#Center for Maunakea Stewardship

The University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo will begin the removal of the Hōkū Keʻa Observatory on the summit of Maunakea the week of April 15, 2024. The decommissioning process that includes the restoration of the site is expected to be completed by August.

The University of Hawaiʻi reports that silversword seeds first sown at the CMS greenhouse at the Halepōhaku mid-level facility in February 2022 sprouted into more than 100 seedlings under the care of CMS staff and are currently 3-7 inches tall. Plans are to outplant the silversword in a fenced enclosure within the Maunakea Forest Reserve. 

The population of the endemic wēkiu bug, which can only be found on cinder cones on the summit of Maunakea, remains healthy according to the insect captures recorded during the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Center for Maunakea Stewardship’s annual arthropod monitoring surveys this year.

The Center for Maunakea Stewardship has managed to establish māmane and other native plants including ʻāweoweo, pawale, puakala and heʻupueo, a native grass, to enhance the native ecosystem at the VIS, which is at the 9,000 foot elevation of Maunakea.