Native ecosystem preservation group gets help from Young Brothers

NAWILIWILI — Community members have the power to protect and preserve native ecosystems, states a release from the Koke‘e Resource Conservation Program.

“The mission of KRCP is to involve the community in protecting native ecosystems by coordinating volunteers to remove invasive plants in selected areas, especially in Koke‘e,” said Katie Cassel of KRCP in accepting a grant from the Young Brothers Community Advisory Board. “This action provides a framework for everyone to ‘give back’ by working to save valuable Hawaiian native forest and endangered species.”

Proceeds from the grant will be utilized to support the KRCP, whose fiscal sponsor is Garden Island Resource Conservation and Development, staff who supervise the service learning projects for volunteers of all ages to weed sensitive areas near Kaua‘i’s endangered species.

“KRCP is grateful to Young Brothers for recognizing the group’s efforts to preserve the forests of Kaua‘i,” Cassel said in a KRCP release. “There are more than 140 Hawaiian endangered species on the island of Kaua‘i, and 40 more have just been federally listed.”

Hawai‘i is a biodiversity hotspot of global magnitude, the KRCP release states.

This dynamic diversity is threatened by invasive weeds.

“Many of the native plants in these forest ecosystems are significant to the Hawaiian culture, so preserving them will also preserve a cherished cultural resource,” Cassel said.

KRCP’s use of volunteers accomplishes a larger job while heightening public awareness of the need for partnerships and community-based management of Kaua‘i’s unique ecosystems.

E-mail rcp@aloha.net, or call 335-0045 for more information, or to sign up as a volunteer.

• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com.