KOKE‘E — For self-professed plant lovers, they swing some mean machetes. It’s a hot, late-summer afternoon in Koke‘e, and volunteers with the Koke‘e Resource Conservation Program are waist deep in flesh-ripping blackberry brambles where, armed with knee pads, machetes and
KOKE‘E — For self-professed plant lovers, they swing some mean machetes. It’s a hot, late-summer afternoon in Koke‘e, and volunteers with the Koke‘e Resource Conservation Program are waist deep in flesh-ripping blackberry brambles where, armed with knee pads, machetes and herbicides, they are learning how to fight off invasive plant species which threaten native flora.
Their eradication instructor is Katie Cassel, program coordinator for the KRCP, a volunteer-based program that seeks to control the spread of, and when possible, eliminate, noxious weeds that thrive in Koke‘e, Waimea Canyon and Na Pali Coast State Wilderness Parks.
Today, Cassel’s teaching 12 members of the Wilderness Volunteer group how to remove privet (Ligustrum sinense), an invasive plant from China introduced in Hawai‘i by the British in the 1800s and now crowding out native plants like koa and maile.
Founded in 1998 by Cassel, Marsha Erickson, director of the Koke‘e Museum, and Wayne Souza, superintendent of Kaua‘i State Parks for the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, the KRCP relies on individual members of the local community, school groups, youth groups, environmental organizations like the Sierra Club, Global Volunteers and even short-term island visitors for their labor pool.
Everyone from Waimea fifth graders to tourists from Europe, Canada and New Zealand have come to Koke‘e to help protect Kaua‘i’s native plant life. Cassel said KRCP members welcome anybody with an interest in conservation who is willing to learn and help preserve Kaua‘i’s botanical treasures.
In the last six years more than 12,000 volunteers have logged over 55,000 hours of eradicating noxious weeds and invasive plant species.
Today Hawai‘i has the dubious distinction of being the “endangered species capital of the world,” with native flora growing precariously surrounded by ever-encroaching human development and aggressive modern introductions like Kahili ginger (from Nepal), Portuguese fire tree (Morella faya from the Azores), strawberry guava and banana poka (South America).
Introduced as ornamentals, natural barriers, or for their fruit, invasive species today compete with 46 endangered species and 31 rare plant taxa in an area covering more than 12,000 acres in northwestern Kaua‘i. Koke‘e State Park and the surrounding forestry lands including the Alaka‘i Wilderness Preserve are uniquely fragile ecosystems, the last places on Kaua‘i where endemic Hawaiian native plants still make up a significant proportion of the forests.
Thanks to the hard work of Cassel, the KRCP staff, volunteers and interns, the highly endangered hau hele ‘ula (Kokia kauaiensis) in Kalalau Valley still survives, while the Kumuwela Ridge sees renewed growth of popolo‘aiakeakua (Solanum sandwicense) in an area that had been overgrown with blackberry bushes.
Bradley Soria, who recently joined the four-person team of full-time KRCP staff members, explained that he loves his new job because it affords the opportunity to learn about Kaua‘i’s endemic plant life and share his knowledge with others. Soria said, “I’m a local Kaua‘i boy, but I never knew about native plants until I started working here. Now I can pass this knowledge to my family and friends.”
When she is not in the office writing grant reports, datalogging and prioritizing field work, program coordinator Cassel works closely with her staff and a constant flow of ever-changing volunteers, teaching how to identify, treat and dispose of noxious weeds. “I work 10 to 12 hours a day, spending about three-quarters of my time in the field. This is where I want to be,” said Cassel, a native of Pennsylvania who came out to volunteer after Hurricane ‘Iniki and has been on Kaua‘i ever since.
“When I started working with the KRCP in 1998, I wanted to build a framework in which people could volunteer on short notice,” Cassel said. “We try to be very responsive to groups and individuals who want to volunteer, even for just a day or two.”
Together with volunteer coordinator Ellen Coulombe, Cassel arranges for volunteers to join KRCP staff and interns in using weed-control strategies which have proven effective for the National Park Service, the Nature Conservancy and state of Department of Agriculture and DLNR.
The KRCP is supported by the nonprofit Hui o Laka – Koke‘e Natural History Museum, the DLNR Division of State Parks and Division of Forestry and Wildlife, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the Hawai‘i Community Foundation, the U.S. Forest Service, the Cooke Foundation, Nature Conservancy Hawaii, the Hawaii Tourism Authority, the Gannett Foundation, the Kaua‘i business community, and by private donations.
Cassel encourages residents and visitors to get involved in protecting native Hawaiian plants. She did, however, add that concerned hikers and forest-goers who find plants they feel may be threatening native flora should report them to the KRCP rather than removing the plants themselves and risking mistakenly pulling out an endangered plant.
For more information about volunteering with the KRCP, please call the Koke‘e museum at 335-9975, or visit www.aloha.net/ rcp.
Jon Letman is a freelance writer based in Lihu‘e.
