Kaiser Permanente, community partners give back on MLK Jr. Day

PUU WAAWAA — Monday was a holiday, but for a collection of Big Island volunteers, it was far from a day off.

For the second straight year, around 150 Kaiser Permanente employees and members of various nonprofits from across the island dedicated their annual day of service, which falls every year on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, to reforestation efforts at the Hauaina Enclosure, part of the 40,000-acre Puu Waawaa Forest Reserve on Hawaii Island.

Volunteer efforts included four hours of weeding, planting, watering and trail building through a section of dryland forest area that conservationists said has made significant progress over the last half decade.

Mary Metcalf — who helped organize Kaiser’s efforts and is the president of Ka Ahahui O Ka Nahelehele, a nonprofit dedicated to dryland reforestation — said the initiative is crucial as climate change poses myriad ecological threats to the Hawaiian Islands in coming years.

“Right now, we only have 5 or 10 percent of dryland forest left, and what we’re doing up here is helping it come back,” she said. “These native plants that have been here for centuries, they thrive in this type of condition. So the more we can reforest with the dryland natives, the more watershed we’ll have for future. (The forest) cleans the air, gives us water, and gives us food and shelter and windbreak.”

The reforestation is a massive endeavor, and Metcalf said even four hours with the type of volunteer numbers Kaiser provided Monday has an enormous impact.

“Their help is tremendous. We’re talking hundreds of man hours here today,” she said. “The state only has half a dozen employees or so and contractors who work the land, so it’s really dependent on volunteers. Kaiser is leading the way and being great role model. If we take care of the aina, the aina will take care of us.”

The company’s annual service day wasn’t unique to Hawaii Island. According to a release from Kaiser, more than 1,000 volunteers serviced seven locations on four islands across the state as part of its holiday initiative.

Not all volunteers engaged in the same activities, but Rick Fong, a pediatrician in Kona and the physician-in-charge for the medical group on Hawaii Island, said several were undertaking environmental causes Monday.

“We chose this particular activity because we’re really trying to promote sustainability, health and Hawaiian culture,” he said.

The Hawaiian dryland forest is home to several native plants endemic to the state, including the wiliwili tree, many of which find or have found themselves on the verge of extinction.

Sheep, pigs, goats and various rodents provide increased stress to the flora in its native habitat, and conservation began with fencing off the Hauaina Enclosure. Since then, reforestation efforts have helped the endangered plants thrive across the rocky, unforgiving terrain characteristic of much of the area.

“We can really pack in these rare plants, which is good for the species’ survival in the long term,” said Jen Lawson, Director of the Waikoloa Dry Forest Initiative, who also showed up to volunteer. “Eventually, this will be a source of seeds for future outplanting. After just five years, reforestation feels doable.”

The forest reserve also serves as home to native insects like the yellow-faced bumblebee and native birds like the nene, among several others.

Hannah Kihalani Springer, a founder and former president of Ka Ahahui O Ka Nahelehele, expressed hope that some of the wildlife that used to be pervasive across dryland forests will be seen in force again as restoration moves forward.

She added that in the uncertain times ahead, as climate change disrupts more and more natural processes, there will be lessons to take from both the people and the plant life once firmly rooted in Hawaii Island’s dryland forests.

“Some of the adaptive strategies, not only of the plants but of the people who called the dry forest lands home, may be applicable to all of us in the years to come,” she said.