Restoration

Today I volunteered with the Leeward Haleakala Watershed Partnership. We planted Nioa trees. They are native to Hawaii. We went to the side of the Volcano Haleaka, that faces the southern part of Maui. There is a water shortage on this part of the island. The watershed partnership hopes to reintroduce native trees like Koa wood to what once was forest. But because of the introduction of goats and sheep, as well as harvesting of precious woods and the introduction of invasive plants, is now pastureland. In doing this they hope to create a watershed. The trees, especially the Koa, are good for catching the clouds as they drift across they mountain range. This in turn will make a wetter environment.

McNair Summer

I am spending the summer in Maui because of the McNair Scholars program. It is a program that prepares you to enter grad school by assigning you a faculty member as a mentor, preparing you for the grad school entry exams, providing funds to do a summer research project of your choice, publishes your finding in a McNair journal, and enables you to do presentations on your summer research findings.

I chose Maui because I used to live here and have family on island. I have always loved Maui so much. My project is an oral histories project. I intend to interview native Hawaiians that have been involved in the restoration of the island above, Kaho'olawe. This island is about eight miles off of the southern coast of Maui. For fifty years it was used for ammunitions testing by the U.S. Navy. Before that it was used as a cattle ranch. Because of the grazing and ammunitions testing, the island is suffering from serious erosion. After having 70% of its surface cleared of exploded and unexploded ammunition, it was given back to the Sovereign Nation of Hawaii. At this time there is no Sovereign Nation of Hawaii that is recognized by the United States Federal Government. So it has been entrusted to the Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Commission. This is a state organization that was created after the island was given back to the Sovereign Hawaiian Nation.
I wanted to get about five oral histories of native Hawaiians that have been involved somehow. Ive only been here a week and have made a lot of progress I am really excited about how all of this will turn out.