LIHU‘E —The Hawai‘i Community Foundation has already supported two major projects on Kaua‘i and is offering more financial assistance to projects statewide in an effort to provide protection and restoration of the state’s coastal areas Two major projects on Kaua‘i
LIHU‘E —The Hawai‘i Community Foundation has already supported two major projects on Kaua‘i and is offering more financial assistance to projects statewide in an effort to provide protection and restoration of the state’s coastal areas
Two major projects on Kaua‘i have been funded for the removal of invasive trees.
On the North Shore, the Waipa Foundation is in the middle of removing overgrown hau bush to reclaim farm land and provide educational opportunities for students and visitors to interact with native flora and fauna.
In Lihu‘e, the Kaiola Canoe Club was recently funded to remove mangrove trees along the Hule‘ia River near Nawiliwili Harbor. The project will allow the watershed along the river bank to be reclaimed by the removal of the trees, some of which are up to 40 feet tall.
Funding for the projects comes from a three-year partnership the HCF developed with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Restoration Center and the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation.
This year, the HCF awarded $437,000 in grants to nine projects, including the Kaiola Canoe Club project.
Since its inception in 2009, the partnership has provided more than $1.5 million in funding to organizations in Hawai‘i repairing fishponds, removing invasive species, and preventing polluted runoff in coastal waters on all major Hawaiian islands.
Grant money was also provided to the Hawai‘i Youth Conservation Corps, designed to increase the number of members available to more than 40 local conservation organizations on every island in the state, helping to increase the number of volunteers during summer and year-round programs.
According to the Hawai‘i Community Foundation, the community-based grant program was launched in 2009 with the strong support of the late Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawai‘i), and actively bridges cultural and environmental stewardship efforts.
“This public-private initiative is a win-win, and demonstrates how much more we can do when we work together,” said Inouye, shortly before he died in December. “Engaging with the community upfront provides the best chance of an enduring and sustained effort.”
The Hawai‘i Community Foundation is also proactively seeking funding from private donors and foundations to keep the successful grant program going in 2013 and beyond.
“In Hawai‘i clean water and healthy lands are fundamental to our quality of life,” said Josh Stanbro, director of Environment and Sustainability at the Hawai‘i Community Foundation. “We commend these community groups for taking responsibility in their own backyards, and putting in countless hours to protect our most treasured sites.”
Hawai‘i’s unique coastal resources are increasingly threatened by invasive species, climate change impacts, and inappropriate development. Wetlands and other coastal habitat help filter sediment and pollutants, replenish fishing stocks, and support traditional cultural practices, according to the release.
Waipa group find many uses for hau
On the North Shore of Kaua‘i, much of the Waipa Valley is owned by Kamehameha Schools and managed by the Waipa Foundation as a living classroom.
Volunteers working alongside the Waipa Foundation staff started a project two years ago to reclaim a section of the Waipa Stream from thick overgrowth of the hau bush.
According to Stacy Sproat, executive director of the Waipa Foundation, hau is native to the Hawaiian islands and was often used to make rope, among many other uses. But left unchecked, the trunks and branches eventually flop over and create a dense tangle of branches.
Over time, the hau bush grows into a water source, trapping sediment and plant debris to clog up the stream, creating an obstacle for migrating fish that have long used the stream during spawning season. This also affects the habitats of endangered native birds such as the nene goose who rely on water sources for survival.
Sproat said volunteers cleared almost five acres of Hau bush alongside Waipa Stream over the past two years. Ongoing maintenance is required, as hau bush grows back at a rate of 10 feet annually.
After being cut apart, some of the hau bush branches are run through a wood chipper and used for mulch around the area to start rebuilding the sight. Other branches are also in the process of being composted to create richer soil.
Sproat said one use of hau bark is in the creation of raffia-like hula skirts, a process which requires soaking the bark for three weeks. After removing the bark, Sproat said the leftover water is full of nutrients which volunteers then use to help nurture and grow other plants.
As these areas are being cleared out and replanted with Native Hawaiian and canoe plants, Sproat showed a recent visitor the terraced lands that once were home to taro and rice fields before becoming grazing lands for cattle from the 1940s to the 1980s.
Waipa Foundation was founded in he 1980s. Since then, the group has been reclaiming lands from invasive and native species, while developing a learning center where thousands of people have given their time and energy.
Now that areas have been cleared out, Sproat said researchers and students are able to come in and monitor fish counts, along with the salinity of the water and other tests and monitoring.
Club seeks to restore river bank
Specific goals for the Hawai‘i Community Foundation partnership includes, “restoration of coral reef habitat, coastal wetlands and estuaries, traditional coastal fishponds, riparian zones/stream habitat, and land-based sources of pollution mitigation,” according to a release.
Coastal habitats support approximately 25 percent of Hawai‘i’s reef fish, 32 percent of marine invertebrates, and 90 percent of stream animals that are found nowhere else on the planet.
The upcoming project for Kaiola Canoe Club includes restoring about an acre of the banks of the Hule‘ia River, near Niumalu County Beach Park. The area has been overgrown by the invasive red mangrove, some of which has grown as high as 40 feet.
The red mangrove is taking over and blocking the watershed in the area, according to Steve Yee, the “steerman” of the Kaiola Canoe Club steering committee for the project.
Currently in the planning stages, the committee is in the process of looking to hire a half-time project manager to be the point person and drive the first phase of the red mangrove eradication and watershed restoration by reaching out to the entire community and being dedicated to environmental issues.
“We want to start with a small area as a demonstration to improve the park,” Yee said, adding that the area is basically a forest at the moment.
In removing the trees, they would be cut low, wood chipped and made available for landscape or biomass use, said Carl Berg, who sits on the steering committee, along with Pomai Kane, Jan TenBruggencate, Pepe Trask and Fahy Bailey.
The group is planning to host cleanup weekends in March along with community education sessions about mangrove eradication projects while highlighting in state successes and failures. Berg said the steering committee has reached out for advice to Moloka‘i and O‘ahu to learn the most efficient ways of removing the trees.
Once cleared, the group plans to implement a maintenance program and plant a variety of plants that are native to the island.
Clearing the area of the 20 to 30 years of red mangrove growth would lead to a variety of improved community uses of the beach park.
“We want to start small with a discreet area to learn the process to remove the trees and get further community involvement,” said Berg.
Long-term, the group would like to reclaim and restore ‘Alekoko Fishponds back to before the red mangrove trees started growing in the area.
“The mangrove started growing into the river, which reduces the flow and leads to storm flood damage,” said Berg.
He said the entire area looks like a semi-submerged forest, adding, “You don’t have fish in a forest.”
Rich in history, Berg said pictures of the fishponds from 100 years ago showed gardens around the fishponds which allowed for food production. The mangrove trees have become such a big problem, though, that Berg said people often look at it and throw their hands up in the air, overwhelmed by the size of the project.
But, before the ‘Alekoko Fishponds project can be commenced, the steering committee wants to tackle the Niumalu County Beach Park to show it can be done on a “small and doable” scale along with working with the county to show that the problem can be tackled, Berg said.
The Kaiola Canoe Club members are a major users of the river and frequently use it to paddle for exercise and training.
“It’s our playground,” said Yee, “We try to be healthy and need to take care of it or at least get something started.”
