KANEOHE, Hawaii — Over the past five years, organizers and volunteers have worked to transform the ridge above Heeia in Windward Oahu into what it would have been like 200 years ago, according to a University of Hawaii news release.
What You Need To Know
Two hundred years ago, Puulani ridge, which sits above the taro patches at Kākoʻo ʻŌiwi in Heeia, would have been a native forest and Indigenous agroforest
After Captain James Cook came to Hawaii, the area was used for cattle grazing and when that ended, invasive species, like java plum, fiddlewood and octopus trees, took over
Starting in 2018, organizers and volunteers cleared the non-native trees and planted more than 2,000 plants in order to transform the area back into an agroforest, where materials for lei and food could be harvested
The next volunteer day will be held on Aug. 19 from 9 a.m. to noon
The work was completed by a team from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, nonprofit Kākoʻo ʻŌiwi, the Heeia National Estuarine Research Reserve, and thousands of volunteers.
