• Failure notice from provider:
    Connection Error:http_request_failed

  • Submission Deadlines

    Advertising

    Thursday 4pm

    January 1, 2026

    Content

    Friday 4pm

    December 26, 2025

    To print on:

    Wednesday

    December 31, 2025

  • Join us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Google Plus Subscribe via RSS

Environment

News stories regarding Molokai’s outdoor environment

The Poop Scoop

Wednesday, October 30th, 2013

What happens after you flush

You flush your toilet an average of five times per day, but have you ever wondered what happens once it leaves the porcelain throne? By the time it reaches the end of the sewer line and completes a lengthy purifying process, not only is your wastewater cleaner than it started, but one more thing is clear. The wastewater facility workers who sort through the thick of it, surface with this message: If you think you can dispose of your strangest unmentionables down the drain, you’re wrong. If any of your sewer pipes are damaged, a trenched sewer line replacement may be necessary.…

Posted in , , , comments1 Comments

Molokai Represented at World Wilderness Congress

Wednesday, October 30th, 2013

Molokai Represented at World Wilderness Congress

Community Contributed

By Maile Naehu

Recently my husband Hano and I were invited to be delegates at the 10th World Wilderness Congress, or “Wild 10.” As we prepared for a presentation on Ocean Resource Management emphasizing fishponds, we had no idea what was in store of us in Salamanca, Spain.

On Oct. 1, we left our humble home to embark on a day and a half journey to Europe where the oldest university on the planet calls home. We arrived to a primarily Spanish speaking land until we met up with the other thousand or so delegates from around the globe.…

Posted in , , comments1 Comments

Kiawe Beans Pods Not Just Food For Livestock

Monday, October 28th, 2013

Kiawe Beans Pods Not Just Food For Livestock

Community Contributed

By Mercy Ritte

As you know, our kiawe trees produce an abundance of bean pods every year. Not only is it a nutritious food source for livestock, but also for people. In its native lands, dried kiawe bean pods ground into meal or flour is considered a staple food. It is very delicious and adds a sweet nutty taste to breads, pancakes, muffins, cakes and cookies. It is also gluten free, GMO free, highly nutritious, diabetic friendly and can be used to make syrup, jelly, tea, milk, and wine. Unlike wheat that digests within one to two hours, kiawe takes four to six hours to digest, resulting in delay of hunger pangs.…

Posted in , , , , , commentsAdd your comment

Pumpkin Pickin

Saturday, October 19th, 2013

Pumpkin Pickin

For the past five years, Molokai residents have had the chance to celebrate the autumn tradition of pumpkin picking thanks to the efforts of Heart of Aloha Church. The pumpkin patch in Kualapu`u, tended by church members throughout the summer, was filled families picking out their favorite bright, orange prize last Saturday. The Pick a Pumpkin Day also featured a wagon ride for keiki (pictured here), food for sale and free kids shoes being given away.

Church member Linda Ching said she brought the idea to Heart of Aloha after seeing families on Oahu picking pumpkins and wanting to bring a similar opportunity to Molokai.…

Posted in , , commentsAdd your comment

Water Conservation and Irrigation Workshop

Saturday, October 19th, 2013

UH CTAHR Molokai Extension News Release

There aren’t too many things in Hawaii we measure in the billions.  The size of the state’s economy is about $67 billion, the volcano at the Hawaii Volcano National Park produces about 6.4 billion cubic feet of lava per day and the 100-acre Molokai Irrigation System reservoir has a storage capacity of 1.2 billion gallons.  But if we want to see 50 percent of Molokai that is dry almost all year round to green up, it will require 389.6 billion gallons of water per year.  That is because Molokai has the highest recorded annual average pan evaporation rate in the state, at 118 inches per year according to historic data in DNLR reference “Pan Evaporation: State of Hawaii 1894-1983.” …

Posted in , , , , , comments1 Comments

Mana`e Moku Community Meeting

Saturday, October 19th, 2013

Community Contributed

By Walter Ritte, Aha Kiole Planning and Consultation

The second meeting regarding the Mana`e Watershed Plan, which calls for extensive fencing of our mountains from Kapualei to Halawa, will be held Friday, Oct. 25. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. at Kilohana.

The first Mana`e Moku meeting was well-attended, and presentations were made explaining that the government and private landowners have formed a partnership to manage our mountains. A draft plan has been submitted and now community participation and input is needed.

The draft plan calls for the “improvement and protection of the existing watershed” in our mountains, relying on fencing as the primary solution.…

Posted in , , , , , commentsAdd your comment

Backyard Aquaponics

Saturday, October 19th, 2013

Community Contributed

By Paul Fischer

“Aquaponics” is a combination of “aquaculture,” or the farming of fish, and “hydroponics,” which refers to growing plants in water.  The crops help each other; the plants remove waste from the water, while fish fertilize the plants.  After some research, I decided to try this for myself.

I used an oval livestock trough for my fish tank, and a lined wooden tray filled with gravel  on top to hold the plants.  A very small fountain pump on a timer periodically floods the tray with water from the fish tank, keeping the plants wet and filtering the water through the gravel medium.  …

Posted in , commentsAdd your comment

It’s Wedgie Season

Wednesday, October 16th, 2013

Nene o Molokai News Release

October and November is fledging season for uau kani, when young birds fledge to a life at sea.  Wedge-tailed shearwaters (Puffinus pacificus), or “wedgies,” are part of a mixed flock of seabirds that commercial fishermen rely upon to locate schools of ahi and other marketable fish. Adult birds leave coastal colonies at dawn to feed on fish and return after dark. Behavior while in these colonies is generally nocturnal and throughout the night birds emit weird moans, groans and loud screams, thus they are nicknamed the “moaning bird.”

Seabirds were held in high esteem by ancient Hawaiians.…

Posted in , , , , commentsAdd your comment

Molokai Irrigation System: Safe for drinking?

Wednesday, October 16th, 2013

Opinion by Walter Ritte

Molokai Ranch has decided not to build its own drinking water delivery line from its Well 17 to Maunaloa and Kaluakoi residents. The pure Well 17 ground water is put into the Molokai Irrigation System (MIS), which uses a large open-air agriculture reservoir. The water then goes into the MIS transmission line past the airport to Mahana. It is then pumped up the hill into another open-air reservoir and treated through a sand filter before being delivered to west end residents.

A dangerous situation now exists, as the open air MIS is now surrounded by Monsanto’s GMO fields.…

Posted in , , , , commentsAdd your comment

For the Love of Limes

Wednesday, October 16th, 2013

Community Contributed

By Joe Kennedy

Limes can be easily propagated through a technique called air layering. Limes can also help prevent cancer. If you want to look at it another way, your garden is a combination pharmaceutical drugstore and neighborhood produce market, even with just a few plants involved.

Let’s just look at one issue, cancer. Science now tells us, in regard to the ongoing vast study of super foods, that there are all kinds of fruits, veggies and herbs that help the body heal itself and prevent disease. There are three main foods that help prevent cancer — limes, Concord grapes and arugula.…

Posted in , , commentsAdd your comment