Community

Wetland Cleanup Success

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011

About a quarter acre of invasive saltmarsh fleabane (Pluchea) was cleared by students during last week’s Koheo wetland cleanup, creating an area under a native milo tree for students on field trips to eat lunch. Michael Kikukawa (left), Luke Kikukawa, Sarah Jenkins, Lily Jenkins, Moriah Jenkins and Brian Leer (not pictured) hauled cut fleabane shrubs and stacked the green waste for pick-up by Monsanto employees. Fleabane is a nonnative woody shrub that can overgrow wetlands and eliminate habitat for waterbirds.

Arleone Dibben-Young

So They Call It a Wind Farm

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011

Dig the earth 10 to 20 feet deep, 40 feet in diameter, fill with concrete…expand the wharf so it can handle large equipment…plant 410 feet steel towers with large turbine in concrete, no need for water, no fertilizer, just wait to catch the wind…sell the energy to the electric company and get paid lots of cash. This is a wind farm.

Nana I Na Kupuna

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011

Molokai, our beloved island home, is like a vessel, a strong doubled-hulled canoe floating upon the Pacific Ocean. Those who live here are the crew, and whether we like it or not, we have all been given the kuleana to care for each other, to care for our resources and to care for our canoe, our island. 

Our resources are limited but self-replenishing, with the fragile ability to provide infinite nourishment and abundance, if properly cared for and protected. 

Our crew is diverse and strong-minded - but unified in our love for the land and sea and in our desire to leave a legacy of abundance for our children and grandchildren.

Molokai Pony Found Dying

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011

A Molokai pony was found near death from starvation and neglect on a routine veterinary visit earlier this month and he was put to sleep by the Molokai Humane Society.

The Molokai Humane Society would like to let the community know we are here to help. Let’s work together as a community to make sure this kind of death never happens on our island again. Though we have very little funding we will always help; or get you in contact with one of the many caring people on our island.

Molokai Humane Society (808) 558-0000, molokaihumanesociety.org/  

Molokai Humane Society Friends on Face book 

Matthew Goodrich,

 Vice-chair Molokai Humane Society

Heck No, Windmills Blow

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011

If the windmill park is allowed to go up, we all pay – forever. The state gets closer to its benchmark; Molokai Properties Ltd., HECO, and Pattern Energy get the profits; Honolulu gets cheap electricity; Molokai’s coral reefs get buried further; and Molokai’s people can no longer sustain themselves. 

When I say blow, I’m referring to the windblown sediment of barren land – not that there won’t also be erosion, soil compaction, and damage to native vegetation. Before cattle and large-scale agriculture there were trees and habitats for native birds.

Camera Found

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011

On Friday, March 18 I found a Canon digital camera on the pavement of Kamoi St. between the post office and the Midnight Inn parking lot. Please call Arleone at 553-5992 to describe the camera for its return. Mahalo.

Arleone Dibben-Young

Hot Potatoes

Monday, March 21st, 2011

By Glenn I. Teves, County Extension Agent

Recent studies on food security in Hawaii indicate that we don’t grow enough starches to feed ourselves, and carbohydrates are critical to our survival living in the middle of the Pacific. One overlooked crop is the Irish potato. Not new to Hawaii, the Irish potato was grown on Molokai during World War II; in the mid-1970s by Marvin Berry in the Ag Park; and more recently by Duane Craney in the old alfalfa field. And Molokai can surely grow them big. Some of Duane’s lunkers were almost a foot long and looked like clubs. The potatoes were so large that they couldn’t fit into the chipping machines and he lost the Frito-Lay contract.