Local Heroes

Photo: HISGN members tour Pa‘auilo Elementary School Garden. (From left to right) Pa‘auilo Garden teacher Donna Mitts, HISGN Program Director Nancy Redfeather, Mala‘ai Garden teacher Amanda Rieux, and Hawai‘i Island 4-H Program/CTAHR Extension Agent Becky Settlage.

We are entering a most challenging time. If we would all work to save something we love this year, greater opportunities for positive change would occur. I am thankful to work with over 50 garden teachers who are true heroes, pioneering a new curriculum that will reconnect our children's lives with the life of the land.
—Nancy Redfeather, Program Director for The Kohala Center’s Hawai‘i Island School Garden Network (HISGN)

Nancy Redfeather and The Kohala Center were selected as Local Heroes in the nonprofit category by Edible Hawaiian Islands magazine, in recognition for their contributions to the local foods movement in the Hawaiian Islands. Edible Hawaiian Islands is part of a growing network of Edible Communities magazines. With publications in 52 cities and regions, Edible Communities magazines explore the foods farmed, raised, fished, and produced in each of their local communities. Local Heroes Award events are held simultaneously in all of the edible markets, and 2009 marks the second annual contest. Community members nominate the person and/or organization they feel deserves the award in each of six categories, including: Farm/Farmer, Food Artisan, Beverage Artisan, Chef/Restaurant, Farm-to-Table Restaurant, and Nonprofit. Nancy Redfeather and TKC were selected for the nonprofit category as the result of votes from the island community. Mahalo for your support! View the award announcements in the spring 2009 issue of Edible Hawaiian Islands.

Nancy Redfeather was also recently elected to the Board of OSGATA, the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Alliance. OSGATA is a nationwide association of organic seed companies and their affiliates. There is growing interest nationwide for greater production of organic seed, and The Kohala Center will be working to draw together all interested parties statewide for future organic seed work among Hawai‘i's farmers and gardeners. OSGATA estimates that less than 2% of the seed used for organic vegetable production in the U.S. is organic, and so there is a huge need to increase the available supply of quality organic seeds.

Redfeather invites everyone to the Hawai‘i Island Seed Exchange on June 13. The seed exchange is an opportunity for community members to share their homegrown seeds and to receive free seeds, roots, or cuttings from other local gardeners. This year’s event will take place at the Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden in Captain Cook on Saturday, June 13, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The theme for this year’s event is “The Moon and Agriculture.” Overnight camping on June 12 is permitted; for reservations, e-mail lynnbell@hawaii.rr.com. Learn more about the upcoming Hawai‘i Island Seed Exchange or about last year’s event.

All About Education

Photo: Student farmers at the Niuli‘i Youth Farm Project in North Kohala.

Near the end of the road in Kohala, in Niuli‘i near Pololū Valley, a unique agriculture project is underway. Dash and Erika Kuhr, and partner
Tom Baldwin of Uluwehi Farm and Nursery in Hawi, are building an educational and market-oriented youth agricultural program. Working with David Fuertes' high school youth, through his Ka Hana No‘eau Mentorship Program, and with other young adults in the area, the program has grown enormously over the past year. North Kohala youth have cleared and planted a two-acre market garden, have started a CSA (community-supported agriculture system) and are now selling their produce at the Waimea and Hawi Farmers' Markets.

“The program is all about agricultural education,” says Nancy Redfeather, Director of The Kohala Center’s Hawai‘i Island School Garden Network (HISGN). “This project is creating a living model of a successful agricultural system using organic and sustainable permaculture methods of production,” Redfeather continues. The youth work after school at the project site and are paid a stipend for their work and the time they invest in their agricultural education. Dash Kuhr is working to expand the garden space, to engage additional funders, and to build community support for this unique effort at building local food self-reliance through hands-on knowledge transfer to youth. Students receive training in all areas of organic agriculture, and this summer they will be invited to participate in a farmer certification course covering all aspects of running an organic farm.

Learn more about the Niuli‘i Youth Farm Project.

The Fruits of Collaboration

Photo: ReefTeach volunteer Nena Romero explains the importance of protecting our coral reef ecosystem to visitors at Kahalu‘u Beach Park.

What a wonderful day. It is like swimming in a fish tank because of the many fish surrounding you at all times. Thank you, ReefTeach, for sharing your knowledge. You’re absolutely a treasure.
—Carol Hermann, Madison, Wisconsin, from the ReefTeach journal, March 2009

Kahalu‘u Bay is featured in nearly every visitor’s guide as one of the best snorkel sites in the Hawaiian Islands, due to its clear, shallow water and abundant tropical reef fishes. Each year over 450,000 people visit Kahalu‘u Bay—nearly twice as many users per acre of water as at Hanauma Bay on O‘ahu. Like all coral reef ecosystems, the reef at Kahalu‘u is fragile and can be irreparably damaged by human touch and trampling.

Five years ago, the University of Hawai‘i Sea Grant extension agent in Kona, Sara Peck, initiated a program of educational presentations at Kahalu‘u Bay by volunteer ReefTeachers, in an attempt to save the corals from trampling. Almost three years ago, The Kohala Center stepped forward to facilitate these community-driven efforts to protect Kahalu‘u Bay. The ReefTeach program has been extraordinarily successful: data collected during and immediately after each teaching session has revealed that trampling damage caused by bay users standing on living coral has been reduced by 93%.

Photo: Montserrat Cortes, Hunter Rapoza, and Olivia Crowl, fifth and sixth grade students at Innovations Public Charter School, test water samples for temperature, turbidity, pH, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, phosphates, nitrates, and coliform bacteria. Every Wednesday ten students from Innovations join the effort to protect Kahalu‘u Bay.

Over the past few years the community has truly come together to restore the health of the bay. The restoration effort recognizes the historical and cultural significance of Kahalu‘u Bay and fishponds, and it embraces the Hawaiian concept of stewardship for the land and ocean. The effort integrates Western and Native Hawaiian practices and has engaged a broad spectrum of partners, including State and local government, area residents and visitors, Outrigger Keauhou Beach Resort management and staff, local businesses, coastal geologists, NOAA, and Kamehameha Investment Corporation (KIC). The collaboration with KIC, a large land developer, is particularly exciting because it has already resulted in the creation of the Puana Ka ‘Ike: “Imparting Knowledge” lecture series; in efforts to honor the cultural and historic significance of the Kahalu‘u area; and in a recent visit to the bay by the Global Environmental Fund—World Bank Worldwide Coral Reef Health Team. The Kohala Center’s Executive Director Matt Hamabata shares more about the fruits of the TKC-KIC collaboration in "Remembering Hawai‘i’s Future."

Becoming Carbon Neutral

Photo: Buying local at the Waimea Homestead Farmer’s Market.

Almost nothing that you can do will improve the health of the land and your body as much as eating locally grown food. —Alexandra (Alex) Moore, Director of Cornell EES Program

In addition to witnessing fresh lava flows from Kilauea Volcano, hiking 20 miles into the desert of Haleakala Crater, helping to maintain a traditional voyaging canoe, learning about and experiencing Native Hawaiian cultural perspectives, and outplanting native plants in Hawai‘i’s endangered forests, the current cohort of students enrolled in Cornell’s Earth and Environmental Systems Field Program (EES) is engaged in a serious lifestyle challenge: to make their program as carbon neutral as possible.

In light of the fact that the program transports 20 students and professors from the East Coast to Hawai‘i to participate in the field program, EES Program Director Alex Moore calculates that the group will travel a total of 280,000 air miles—the equivalent of circling the Earth twelve times. To offset this major carbon footprint, Moore estimates that group members need to plant several hundred trees—a goal which she has committed to meeting before the program ends in late May. In addition to planting trees, the EES group has implemented a variety of other measures to minimize their carbon footprint and to neutralize their carbon impact on the island and the planet by taking actions that remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. As part of their carbon neutral practices, the students are monitoring their carbon emissions and trying to reduce these emissions through purchasing locally grown, organic foods and enrolling in a community supported agriculture subscription program. They also volunteer to help out in local school gardens a few hours each week. The students are monitoring their electric usage and calculating their energy savings by using solar hot water as opposed to propane to heat their water—current estimates show a 50% reduction in propane use with the installation of solar water heating on their HPA residence.

Photo: Salley Gould monitors electricity use at HPA’s Wai‘aka House.

They are also reflecting on the fact that Hawaiians knew how to survive on this island in a sustainable manner, and they are trying to learn from this example. Moore hopes that the students will carry these sustainable practices home with them when they depart, along with a deeper understanding of the scientific, cultural, historical, and contemporary landscapes of Hawai‘i Island.

Learn more about Cornell’s carbon neutral program. Read what the students have to say about their EES experiences.

The Natural Step Sustainability Trainings

Photo: Dr. Karl-Henrik Robèrt holds a copy of the “consensus document” which was mailed to every household in Sweden. Photo courtesy of http://www.thenaturalstep.org/en/canada/our-story.

In the late 1980s Dr. Karl-Henrik Robèrt, a Swedish oncologist, began developing a framework which outlined the essential conditions that are necessary to sustain life on Earth. He circulated his draft amongst a group of leading scientists, including ecologists, chemists, physicists, and medical doctors around the world to solicit their input. Twenty-one drafts later, the group reached consensus. With the support of the King of Sweden, Karl XVI Gustav, this “consensus document” was mailed to every household and school in Sweden. In the early 1990s, Dr. Robèrt and others continued to define a set of guiding sustainability principles. These principles have since been organized into a framework that provides organizations and communities with a methodology for making strategic progress toward sustainability in an economically viable, step-wise manner. This framework is known as The Natural Step Framework.

The Kohala Center is partnering with the County of Hawai‘i Department of Research and Development and The Natural Step Canada (TNS) to host a workshop and three free public talks on sustainability. The focus of the public talks will be on applying sustainable practices both in our own homes and in a coordinated way across organizations and communities. TNS presenters will explain The Natural Step Framework as a basis for making decisions that lead strategically toward sustainability in the short- and long-term.

The two-day workshop is June 6-7 at the Pahala Plantation House in Ka‘u. For more information on the sustainability workshop and to download a registration form, visit http://www.kohalacenter.org/TNS/home.html. Please register by Wednesday, May 13. Two free talks are scheduled in Hilo on June 9, from 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. in the Office of Aging Conference Room, and from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. at UH Hilo (to be confirmed). The Kona talk is slated for June 10 at the Kuleana Green Business Seminar and Pau Hana from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. at NELHA Gateway Center. TNS presenters will also be addressing 100 island high school students during the annual Student Congress on Sustainability at HPA on June 11.

Kahe Mau Ka Wai A Waimea: Forever Shall the Waters of Waimea Flow

Photo: Image of ‘Ouli by Yvonne Carter.

Kahe Mau Ka Wai A Waimea is a series of events to honor the waters that flow through Waimea from Kohala Mountain into the ‘ili (land division) of ‘Ouli and neighboring lands and to the Waimea shoreline of Hāpuna, Kaunao‘a, and beyond; as well as the wahi pana (storied places) and cultural landscapes of this area. The following events are scheduled from May 10 through June 12 at Kahilu Theatre in Waimea:

May 10, 4:00 p.m. - Opening of art show, performance of hula and mo‘olelo (stories) related to the theme. Free and open to the public. For more information on the exhibit and a prospectus, visit the Volcano Art Center’s Web site.
June 1, 7:00 p.m. - Watershed Presentations. Free and open to the public. Carolyn Stewart: The Wai‘ula‘ula Watershed
Melora Purell: The Kohala Watershed Partnership
Bob Nishimoto: Native aquatic species found in the watershed.
June 12 - Art show ends.

Kahe Mau Ka Wai A Waimea is being mounted by organizational partners who are volunteering their time and resources so that the mo‘olelo wahi pana and precious watershed endure. Two huaka‘i (journeys) for participating artists with Ku‘ulei Keakealani and Keali‘i Bertlemann have already taken place in April, each intended to be a journey into the cultural landscape through the stories, songs, and hula of Ku‘ulei and Keali‘i. Mahalo to Ku‘ulei Keakealani, Keali‘i Bertelmann, Yvonne and Keoki Carter, Kahilu Theatre Foundation, The Kohala Center, and to The Wai‘ula‘ula Watershed Partnership for their support to make these events possible.

For more information, visit http://www.kohalacenter.org/KaheMauKaWaiAWaimea/about.html or contact Samantha Birch, TKC Program Services Coordinator, via e-mail at sbirch@kohalacenter.org.

Bringing Out the Best in Children: Waimea Nature Camp

Photo: Wyatt Madonna leaps for joy while Jackson Freitas and Matt Bal wait their turn to jump into a full and flowing Waikoloa Stream.

There is a special look on the faces of children at Nature Camp. It’s hard to describe exactly, but it is a mixture of joy, peace, and curiosity. At our camp, children are simply allowed to be young human beings . . . to explore, to imagine, to run, to climb, to share stories, to create—all within a natural setting, where our only true rule is that everyone is equal. First-time camp parents are usually amazed at how content their children are at the end of a week of camp; for me it has become a simple formula that works: allow a diverse, multi-age group of children to play together in nature, in an atmosphere of acceptance and love, and you will bring out the best in any child. —Melora Purell, Director, Waimea Nature Camp, and Coordinator, Kohala Watershed Partnership

Five week-long sessions of Waimea Nature Camp will be offered in summer 2009:

Week One: June 22–26
Week Two: June 29–July 3
Week Three: (Kohala Youth Corps only) July 6–10
Week Four: July 13–17
Week Five: July 20–24

Camp runs from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. daily at Ulu La‘au Nature Park in Kamuela. Waimea Nature Camp is open to young people in grades 2–6, and the Kohala Youth Corps (Week Three) is open to youth in grades 7–10. Thanks to generous donations and grants, the cost of a week of summer camp is still just $50 per student.

To apply, visit http://www.kohalacenter.org/WaimeaNatureCamp/about.html. Learn more about this summer's camp.

College Bound

Photo: Behind the camera, Grace Franchini works on a short student film on drug awareness. Grace is a recipient of a scholarship to the Brown Environmental Leadership Lab at Brown University this summer.

We are so pleased to have five ambitious Hawai‘i Island students attend these select programs at Brown and at Cornell this summer. The experience will enable them to learn new things in a new environment and may even be the foundation for their future dreams and aspirations. We are so proud of Lynsey Montell, who attended the Cornell program last summer and who was recently accepted into Stanford University. What better inspiration for Hawai‘i Island students than to have one of their peers and classmates get accepted to such a prestigious University. I hope the summer programs continue to open many doors for our island students. —Samantha Birch, TKC Program Services Coordinator

The Kohala Center (TKC) is pleased to announce the five recipients of this year’s summer program scholarships. These five Hawai‘i Island high school students will travel to the East Coast this summer, where two of them will attend the BELL (Brown Environmental Leadership Lab) Program at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and three will participate in the CATALYST Academy at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. TKC, Brown, and Cornell jointly sponsor these scholarships, which include full tuition for all of the students, as well as partial travel expense support for the CATALYST students. These scholarships are made possible through the generosity of the Earl E. Bakken Science and Engineering Scholarship Award.

At the BELL and CATALYST programs, talented island students mingle with students from across the country and around the world. Feedback from former scholarship recipients is overwhelmingly positive: they report that their participation in these programs has opened them to new friends, new knowledge, and new life options. We congratulate this year’s BELL scholars, Ryan Marvick and Grace Franchini, and this year’s CATALYST scholars, Noa Nahele Sanxter Flaherty, Alyxandra Hopkins, and Adam Perez. Learn why these young people are looking forward to spending their summers at Brown and at Cornell.

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