Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 37, Number 1, 1 January 2020 — OHA Staff Dedicate a Day to Reforestation Efforts [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OHA Staff Dedicate a Day to Reforestation Efforts

The Hawaiian Civic Club of Wahiawō is the caretaker of Kūkaniloko and welcomed OHA staff to the area in a formal protocol upon OHA's arrival at the site. - Photo: Koweno Lei Carvalho-Mattos

By Office of Hawaiian Affairs Staff OHA staff planted 1,000 native trees last month near the Kūkaniloko Birthing Stones site, a first step to return portions of the agency's Wahiawā lands to the robust native forest that onee existed there more than a eentury ago. "This was a wonderful opportunity for OHA staff to participate in a mālama 'āina project that furthers the vision of one of our legacy properties and benefits the eommunity as well," said Sylvia Hussey, OHA Ka Pouhana (Chief Executive Officer). "This is about healing this 'āina and re-connecting our people to this special plaee. It's exciting to think that this open field could one day be a thriving forest again, providing resources for cultural practitioners and enhancing the native ecosystem of the area." Today's planting is part of OHA's efforts to implement the agency's Conceptual Master Plan for its Wahiawā lands. The plan envisions revitalizing the 511acre property into a mixture of native forest and culturally aligned agriculture that complements the Kūkaniloko Birthing Stones and .

connects Native Hawaiians with the 'āina. One of the goals of the plan i is to begin to restore a native forest i from what is currently a grassy field i scarred from more than 100 years of intensive monocrop agriculture. i "This pilot project will help us [ refine reforestation techniques that will allow us to do more ambitious native tree plantings on other parts of our Wahiawā lands and serve as a model for other entities looking to ; restore native ecosystems throughout the islands," said Taylor Asao, OHA Legacy Land Specialist. Staff planted koa, lonomea and kou trees on about an acre of ; cleared land, located a few hundred yards from the Kūkaniloko : Birthing Stones. The seedlings, ; ranging from about six to ten l inches in height, were provided by the Carbon Neutrality Challenge, a joint project by the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, the Garden Club of Honolulu, Lyon Arbore- ' tum, Lorest Botanical Garden and ; other organizations. The project i aims to offset carbon emissions i by restoring loeal ecosystems and planting trees. Lor more information on OHA' s 1 Wahiawā Lands, please visit www. oha.org/aina/kukaniloko. ■