Reko110
Registered: December 2009
City/Town/Province: Kamuela
Posts: 1
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While living in a place such as Hawaii, you get accustomed to seeing the everyday sights such as the wide spacious blue ocean, the palm tree beaches, the colorful sunsets, the surrounding tropical vegetation, and many other natural sights that only a tourist would spend thousands to view. Most people here unfortunately take these places for granted. Once I took hold of this realization, I made a commitment to myself that I would not be one of those people.
I am a senior at Kealakehe High School and live in Kona of the Big Island of Hawaii. The first and foremost idea that came to my head when I enrolled for my high school’s Senior Project was to make a difference in Hawaii’s habitats. Since I was born and raised in a rural environment I’ve always loved working outdoors and doing hands on work. I’ve also been a big advocate in learning and becoming more aware about the disappearance of plants and animals that are native to Hawaii.
On my project I decided to volunteer my time and work with Dr. Richard Stevens, who teaches at the Kona community college and is the coordinator of the Dry land Forest Reforestation Project at the Kona Veterans Cemetery. I wanted to do something both different and new but at the same time receive a challenging learning experience. I’ve learned of the many different types of habitats that Hawaii inhabits but the name of a dry land forest was so new to me that I really wanted to learn more about it and at the same time help these forests in any way I can.
Hawaii’s dry-land forests are considered one of the most culturally important and a habitat that is now severely endangered. This is because dry land regions were often the first to be settled and their resources were the first to be consumed to be used in tools, food gathering, fishing, medicines and rituals. What makes these certain forests so vulnerable to the brink of extinction is that a surprising 90 percent of dry land forests have been eliminated in all Hawaiian Islands. These forests contain some of the rarest plants and animals in Hawaii, such as the beautiful but nearly extinct Hibiscadelphus and Kokia (a relative of the hibiscus). The Ma’o hau hele, and state flower, has bright yellow hibiscus flowers and is a threatened species of dry land forests. Lower dry-land forests are home to several forest birds, such as honeycreepers, fly catchers, flightless rails, other flightless birds (now extinct), and the familiarly known Hawaiian owl.
The dry land reforestation project is put to work on a hill where all the native plants are planted and taken care of. The hill is also beside the Veterans Cemetery and monumental buildings that circle around the gravesites. The hill and Cemetery are surrounded by miles and miles of lava rock and fountain grass which makes me believe that the small green hill is almost a sort of Eden in the midst of a lifeless rock ocean. The area is also very dry (since the name Dry land forest) and only receives a couple of inches of rain every year. There are barely any traces of humanity in the area other than the far off one-road highway and is about twenty-five minutes away from the small Kona Airport. It almost feels as if you were the only person on the island.
The view of the ocean seen at the very top of the hill is truly spectacular and in my opinion much more beautiful than any hotel resort’s views. And the best part of it is that is it absolutely free. But that is only one of the many rewards given when I volunteer at the hill.
My job in the project is to help or “rescue” any plants that are dying and replant them or pull out any weeds that seem to be taking over the area. Maybe that’s why Dr. Stevens always calls me the project’s plant rescuer. So every weekend since September, my dad and I would hike up the hill with a pair of gloves and a hat and start checking on how well the plants are growing or whether any plants need tending to. Since starting my volunteer work I’ve been trying to think up some ideas to help the native plants even more. One experiment that I thought limit the direct light from the sun was constructing what I call “mini green houses”. With the help of my dad, the green houses were made from small squares of black green house material, wire, clothes pins, and discarded rubber pipes from the hill’s irrigation system. The effects from the green houses were quite effective since the leaves of the plants were gradually turning green instead of brown.
On November 7th, Dr. Stevens coordinated a community planting for our project. This way more hands would be able to contribute in helping plant more native plants to the hill. As many as 150 community volunteers came with shovels and gloves to help plant more than 500 native plants onto the hill. I was really happy to see that there are so many people right in my own community that shares the same desire as me in giving a helping hand to bringing back Hawaii’s dry land forests. After the planting we had a great picnic meal at the Cemetery where we shared this memorable experience with each other.
The hill is considered a very important site to allow the plants to grow because the area was thought to be the original site of where miles upon miles of dry land forest habitat thrived before both Polynesian and English settlers arrived. It seems that with the greenery from the ever growing forest has made the people, who use the veteran cemetery to visit their loved ones, happy and I hope even the veterans who passed away are happy too. The hill is also an important area to take precious care of because if we don’t take action now these dry land forests, which are found nowhere on earth, will be gone forever.
Other than helping sustain the dry land forest, this reforestation project has also provided the community and the younger generation with the awareness of how vital dry land forests are to Hawaii’s ecosystems. With the help of many hands and many minds there is always a hope and possibility that we all can bring back the dry land forest to what it once was.
While volunteering and working with Dr. Stevens on this reforestation project, I have become more knowledgeable of how valuable these plants are to me. If I just stop what I am doing and sit quietly on the hill, I now can see the gradual changes of the forest, for there are more bees, insects, and birds that seem to have settled on the hill and have also made it their home. Working outside in the fresh air and getting my hands dirty has revived my love for the outdoors and has revitalized my dream to continue this work for the rest of my life. I plan to continue this project until I graduate high school and since I am to be going to college next year, I am very eager to continue similar projects in which not only will I help plants grow but they will help me grow in return.
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