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Environment & Ecology

FoodCorps Seeks Volunteers

Wednesday, February 27th, 2013

FoodCorps Seeks Volunteers

FoodCorps News Release

The national FoodCorps is recruiting service members throughout Hawai‘i who are passionate about healthy food, farms and kids to help connect our keiki to real food and help them grow up healthy. Sust `aina ble Molokai, the grassroots community organization that educates keiki to bring back Molokai’s legacy of `aina momona, will be a service site for two members.

FoodCorps, a national organization addressing childhood obesity and food insecurity in underserved communities, operates in 12 states and will add Hawai`i, California and New Jersey this year. The Kohala Center will be the Hawai`i host site.

FoodCorps is accepting applications for its third class of service members and is seeking to hire ten service members in Hawai‘i.…

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State of the County Address

Thursday, February 21st, 2013

The following is Mayor Alan Arakawa’s state of the county address, which he delivered February 20 at the Baldwin High School Auditorium at 5 p.m. Check back soon for some comments from Mayor Arakawa about Molokai specifically. 

 

Aloha and good evening.

Please join me in giving Mr. Dean Wong a round of applause. He had some large shoes to fill in taking over emcee duties this year and he’s done a fine job.

Our last two State of the County events were emceed by the late

Martin Luna, a friend to this administration and our community.

Of course it is impossible not to think of Martin now as we begin tonight.…

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Plant and Bird Life Rebounds on Molokai

Sunday, February 17th, 2013

Plant and Bird Life Rebounds on Molokai

The Nature Conservancy News Release

Fragile sand dunes of Moʻomomi on Molokai, once overrun with alien kiawe thickets, are blooming with new native growth.

A 14-year passive restoration program by The Nature Conservancy and the Molokai Land Trust is letting the blue blossoms of paʻu o Hiʻiaka and the yellow flowers of  ʻilima bloom amid the spiky native ʻaki ʻaki and shimmering hinahina. These blossoms are on dunes that once held single-species thickets of kiawe, a legume brought to Hawai`i to support cattle ranching.

“Kiawe transforms the ecosystem,” said Russell Kallstrom, graphical information system coordinator for the Conservancy’s Molokaʻi Program. “It forms dense thickets.…

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NOAA Proposal Aims to Save Coral

Wednesday, February 6th, 2013

NOAA Proposal Aims to Save Coral

The south shore of Molokai boasts one of the largest fringing coral reefs in Hawaii, providing a home for fish, a draw for tourism, shelter from ocean storms, and sustenance for the local economy. Coral is fragile, though, and biologists fear these valuable organisms could be extinct by the year 2100. This is why the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) proposed to list 66 species of coral as endangered or threatened, an action that could protect the island’s reef.

Of the 66 species that NOAA may soon list as threatened or endangered, three exist in Hawaii, and two – montipora patula and montipora flabellata– call the Molokai area home.…

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Mac Poepoe Gets Conservation Award

Sunday, January 27th, 2013

Mac Poepoe Gets Conservation Award

Uncle Mac Poepoe has spent a lifetime putting traditional fishing practices and resource management into action on Molokai’s northern coast. And for that, he was honored last week with the 2013 Umu Kai Award. Established in 2008 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries Pacific Islands Region, the award recognizes Native Hawaiian practitioners’ contributions to modern fisheries conservation.

As a fisherman and educator, Poepoe’s goal is to pass on to youth what he calls “Hawaiian science” — or “the stuff we observe.”

“Ultimately, our success will be determined by the next generation,” said Poepoe. “It’s not about what degree you have but what you teach [youth].”…

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Land Trust Ownership of Mokio Preserve Finalized

Thursday, January 24th, 2013

Land Trust Ownership of Mokio Preserve Finalized

 

Molokai Land Trust News Release

Molokai Land Trust (MLT) has received the deed to Mokio Preserve, 1,719 acres of some of the most pristine and environmentally sensitive land on Molokai. The land was gifted by Molokai Properties Limited (MPL), also known as Molokai Ranch, in April 2008.

Mokio stretches along the north shore of Molokai between Mo`omomi Preserve boundary and the state’s Ilio Point parcel. The preserve encompasses five miles of remote and rugged coastline, with significant subsistence gathering areas and an extensive tidal pool system. The area has numerous koa or fishing shrines intact with offerings, as well as large ancient adze quarries.…

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Nominate a Big Tree

Friday, January 18th, 2013

Nominate a Big Tree

DLNR News Release

Do you know of a tree you’ve always thought was special? Now’s the opportunity to recognize it by nominating it for the National Big Trees Competition. Anyone can nominate a native or culturally important tree from 21 currently-eligible species in Hawaii. Last year, two coconut trees at Molokai’s Kapuaiwa Coconut Beach Park were among six trees in the state that gained national titles.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) invites the public to help Hawaii compete in American Forests’ National Big Tree Program. The Big Tree Program seeks the largest trees of their species in the U.S.…

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Molokai Mom on a Mission: Fugitive Dust Storm

Sunday, November 25th, 2012

Community Contributed

Opinion by Mercy Ritte

Friday, Nov. 9th at 12:46 p.m. marked the largest, most disturbing, fugitive dust “storm” ever seen in Ho`olehua. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), fugitive dust is dust generated from open sources such as unpaved roads and agricultural tilling operations.

On this particular day, the prevailing trades had picked up, blowing over Monsanto’s recently disturbed and exposed land, lifting massive amounts of dust into the air and sending it miles and miles across the landscape, beginning from the Kualapu`u reservoir to Mahana stretch near the airport. I had never seen anything like it before.…

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NOAA Seeks Community Monk Seal Feedback

Wednesday, November 7th, 2012

With only a little more than 1,000 left in the world, the Hawaiian monk seal is one of the rarest marine mammals. Studies have shown that there are approximately 200 seals living on or around the Main Hawaiian Islands, with about 40 on Molokai. Even though their numbers are dwindling, their presence has caused conflict with divers and fishermen near shore, some of whom believe the seals are competing with them for fish. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries aims to not only protect endangered species like the Hawaiian monk seal, but also to conduct research in hopes of furthering understanding in communities in which they live.…

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Caring for Koheo

Wednesday, October 17th, 2012

Caring for Koheo

Wetland serves as learning grounds for community

At the end of Seaside Place in Kaunakakai, tucked behind a string of houses along Molokai’s southern shoreline, is what might appear to be a large, vacant lot. For years, this site was used as a dump, but through the efforts of Nene O Molokai, a nonprofit organization led by wildlife biologist Arleone Dibben-Young, the area has been cleaned up over the past 10 years and restored to what it is today –the Koheo Wetland. It is now home to dozens of species of native shorebirds, including one of the rarest shorebirds in the world and Kaunakakai’s official bird, the kioea, also known as the bristle-thighed curlew.…

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