Author Archives: Jessica Ahles

Funding for Community Tourism Projects

Wednesday, August 7th, 2013

County Office of Economic Development News Release

The County of Maui is soliciting proposals for tourism programs on Maui, Molokai and Lanai for 2014 under the County Product Enrichment Program (CPEP). The intent of the program is to diversify and enrich Hawaii’s tourism product by developing new and enhancing existing community-based events, experiences, and projects related to the niches of agriculture, culture, education, nature, health and wellness, sports and technology. The program is supported through a partnership with the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA).

From heritage festivals to music series to programs that interpret our unique environment, CPEP supports a wide range of activities created by organizations throughout Maui County.…

Business Planning Classes

Wednesday, August 7th, 2013

Business Planning Classes

MEO Business Development Center News Release

If you’re a Molokai entrepreneur looking to step up your game and better manage or grow your business, a series of classes over the next two months will teach you how. The MEO Business Development Center (MEO BDC), a program of Maui Economic Opportunity, Inc., will present a series of evening classes for entrepreneurs during the months of August and September.

The Core Four Business Planning Classes cover how to set goals, do market research, determine pricing, make the sale, understand and create cash flow projections, and write a business plan — everything you need to know to start or grow your business.…

Family Comes Full Circle on Molokai

Wednesday, August 7th, 2013

Family Comes Full Circle on Molokai

Molokai has played a large role in what the Haase family believes is fate. In the fall of 1992, Ineke Bylsma and her friend Elizabeth Peters — two young travelers from Holland — were visiting Molokai as one stop of an around-the-globe tour. They ended up camping at Papohaku Beach for a few months, hitching rides to Kaunakakai to buy food.

An article about the two was even printed in the Nov. 12, 1992 issue of The Molokai Dispatch, titled “What Are Two Ladies Like You Doing in a Paradise Like This?”

They decided on Molokai as their Hawaiian stop because “we were told that Molokai was the most Hawaiian of all the islands and that we would find Hawaiian ‘culture’ on Molokai,” according to the Dispatch article.…

Protecting a Cultural Legacy

Sunday, August 4th, 2013

Protecting a Cultural Legacy

When today’s kupuna were growing up, they remember being told that the Kapuaiwa Coconut Grove was a sacred place. It was kapu, or forbidden, and their kupuna told them not to play in the grove or freshwater springs that open up in the ground beneath the towering trees. But today, those kupuna are concerned because they often see trucks driven into the grove, children swimming in the pools, tourists oblivious to the dangers of falling coconuts and rubbish littering the springs and grove.

“We were all taught by our parents and our grandparents that we are not to go in there and play [in the grove],” said Kanani Negrillo of Kalamaula.…

Flossie: Mixed Impacts

Sunday, August 4th, 2013

While many considered Flossie a flop, the storm’s landfall last Monday still left its mark on Maui County.

The storm caught the Central Pacific Hurricane Center’s attention on July 27, with varying near-hurricane wind speeds as high as 70 mph. Those conditions dwindled to a tropical depression before it hit Hawaii, Monday, July 29. However, its rain, lightning and average wind speed of 33 mph still caused damage and inconveniences on Molokai.

East Molokai residents reported impassable flooding on Kamehameha V Highway near Kamalo for a short period Monday night. After lightning struck near the Paalau Power Plant’s generators, an island-wide power outage occurred for about an hour, according to Maui Electric spokeswoman Kau`i Awai-Dickson.…

Peaches on Molokai

Sunday, August 4th, 2013

Peaches on Molokai

Community Contributed

By Alton S. Arakaki, County Extension Agent

Have you ever heard of peaches grown on Molokai? Until recently, such a thing didn’t exist. But research at the Molokai Applied Research and Demonstration Farm has shown that harvesting sweet, juicy, locally-grown peaches is possible.
Apples, cherries, nectarine, apricots, plums and peaches are in a group of fruiting trees called deciduous trees.  Deciduous fruiting trees are plants that drop their leaves in the winter and require exposure to hours of chill below 45 degrees F to break leaf and flower bud dormancy, a necessary physiological change in plants to produce fruit. …

Local Schools Recycled Phone Directories

Sunday, August 4th, 2013

Berry Company News Release

Molokai schools helped a statewide effort to collect nearly 40,000 pounds of outdates telephone directories for recycling during a month-long program called Think Yellow, Go Green. The program was initiated by Hawaiian Telcom Yellow Pages and its sales agent, The Berry Company, LLC, along with schools on the islands of Hawaii, Kauai, Lanai, Maui and Molokai. This year marked the fifth annual recycling drive.

The month-long environmental awareness program was driven by strong community support and invited the local schools to compete to collect the most outdated directories for recycling. The schools had the opportunity to win cash prizes for their students’ participation in the program, and award amounts varied depending on the school’s location.…

Honoring a Hero

Thursday, August 1st, 2013

Honoring a Hero


Larry Helm, commander of the Molokai Veterans Caring for Veterans, was laid to rest in the Molokai Veterans Cemetery with full military honors last Saturday. Helm died on June 19 and his life was celebrated on his 71st birthday. Photo by Catherine Cluett…

Aha Moku Revitalization

Thursday, August 1st, 2013

Aha Kiole o Molokai News Release

The `Aha Moku began from an ancient Molokai system used on all islands dating from the 9th century as translated from oral histories. Called the `Aha Kiole, this land/ocean resource management system helped each island community maintain its resources through a community consultation process (Kaimikaua).  The konohiki and experts in various disciplines of natural resource knowledge convened regularly in order to assess and deal with needs of the ecosystem.

Today, the system used to manage our resources is a Western approach governed by laws that reach across the state as single purpose. This is very different from the way the `Aha Kiole relied on observations by locals of their own areas, and allowed for adjustments to be made for healthy local ecosystem requirements.…

Awards for Landscape Sustainability

Thursday, August 1st, 2013

Awards for Landscape Sustainability

LICH News Release

The first landscape sustainability award in Hawaii is being held to showcase landscape projects that are in harmony with the natural environment, resulting in ecological regeneration with improved social and public health outcomes. The awards are being organized by the Landscape Industry Council of Hawaii (LICH) and entries are being accepted online at hawaiiscape.com/awards until August 30.

A big part of sustainable landscapes is incorporating cultural techniques for land management — a form of cultural sustainability, and Molokai has a strong history of understanding the importance and value of cultural landscapes and fighting to preserve what makes Molokai so special, according to LICH president Chris Dacus.…