Special to TGI The first Saturday of 2001 was a day of reclamation and discovery at the historic CCC Camp at Koke’e State Park. Nineteen volunteer “weedbusters” answered Kokee Resource Conservation Program’s call for help Jan. 6 in tackling a
Special to TGI
The first Saturday of 2001 was a day of reclamation and discovery at the historic CCC Camp at Koke’e State Park.
Nineteen volunteer “weedbusters” answered Kokee Resource Conservation Program’s call for help Jan. 6 in tackling a veritable wall of tangled tibouchina. The project was the start of efforts to restore a hillside on the south side of the camp site.
Beneath the rubble of weed-filled brush, volunteers uncovered rock walls and a rock-rimmed pit which state archeologist Nancy McMahon will evaluate this week.
“Had we used a bulldozer instead of community volunteers, we could have easily destroyed significant historic features,” noted Marsha Erickson, Koke’e Museum executive director.
Erickson expressed gratitude to the weedbusters, as well as smaller teams of volunteers who continue to work at clearing the site by hand.
A state-owned wood chipper ran breakdown free all day under the care of state park supervisor Joe Kona, another volunteer in the museum’s ongoing efforts to restore the 1935 camp complex, which was placed on the state and National Historic Registers in 1996.
The work is continuing. Prospective volunteers can get more information from the museum at 335-9975.
