Program on palila slated at Imiloa
Program on palila slated at Imiloa
Long gone are the days when the palila’s whistle-like call echoed repeatedly through the forest. Islanders believed it to be a sign of impending rain. Today, this distinctive call is heard only in the restricted range palila now inhabit on Mauna Kea.
Jackson Bauer, of the Mauna Kea Forest Restoration Project, will present “The Palila’s Future: Restoring a Mamane Forest on Mauna Kea” at 7 p.m. Friday at the Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaii’s planetarium. He will discuss the restoration of this rarely visited forest and its feathery inhabitants.
Bauer is the volunteer coordinator for theproject. He received his communications degree from Hawaii Pacific University and produced an award-winning documentary, “Kahoolawe: the breath of our ancestors,” featured at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington. After seven years facilitating the film and television industry while working at the Hawaii Film Office in Honolulu, Jackson moved to Maui where he spent the next four years as volunteer coordinator for the Kahoolawe Island Reserve Commission. He has also been an active leader in the Hawaii Service Trip Program leading volunteers to assist environmental conservation agencies across the state.
Ticket are $10 for nonmembers and member level discounts apply. Tickets may be prepurchased at the Imiloa front desk or by phone by calling 969-9703 during regular business hours. Tickets are nonrefundable.
The center is located at 600 Imiloa Place in Hilo. For more information,visit imiloahawaii.org or call 969-9700.
Grant to fund Milolii cultural programs
Paa Pono Milolii Inc., a non-profit 501(c)(3) dedicated to improving the lives of the residents of the Native Hawaiian fishing village of Milolii, has received a $140,000 grant from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. The grant centers around preserving culture and traditional fishing practices is for fiscal years 2013 and 2014 and begins next month.
The grant will provide cultural activities, workshops and enrichment programs for the Milolii community at large and will include traditional opelu fishing practices. Additional areas of focus for the grant will be the reintroduction of hula and the Hawaiian language, as well as the restoration of the Milolii canoes, the Hoomau and Malolo, as well as the construction of a canoe hale adjacent to the Milolii Community Enrichment and Historical Center.
Paa Pono Milolii Inc. partners include the Kua O Ka La Public Charter School, Hauoli Ka Manao Congregational Church, Kalanihale Educational nonprofit and Hooulu La Hui. Additional support from outside agencies include Conservation International, Alu Like Hoala Hou and the Queen Liliuokalani Children’s Center. The grant will be administered by Kaimi Kaupiko, a resident of Milolii and graduate of the University of Hawaii at Manoa Shilder College of Business.
For more information, call Kaupiko at 937-1310.