Panel discusses how ancestral knowledge can guide Lahaina rebuilding following 2023 wildfire

Hundreds gathered at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa for the 2024 Piʻo Summit: Hulihia: Fire and Rain, a free series of forums focused on leveraging ancestral ʻike (knowledge) to support long-term recovery efforts for communities affected by the Lahaina wildfires and the 2018 Kauaʻi floods.

“Piʻo summits were created to highlight ancestral innovation and the need for courageous leadership to solve the complex problems of our time,” said Kamanamaikalani Beamer, who is the Dana Naone Hall Endowed Chair in Hawaiian Studies, Literature and the Environment at UH Mānoa Hawaiʻinuākeaand a professor at Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies and the William S. Richardson School of Law. “Aloha ʻāina (love of the land) is advancing efforts all across Hawaiʻi, and this is about us galvanizing that movement here at the university.”

Award-winning vocalist and UH Mānoa music alumna Raiatea Helm opened the summit with mele aloha ʻāina, grounding the event in songs of love for the land. Her performance connected the audience to cherished places like Oʻahu, Piʻihonua within Hilo’s uplands and Kalamaʻula on Molokaʻi, where her roots lie.

A panel on Lahaina’s recovery brought together experts to discuss the devastating August 2023 wildfires and paths forward. Community leader Kekai Keahi, UH Mānoa law professor Kapua Sproat, and UH Mānoa ecosystem fire specialist Clay Trauernicht explored how climate change heightens wildfire risks and how ancestral knowledge can inform Lahaina’s rebuilding.

“He aliʻi ka ʻāina, he kauwā ke kanaka — the land is the chief, we are the stewards,” Beamer emphasized. “A great example is restoration of streams. When we restore streams we restore the life and ecosystems of that stream system. But it also re-greens the ʻāina, so places in like Lahaina, when the streams were flowing, when Lahaina was the so-called ‘Venice of the Pacific,’ wildfires wouldn’t steep through.” 

Another panel highlighted resilience in Kauaʻi’s north shore community of Hāʻena after catastrophic flooding in 2018. Leaders Chipper Wichman, Lei Wann and Billy Kinney shared how ʻohana (family) bonds and cultural heritage sustained recovery efforts and preserved community identity.

Hosted by Pōʻai Ke Aloha ʻĀina, a project of the Dana Naone Hall chair, the summit spotlighted how UH fosters aloha ʻāina practices to address modern challenges.

Sponsors included UH Research, Native Hawaiian Student Services, Hawaiʻinuākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge, Ulupono Initiative, Ka Huli Ao and the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi.