Volunteers Needed to Help Restore Kona Historical Society’s Native Forest Exhibit
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
First Volunteer Workday is Dec. 14
Invasive plants and unwanted woody vegetation once covered a small endemic native forest exhibit at Kona Historical Society’s Kalukalu Headquarters. However, now something else is growing, thanks to a grant from the Ama OluKai Foundation and many helping hands.
Kona Historical Society received a $10,000 grant to support its Native Forest Exhibit Program. This funding is key to helping the nonprofit improve and sustain its care of the forest exhibit, established in 2004. Volunteers are now needed to assist with the removal of invasive plants, weeding, applying mulch, planting native species and clearing pathways.
Kona Historical Society announced the following public volunteer workdays: Dec. 14, Jan. 11, and Feb. 15. Work will take place from 9 a.m. to noon in the forest exhibit at the nonprofit’s Kalukalu Headquarters, located at 81-6551 Mamalahoa Highway in Kealakekua. Approximately 20 volunteers are needed each day. Anyone ages 7 or older may volunteer so long as they are in good physical condition and comfortable with working in sun and heat and on uneven terrain. Also, children ages 7-17 must have a guardian sign a liability waiver and volunteers younger than age 14 must be accompanied by an adult.
No prior experience is necessary to volunteer. Kona Historical Society is providing rakes, shovels, loppers and hand tools, as well as light refreshments. Volunteers should bring their own gloves.
The goal is to restore the forest exhibit to its glory and strengthen community ties to these native plants. Once completed, Kona Historical Society staff will demonstrate the historical relationships between canoe builders, farmers, fisherman, ranchers, cowboys and the Kona’s landscape through interpretive tours and programming with an emphasis on Native Hawaiian culture. The offering of regular community service opportunities in the forest exhibit are also planned.
"Native forests are essential ecosystems that support the sustainability of our environment and tell an incredible story about the history of our Kona Districts. Indigenous species like pōhinahina and the stark ʻukiʻuki provide strong ground cover to strengthen our resilience against erosion; in the preservation of these species, and in the conservation of our environment, we are preserving history,” said Kona Historical Society Executive Director Dance Aoki. “The native landscapes that we are honoring and recreating with our native forest exhibit reflect the ways our communities have adapted to the environment over generations and throughout cultural, political and historical change. Cornerstones of our history and our cultural life depend on the persistence of native forests: from the grand waʻa that traverse vast oceans to the delicate designs of woven lauhala, native plants play an essential role in the way we tell our story and perpetuate our history. We need the hands of volunteers from our community to join us to replant and revitalize the native forest and with it the stories of Kona's canoe builders, fishermen, ranchers and farmers."
Over the next few months, Kona Historical Society will be improving pathways in the forest exhibit and completing the original pathway plan. Ten endemic, indigenous and Polynesian-introduced plants were selected and will be planted. Signage about these plants and their traditional usages and value will be installed.
Partnerships with local organizations, businesses and schools are also being formed. This project began in September with Elliott Parsons, the Natural Area Reserves specialist with the state Division of Forestry and Wildlife at Pu’u Wa’awa’a Forest Reserve, giving recommendations for invasive plant removal, as well as contacts for experts in dryland forest restoration and native plant cultivators. He is also helping supply tools for the upcoming volunteer workdays.
In November, Wilds Brawner, site manager of Ka’upulehu Dryland Forest, shared his expertise on forest restoration, including how to approach removal of invasive plants and area maintenance. He and his crew also plan to participate in a volunteer workday in Kona Historical Society’s forest. Peter Van Dyke, the garden manager at the Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, later gave recommendations on what native species to plant. Also last month, FoodCorps teachers from various Hawaii Island elementary schools volunteered in the forest exhibit helping Kona Historical Society prepare areas for the upcoming volunteer workdays. One FoodCorps teacher, Samantha Ahern at Konawaena Elementary School, is having her students participate in the growing of native seedlings, which will later be transplanted in Kona Historical Society’s forest exhibit. Jill Wagner of the Future Forests Nursery and the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources State Tree Nursery are generously donating plants.
Prior to having public volunteer workdays, Kona Historical Society hired Shamrock Tree Service to remove damaged tree branches, trees threatening the historic general store museum’s structure, invasive palms and Podocarpus. All the mulch from those trees will be used as ground cover to keep weeds at bay in the forest. The large wood pieces generated from the tree removal will also be used to make signage, footpaths and seating. Kealakehe High School students in the woodshop class have volunteered to use Podocarpus logs to make a bench for Kona Historical Society.
Alexis Ching is the contracted project coordinator who is leading this native forest exhibit revitalization. Previously, Ching worked with the Smithsonian Institute's Asian Pacific American Center coordinating workshops that shared traditional canoe carving practices. She is also the author of a book in development, “Heart of the Wa`a,” which strives to capture, preserve, and inspire the cultural documentation of Hawaiian outrigger canoe racing by focusing on stories from key kūpuna and their respective canoe clubs on Hawaii Island. Anyone interested in volunteering in Kona Historical Society’s forest exhibit or contributing to this project should email khs@konahistorical.org or chinga@hawaii.edu.
Fifteen years ago, Kona Historical Society cleared ranchland south of its historic general store museum and headquarters to create a half-acre native forest exhibit. Recognizing that people and nature are inseparable and highly interdependent, the nonprofit wanted to help share the importance of these forests and their roles in Hawaii’s natural resource landscape. Kona Historical Society also sought to share the unique stories about these ecosystems in the Kona District in hopes of inspiring stewardship and preserving this important historic and cultural knowledge. This forest exhibit was intended to be a thriving place of learning, where people of all ages could engage first-hand with nature and develop a connection.
"Kona Historical Society is committed to sustaining this precious living exhibit,” Aoki said. “A strategic plan to support future maintenance priorities in the forest is being developed with the help of this grant, and the Society looks forward to building partnerships with sister nonprofit organizations and volunteer groups to assist with regularly scheduled community service days to continue the revitalization of this native green space."
ABOUT KONA HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Kona Historical Society is a community-based, nonprofit organization and Smithsonian Museum affiliate that has spent the past four decades collecting, preserving and sharing the history of the Kona districts and their rich cultural heritage within Hawaii.
For more information, call Kona Historical Society at 808-323-3222 or visit www.konahistorical.org. To get the latest updates regarding Kona Historical Society programs, historic sites and special events, “LIKE” Kona Historical Society on Facebook.