Categorized | News, Sci-Tech

Registration deadline for Nahelehele workshops

MEDIA RELEASE

Registration closes Friday, Feb. 13, for Nahelehele Dry Forest Symposium workshops to be held Feb. 26 in Kailua-Kona. The three hands-on workshops will feature outplanting techniques, preservation and handling of native seeds and native plant pests and diseases.

Aalii is a common native plant that can be used effectively in reforestation projects, for firebreaks, and in home landscaping projects.  It is easy to grow and is beautiful in the wild as well as in leis and wreaths. (Photo courtesy of The Kohala Center)

Aalii is a common native plant that can be used effectively in reforestation projects, for firebreaks, and in home landscaping projects. It is easy to grow and is beautiful in the wild as well as in leis and wreaths. (Photo courtesy of The Kohala Center)

 

Molokai conservationist Bill Garnett, Puu Waawaa Coordinator Mike Donoho, and Kahoolawe Restoration Manager Paul Higashino will conduct the planting techniques workshop. Participants will learn about deep watering, double dibbles, mulching with vegetation and rocks, shading, catchment/watering strategies and more. This workshop will be held at the Uhiuhi enclosure/makai Puu Waawaa.

Scot Nelson and J. B. Friday of CTAHR and others will discuss native plant pests and diseases. This hands-on workshop will cover plant diseases caused by plant pathogens such as fungi, bacteria, nemtodes, etc. It will also cover insect pests. There will be diseased and pest-infested plants for participants to examine, and information about how to care for sick plants and how they respond to pesticides.

Jill Wagner, coordinator of the Hawaii Island Native Seed Bank Cooperative, will discuss and show participants how to handle and preserve native seeds and discuss their use in large-scale broadcast restoration projects. 

The seed workshop will be an opportunity for participants to work on seed preparation for storage in the Hawaii Island Native Seed Bank Cooperative seed bank. Native seeds will be cleaned and prepared for storage.

Following the workshops Friday, Feb. 27, the Nahelehele Dry Forest Symposium will bring together researchers, conservationists and the public to share ideas on how to keep dry forest habitats healthy and how to restore them where possible. This year, the conference will emphasize the human impact on Hawaiian dry forests.   

Bill Garnett will explore the role of gardening and landscaping techniques in native forest restoration. Garnett is an Endangered Plant Horticulturalist on Molokai who assists Kalaupapa National Historic Park, Molokai Land Trust and the watershed partnership with their rare plant stabilization and restoration efforts. Garnett, for the last 24 years, has worked to prevent the extinction of some of Hawaii’s most endangered plants and reintroduce them into protected habitat.

Dr. David Burney, Director of Conservation at the National Tropical Botanical Garden, will talk about Hawaii before humans. Burney’s research at over a dozen sites in the Hawaiian Islands has helped scientists and conservationists to visualize prehuman Hawaiian environments and their subsequent changes after human arrival. 

Sabra Kauka, a Hawaiian-studies teacher and ethnobotanist on Kauai, will talk about Hawaii with humans. She will highlight a nature conservation and cultural preservation project at Nualolo Kai on the Na Pali coast of Kauai.

National Tropical Botanical Garden Director and CEO Chipper Wichman will discuss NTBG’s role in restoring native Hawaiian forests. 

Kahoolawe Island restoration manager Paul Higashino will share planting techniques and lessons learned on this arid and severely eroded island. The native plants on Kahoolawe were decimated by overgrazing and bombing during and after WWII. The island is now being revegetated with native plant species. 

A panel of restoration experts from the U.S. Army’s Pohakuloa Training Area will present details of PTA’s endangered species restoration program and work ongoing at their nursery. Many native Hawaiian plants are found within PTA, including eight endangered species. U.S. Department of Agriculture soils expert David Clausnitzer will talk about the characteristics of soils associated with Hawaiian dry forests. Insect specialists Steve Montgomery, Pat Conant and others will discuss the role of native and introduced insects in Hawaiian dry forests.

For registration and information, call Jan Stenberg at The Kohala Center at 887-6411 or visit www.kohalacenter.org/nahele09.html. Registration for the workshops is $25 each ($15 for the seed workshop). Workshop participation is limited to 40 for planting techniques and plant diseases and 15 for the seed workshop. As of Feb. 5, all workshops were more than 50 percent full. No workshop registrations will be accepted after Feb. 13.

The Dry Forest Symposium is 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Outrigger Keauhou Beach Hotel. Symposium registration, including lunch, is $50. After Feb. 13, symposium registration increases to $65.

The symposium is a project of Ka Ahahui O ka Nahelehele, a non-profit organization dedicated to dry forest conservation. Partners in sponsoring this conference are the Outrigger Keauhou Beach Hotel, National Tropical Botanical Garden, Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization, The Kohala Center, Kamehameha Schools-LAD, Leonard Bisel Associates, LLC and Bishop Museum’s Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden.

— Find out more:

 Kathy Frost, Nahelehele Symposium Chairwoman; Phone: 325-6885; E-mail: kjfrost@hawaii.rr.com; Registration & Information: The Kohala Center, 887-6411; Web Site: www.kohalacenter.org/nahele09.html

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