent Kahaluu Bay. Each day, ReefTeach volunteers educate visitors about the honu (sea turtles) we encounter as they are happily eating or basking. ReefTeachers have become so familiar with some of these turtles that we even refer to a few of them by name—‘Rocky’ and ‘Lucky’ are two well-loved visitors to the bay.

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Used with permission from Hawaii 247

Volunteers restoring Waikuaaala

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April 30, 2011 Long overgrown with non-native plants, the Waikuaaala pond at Kahaluu Beach Park is regaining its stature. Work to restore the brackish water pond, located near the center of the park, began shortly after a March 11 tsunami inundated the area. Since then, numerous people and groups, including a few county workers, have spent hours clearing out weeds, trees and rocks in an effort to expand the pond from the small 12-foot-by-12-foot circle it had become to a nearly 25-by-40 oval.
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Used with permission from West Hawaii Today

Big Island Green

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April 13th, 2011  School Garden fosters Community and Sustainability By Roger Harris & Diane Koerner
Mala’ai: The Culinary Garden of Waimea Middle School shares the bounty of their school garden with students, families, faculty and the community too. Long a teaching force that combines the pleasure and excitement of working with the earth and growing food, the Mala’ai Saturday afternoon Crop Share gathers the abundance of their garden as well as surplus produce from nearby farms and offers them to the community.
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Used with permission from Big Island Weekly

Volunteers Brave Heat To Clean Up Beach

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August 13, 2011 Clean up continues in Kailua Kona 5 months after the Tsunami swept through the islands. 

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Used with permission from KITV.com

Volunteers vital to tsunami cleanup efforts

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March 17, 2011 Heavy equipment, tools and tenacity were prevalent Thursday in West Hawaii, where volunteers banded together with government employees to clean up tsunami debris. Hawaii Rocks and Pineapple Custom are helping the state Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation remove wreckage off Kailua Pier, as well as out of Kamakahonu and Kaiakeakua bays. Kamakahonu Bay fronts Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel while Kaiakeakua Bay is on the other side of the pier. The businesses began donating their time, equipment, labor and expertise Saturday. Their reason was simple.
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Used with permission from West Hawaii Today

UH Hilo students participate in Ivy League

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March 10, 2011 Three students from the master’s program in tropical conservation biology and environmental science at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo will go to Cornell University to complete their research as part of the “Cornell-Hawaiʻi Graduate Field Research Laboratory.” Ambyr Mokiao-Lee, Kainana Francisco, and Troy Sakihara joined a group of 14 Ph.D. students from Cornell’s tropical field ecology course in January to collect data for their projects on the wiliwili ecology and anchialine pond hydrology in West Hawaiʻi. They will spend two weeks in April at the Cornell campus in Ithaca, New York, to prepare their data for publication.

Click here to view the article online.

Used with permission from the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo

Cooperatives can help gardeners and farmers

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March 6, 2011 by Melanie Bondera Though we all probably love spending time working solo in our gardens or on our farms, we usually arrive at a point where we realize we might benefit from a little support. Then it’s time to “hui up.” Working together can accomplish many goals. Maybe you want some organic gardening supplies that are too expensive to buy locally. Perhaps you’d love to be able to use a piece of equipment occasionally that you can’t afford to buy on your own.

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Used with permission from West Hawaii Today