New Film Highlights Kawela Restoration Project 

Photo by Kelly Pauole

By Jack Kiyonaga, Editor

A new short film, “I Ola Ka ‘Aina,” looks at the culmination of more than 20 years of land restoration work in Kawela aimed at protecting Molokai’s reefs. Created by Matt Yamashita, the 15-minute film documents the efforts of The Nature Conservancy, U.S. Geological Survey, Molokai residents and more to solve the problem of erosion runoff in Kawela.

Lying at the base of Molokai’s southern coast, is the largest fringing coral reef in the U.S. For years, it has been the recipient of thousands of tons of erosion annually – resulting in murky, sediment-suffused water detrimental to the health of the coral reef and larger ecosystem.

But now, that reality could be slowly changing. A water quality study in the area below Kawela undertaken by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) starting back in 2023 revealed a sizable decrease in the amount of sedimentation. Even with the biblical rains of January 2023, TNC measured an eight percent improvement in water quality, along with new coral heads starting to show up. This progress has been attributed to the years of creative land management work undertaken in Kawela.

Once called a “moonscape,” because it was nearly fully denuded of vegetation, Kawela looks very different today than it did 20 years ago.

In 2006, Kawela sat at a shocking one percent vegetative cover. According to the film, the biggest change for Kawela came in 2009 after experimenting with fencing and goat management. Now, thanks to the combination of goat reduction and protective fencing, Kawela is at a much more comfortable 80 percent vegetative cover, with native plants making up 75 percent of this new coverage.

The return of these plants to Kawela has meant that thousands of tons less of mud are flowing onto Molokai’s reef every year.

“We’ve seen a lot of positives from the work that’s been going on…But, there’s still a lot of work to be done,” explained Russell Kallstrom from TNC Molokai.

The I Ola Ka ‘Aina film project was started after the results of TNC’s 2023 water survey.

“We wanted to capture that story,” explained Emily Fielding, Hawaii Marine Conservation Director for TNC. To this effort, they enlisted the help of Yamashita, Molokai’s own Emmy award winning filmmaker.

Working within a tight timeline, Yamashita lined up shooting days and interviews to create the fifteen-minute film.

Sitting down with a combination of Molokai fishermen, hunters, resource managers and more to tell the story of Kawela’s dramatic transformation, Yamashita explained that he was “stoked” to be tapped for the job.

“It’s a really important project,” said Yamashita. “The work they’ve been doing up there is going to be super important for addressing other parts of our island and state.”

For Yamashita, the film was also a chance to improve his own knowledge of these resource management projects.

“I didn’t know half of what I thought I knew about Kawela until I worked on this project…It serves as an example of what can be done,” he explained, “in taking one of the most impacted areas on our island and turning it around.”

The short film debuted at Kaunakakai Elementary School on Jan. 13 to approximately 100 Molokai residents. It will air in segments on Outside Hawaii and is also available on TNC’s YouTube channel.