Pono Pacific runs volunteer day for ua‘u habitat restoration on Lāna‘i

Pono Pacific Land Management, LLC (Pono Pacific), Hawai‘i’s largest private natural resource conservation company, in partnership with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and Pūlama Lāna‘i, recently hosted a volunteer ua‘u (Hawaiian petrel) habitat restoration event on Lāna‘i to celebrate World Conservation Day.

Over a dozen Pono Pacific staff and volunteers spent the day at Pūlama Lāna‘i’s 85-acre Hi‘i Subunit, within the Lāna‘i Hale Watershed Protection Unit, working to restore critical upland mesic forest and protect native wildlife. The team worked on clearing invasive vegetation, out-planting native species, and learning about the unique ecosystem that is home to the largest population of Hawaiian petrels on the island and a third of the entire population statewide.

“It was interesting to learn that this small area on the island of Lāna‘i, we are helping to restore a nesting habitat to one of the largest populations of Hawaiian petrels in the entire state,” said volunteer Keoki Leong. “We don’t typically think of seabirds nesting so far upland, but it’s a reminder of how connected our islands ecosystems really are, mauka to makai.”

Event participants completed sanitation measures to prevent introducing weeds and diseases, hiked in over two dozen ‘ōhi‘a seedlings, water jugs, and tools, and presented an oli “Hanohano Lāna‘i” upon entering the forest. Clearing and chipping waiwī (strawberry guava) was a huge focus because the invasive trees have tremendous negative impacts on Hawai‘i’s watersheds. The highlight of the event for many was being able to outplant ‘ōhi‘a propagated and grown by Pūlama Lāna‘i from seeds collected from parent trees on island. These outplants were watered and surrounded by mulch from the chipped strawberry guava to maintain moisture and weed suppression before the group left the site.

“It is the hope these seedlings will help to rejuvenate the native forest through continued efforts like these,” explained Pono Pacific Project Manager Lei Leong. “Pono Pacific has had the privilege of assisting Pūlama Lāna‘i in meeting their conservation goals for the island for several years.”

This project to restore Hawaiian petrel habitat was funded by a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and builds on previous work by Pono Pacific’s team to install predator-proof fencing around the entire Hi‘i Subunit.

According to Pono Pacific, predator-proof fencing’s special design prevents small predators, which are the largest threat to ground-nesting native and migratory bird species, from entering. This allows not only for the protection of birds, but also for endangered Hawaiian tree snails, and to serve as a potential re-introduction site for critically endangered plant species, whose seeds are often predated by mice.

For the next volunteer day, stay tuned with ponopacific.com.