Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 3, Number 8, 1 August 1986 — Museum Exhibit is on "Hawaiian Ecosystems" [ARTICLE]

Museum Exhibit is on "Hawaiian Ecosystems"

"Hawaiian Ecosystems: A Living Heritage" shows the unique natural living heritage of Hawaii through more than 100 color photographs of rarely seen island plants in their natural ecosystems. This is the first of several new major exhibits scheduled for this year at the museum. It runs through the early part of next year and is co-sponsored by the Paeific Tropical Botanical Garden of Kauai. The exhibition also includes plant specimens from Bishop Museum's Herbarim Pacificum. Viewers of these examples of nature's living heritage will have a ehanee to increase their knowledge and appreciation of the beauty and uniqueness of plants in their natural ecosystems found in the Hawaiian islands. This is the first time this exhibit has been outside of Los Angeles where the exhibit's photograp'ner, Dr. Robert Gustafson, is a botanist and collections manager at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. The natural living heritage of Hawaii needs special attention because more species of birds and plants have become extinct in Hawaii than in all of North America. Many of the plants shown in the ecosystems exhibit are rare or endangered. However, organizations such as the Pacific T ropical Botanical Garden of Kauai, Waimea Arboretum and Botanical Garden and Lyon Arboretum and Bishop Museum on Oahu are cultivating these rare plants to try to help ensure their preservation. The exhibition is in the Kahili Room of the museum whieh is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and the first Sunday of eaeh month. Access to the Kahili Room is included in the museum's admission fee. Association members are admitted free. Also included in the exhibit is mural photography taken by David Minor, free lanee photographer.