WAILUA — The East Kauai Lions Club is inviting the public to join them on April 26, from 10 a.m. to noon, when the group celebrates Earth Day — announced as April 22 — by planting native trees at the Keahua Arboretum and sprucing up the arboretum.
Representatives from the state’s Department of Land and Natural Resources will be available to help direct the plantings at Keahua Arboretum, which is located at the end of Kuamoo Road, which runs through the Wailua Homesteads. The arboretum is about six or seven miles from the traffic light on Kuhio Highway.
Volunteers planning to join the EK Lions should bring gloves, shoes, protective eyewear, a hat, and water.
Additionally, to ensure adequate tools for the project, volunteers are asked to email eastkauailions@gmail.com and specify the number of volunteers attending the event. The DLNR needs this information by April 18. Waiver forms will be available at the arboretum.
According to the EK Lions Club, the DLNR will deliver the tree saplings and tools. At noon, following the tools being loaded onto the DLNR truck, volunteers may have their own family picnics. Covered picnic facilities are limited, and volunteers may bring folding tables, beach chairs, and lean-tos. There is hiking, fishing, and swimming in the area, and public restrooms are available.
The Earth Day project is being coordinated by Lion Edwin Santa Maria, the Environmental Services Chair, and Mapuana O’Sullivan, the DLNR director for volunteer services.
A major service goal of Lions International, which has 1.4 million members in 200 countries, is preserving the environment. In recent years, Lions International President Wing Kung Tam orchestrated the planting of 100 million trees in one year by Lions clubs around the world.
