Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 8, Number 11, 1 November 1991 — Aiona joins Hawaii Nature Center board [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Aiona joins Hawaii Nature Center board

by Christina Zarobc Assistant Editor Trustee Abraham Aiona remembers vividly the hikes he took with Boy Scout Troop 10 through a more rural O'ahu. The memories are good ones, he says. "A lot of kids are confined to apartments, to their homes because both parents work. They don't have the ability to go out like that," says the trustee who represents Maui on the nine-member OHA board.

Born and raised in Kaimuki, Aiona has been living for the past 22 years in the residential community of Kahului in central Maui. He has seen the islands change dramatically, the landscape, the Hawaiian culture. And while active on a variety of boards, Aiona's recent nominahon and swearing in iast month to serve as a director of the Hawai'i Nature Center is special, he says. "I've been on a lot of boards — a bank board, a chamber board, a credit union board . . . but this one is really unique simply because it will have a major part in the development of youngsters' minds."

The Hawai'i Nature Center is located in Makiki Valley near Honolulu on a 2,000-acre forest reserve. An interpretative classroom and outdoor areas are available for students, educators and famiiies to increase awareness of their island surroundings through nature hikes and hands-on experience. Since the center was established 10 years ago, over 150,000 youngsters have been served, according to Tamar Chotzen, executive director of the facility. By the year 2000, officia!s at the Nature Center have set a goal of serving 80 percent of Hawaii's elementary school children, she adds. Center plans for "statewide expansion" have, in fact, involved Aiona who has been advising officials for the past one-and-a-half years on setting up the first neighbor island nature center. The Maui center wil! be located in what was the lao Valley Lodge whieh will be undergoing renovations during the next severa! months, Chotzen explains. By January, programs will be open to the public.

He (Aiona) is very special to us because he is deeply committed to the environment and education particularly from the Hawaiian perspective," she says. "Obviously, his in-depth knowledge of the community and especially his understanding of the Hawaiian community are important to us." Aiona will serve on the 19-member board for a three-year term. The board of directors acts as the governing body for the Hawai'i Nature Center. Aiona was recommended by the board's nominating committee whieh was chaired this year by Bishop Estate trustee Oswald Stender.

Chotzen considers the native Hawaiian view especially pertinent to the philosophy of the center. She describes it as "a grass roots organization" with its principles of aloha 'aina and malama stemming from the native Hawaiian culture. "We provide an opportunity for children to interact directly with the environment as a way to instill that aloha 'aina. We want kids to have that kind of personal experience," Chotzen says. Realizing that the legacy of the Hawaiian culture and the islands' environment lies with its young

people, Aiona sees the center's emphasis on vounqsters as essential.

"I think this encourages youngsters to have more respect for the land, the 'aina and what goes on the land," he says, noting that the center houses a variety of native plants whieh, if not properly cared for, could vanish from Hawai'i. "On Maui, we are always concerned about what development will do. We know there is a need to urbanize but there has to be slow, controlled growth," says Aiona. With native Hawaiian families threatened by the same discord as other cultures, the OHA trustee believes that the nature center ean promote unity by allowing parents and youngsters to tour the facility " 'ohana style." To increase parent/child communication and involvement using nature as a focus, the Hawai'i Nature Center offers special family events. Children who visit the center are also given homework projects, whieh with parent's help, reinforces family ties. "I'd like to be able to show that as a native

Hawaiian we have a love for the 'aina as well as for what grows," says Aiona. "lt is my interest that we protect the land and particularly the native Hawaiian plants so the youngsters today ean teach future generations."

"The purpose of the Hawai'i Nature Center is to foster awareness, appreciation and understanding of Hawai'i and encourage wise stewardship ofthe Islands in the future." Hawaii Nature Center

Abraham Aiona

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