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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSTU.24-02 - Midterm Photos Pōhāhā I Ka Lani Waipiʻo Valley Lookout Stewardship Program Photos for July 1, 2024 – December 31, 2024 P.O. Box 412 Kurtistown, HI 96760 Website: www.pohahaikalani.com Email: pohahaikalani@gmail.com During this time period, Pōhāhā I Ka Lani has hosted a large amount of groups. Provided in this document are the photos and short descriptions of the groups. For each group, we communicate with group leaders, families signing up and worked with group leaders prior to ensure we are able to build a curriculum that will be fitting for each class/group. Forms collected, photos taken, records kept for documentation. Purchasing of food, snacks, drinks, paper goods, supplies, extra tools (as needed). Either we or our parents would drove to Kona to be able to purchase food in bulk when we have larger groups to feed. Our team is responsible for washing gloves after each use (after group hostings), wash table clothes, clean tables, benches, and tools. Each load of gloves and table clothes cost about $11 to wash and dry. Then it takes time to put gloves in pairs. First Aid kits refilled and replaced as needed. Post communication with group leaders. Since it is free labor that groups provide, and since many groups are with kids who are very hungry, we have been feeding groups even though there is no funding to cover this expense through PONC. The expense of washing and drying gloves and table clothes (in different loads) is also an expense that we need to cover on our own. Costs to cover food, drinks, snacks, and expenses for taking gloves and table clothes to the laundromat adds up with each group. 15 Groups Hosted in July 2024 To help with the growth of gardens at Koaʻekea (Waipi’o Valley Lookout PONC parcel), we have been hauling wood chips from another parcel we are stewarding. Trailer loads of mulch has been brought to the parcel to help with keeping weeds down and provide moisture since we do not have access to water on the lookout parcel. This is an expense that we have been covering on our own as we need to clean up all the uprooted and leaning eucalyptus trees on the parcels we are stewarding from Kamehameha Schools (almost 2200 acres). We don’t have any grants nor do we get funds from Kamehameha Schools to help with cleaning up many uprooted and leaning trees. July 1, 2, 3, 2024 were spent on chipping trees and wood chips hauled over to Koa’ekea (Waipi’o Valley Lookout PONC parcel). Since a male has been picking the flowers we are growing at the PONC site daily, we have been growing flowers at another site that we are stewarding to allow us to make lei (s). These lei (s) are being used for our programs associated with the PONC site. We have been trying to go early with school children to pick the flowers at the PONC site but the County rangers tell us that the male that comes to the PONC parcel daily to harvest items gets the flowers before we arrive. We have asked the male who takes the flowers daily if he could stop but he continues to come and take. The rangers also asked him to stop but he doesn’t listen. This male hasn’t helped us at any of our volunteer days since 2016 but has been coming to take items throughout the years. *Photos below were taken on July 4, 2024 but this type of hana happens on-going to mulch down bamboo clumps that have been regrowing in the back section. We also had a chipper on the property to chip the avocado and mango branches, and younger chocolate albizia trees. We utilized the excavator and forestry mulcher to mulch down regrowth of bamboo and guinea grass on the parcel. This section is on the back part of the parcel. This area was also cleared with the forestry mulcher attached to an excavator. This section is the lower part of the parcel where we cleared out the lunch wagon and a Banyan Tree that was growing out of the lunch wagon. A few abandoned vehicles were also cleared from this part of the property. July 4: Families from Hilo and Puna helped us with raking up areas after the forestry mulcher mulched bamboo and guinea grass. We also cleaned up the mess of banana trees. July 9, 2024 Group of Visitors With this particular group, we shared mo’olelo, place names and history of Waipi’o Valley and surrounding area. We taught them about different plants and their uses. They assisted us with cleaning up banana trees and vetiver area. July 10, 2024 Youth Summer Program *We don’t have photos of this group included but they were young children who came to Waipi’o Valley Lookout Parcel to hear mo’olelo, learn about the history of the area and help to mālama ʻāina. July 11, 2024 With the help of 16 Hawaiʻi island residents we worked around the fencing area in which we oiled the posts and weeded along the fenced area. July 12 & 13 2024 Summer Youth Program 14 individuals helped with weeding and mulching. Examples of how we set up tents, tables, benches and utilize table clothes to place lunch, snacks and drinks for volunteers. For 6 years we have been covering costs to clean up uprooted and leaning eucalyptus trees throughout 2100+ acres. No funds from KS or grants to help with these expenses. Lots of mulch from trees we have been chipping has been taken over to the PONC site to benefit the PONC gardens. Our 5 year old daughter featured in this photo has been a steady helper along with her siblings. She was only 2 weeks old when she needed to start coming to Koa’ekea to host groups. Our 14 year old daughter has been helping since she was 6 years old. On this day, volunteers were taught how to make puakenikeni lei utilizing flowers we gathered at our grandfatherʻs garden. These are giant puakenikeni flowers. 07/14/24 13 individuals from Hawaiʻi island helped us with weeding the garden area below the rangerʻs kiosk. 07/15/24 & 07/16/24 14 Families from Puna and Hilo volunteered to dig out guinea grass. 07/19/25 12 Hawai’i island residents came to Koa’ekea to hear mo’olelo and then helped with weeding the gardens and planted orchids. This group stayed with us for 4 hours but only 2 hours were dedicated to tending to the land. A value of $600 of in-kind services. July 22, 2024 Sam Houston University: We shared moʻolelo, history and they assisted with mālama ʻāina. July 26, 2024 A group that Lanakila shared mo’olelo to (from O’ahu), utilized the PONC site. We also hosted a group that was from Kea’au High School and families from Hilo, Puna, & Hāmākua. 5 Groups Hosted in August 2024 August 1, 2024 16 Hawai’i island volunteers helping to make areas more safer and removing rocks that were sticking out of the ground. We worked for 2 hours. $800 of in-kind services. Below (August 5, 2024) is an example of the type of dogs that are running around and coming on to the PONC parcel. With this, we were hopeful to close up gaps of fencing as some of our volunteers are uncomfortable with packs of dogs coming on to the parcel while they are volunteering. One of the females who we contracted to help us on the parcel, she was attacked by one of the dogs when she was walking along the road. On this August 5, we had 9 volunteers who worked for 3 hours and dug out guinea grass clumps around the trees that are growing in the front part of the parcel. A total of $675 of in-kind services. August 6, 2024 15 Volunteers from Puna helped us with cleaning weeds around fenced area in the front of the property. They helped for 2 hours. $750 worth of in-kind. We needed to cancel a few groups that was signed up to be hosted at the rimlands and relocate groups to be hosted at Koaʻekea as poison was heavily sprayed all along the Hāmākua ditch and by our gardens on the KS and private lands we are stewarding. Since they are shooting poison from the road area and shooting poison across the ditch, we didnʻt feel comfortable with having people work in that area. Our garden area was also heavily sprayed with poison so we couldn’t take groups to that location as well. August 16 & 17, 2024 13 Hawai’i island residents helped with cleaning up banana trees that someone had cut down. We cut the banana trees into sections and used it for mulch. We cut down brown leaves from the banana trees and used it for mulch. Dug up guinea grass clumps. Shared mo’olelo and history and the group worked for 2 hours. As we do with our other groups, we provided lunch, snacks and drinks to volunteers. A total of $650 in-kind services per day. August 24 & 25, 2024 there was a lot of heavy rains so we needed to cancel our groups for these days as we have no shelter to offer on the PONC parcel. Ending part of August and beginning of September 2024, our team needed to do major clean up of eucalyptus trees. Picture below was taken at the beginning stages of cleaning one of the side roads. Each arborist cleaned up a minimum of 60 trees in this road alone (in one day). Clean up efforts are taking a lot of effort and costing us a lot. Benefits to Koaʻekea is we haul over wood chips from these trees to the site. 5 Groups Hosted in September 2024 September 14, 2024: Hosted an English class from HCC and a couple community members at Koaʻekea in which we shared moʻolelo, history and place names. In exchange, they assisted us with mālama ʻāina efforts. A total of $825 of in-kind services. *No pictures of this group at Koaʻekea. September 22, 2024: Anthropology Class from UHH. A total of 60 hours collectively for a total $1500 of in-kind services. September 23, 2024: 5 Hawaii County VISTAʻs & 1 Kona resident helped us with weeding in the back portion of the parcel. $375 in-kind September 25, 2024: OHA Trustees and Staff Members, we shared moʻolelo, history of the area and progress for our projects. We began the day at Koa’ekea. September 28, 2024: Kainani Kahaunaeleʻs Class from UHH. We shared moʻolelo, place names, & history. The group assisted with mālama ʻāina projects. $1900 in-kind services. Kainaniʻs class helped in different sections of the PONC parcel. *Families came multiple times in September to help mālama ʻāina but asked not to have their photos included. 8 Groups Hosted in October 2024 October 5, 2024 Hawaiʻi island residents volunteers drove over from Kona to help plant mamaki, ʻōhiʻa and other native and endemic trees. 10 individuals providing a total of $750 in-kind services. October 6, 2024 Hawaiʻi island residents volunteers drove over from Kona to help remove guinea grass to make ready for future planting. 10 individuals providing a total of $750 in-kind services. October 7 & 9, 2024 Hawaiʻi island residents 16 individuals helped to spread mulch, relocate weed mats, weed garden below kiosk. Each day (X2) these individuals provided $800 worth of in-kind services. October 10, 2024 Honoka’a Families helped to clean up area to prepare for a gathering we held later in the month. 23 individuals came to mālama ʻāina. A total of $1150 in-kind services. October 11, 2024 Honokaʻa Families helped to clean up area to prepare for a gathering we held later in the month. 17 individuals came to mālama ʻāina. A total of $850 in-kind services. October 26, 2024 HCC Geography Class & ʻOhana Members Above: ʻŌhiʻa lehua (2 types) growing on old eucalyptus tree stump. We also planted different ferns and maile on the stump. Below: This area was overgrown with bamboo, 14 mango trees that were growing too close together, an avocado tree, pine trees and ficus trees. Doing our best to clean out the area, and leveling the space to make it easy to care for and safety reasons. October 27, 2024 Community Gathering: First focused on caring for the ‘āina in the early part of the morning then around lunch time we held activities such as carving Pumpkins, games, storytelling. As we did with previous years, we grew pumpkins at another parcel and donated to families to carve and to take home to prepare meals with pumpkins. For this particular gathering, we provided lunch, snacks and drinks like we do with other groups but we also purchased extra treats for the keiki. Gatherings such as this was covered by us as these types of community gatherings are not what PONC can help support. 7 Groups Hosted In November 2024 November 9, 2024 22 Hawaiʻi Island Residents helped with digging clumps out around trees in front section of the property. November 15, 2024 Ms. Honma & students from Honokaʻa School helped with garden below kiosk. November 16, 2024 11 inidividuals from Honokaʻa helping us to plant ʻahu ʻawa, kalo and ʻōhiʻa. Weeded around banana trees. November 17, 2024 15 inidividuals from Honokaʻa helping us to plant ʻahu ʻawa, kalo and ʻōhiʻa. Weeded around banana trees. Novebember 23, 2024 11 inidividuals from Honokaʻa helping us to plant hāpai variety of bananas, & mulching bananas. November 24, 2024 12 inidividuals from Honokaʻa helping us dig up trash from back section of the parcel. Dug out guinea grass clumps, and mulched. Photos above shows the removal of some of the trees that were growing in the back of the parcel. This heavy duty clearing in the back of the parcel happened throughout December. Those we contracted cleared trees and our volunteers helped with weeding around areas where trees were removed. The photos above features Honokaʻa residents who came to work with us throughout December in which we mainly focused on the back portion of Koaʻekea. Honokaʻa residents came to help with the back portion of Koaʻekea on December 4, 6, 11, 13, 18, 20, 24, 25, & 31, 2024 Through the help of these individuals (some being contracted while others chose to volunteer), we are now able to mow the grass all the way up to the fencing in the back portion of the property. All bamboo clumps have been removed, trees that werenʻt doing so well have been removed and chipped.