Molokai Land Trust is restoring natural landscapes with native Hawaiian species with the help of volunteering visitors.
Butch Haase, the executive director of the Molokaʻi Land Trust (MLT), a non-profit dedicated to restoring the native ecosystems of Molokaʻi, has been working to restore native ecosystems on Moloka‘i since 1995. He says he’s excited about being part of a movement to transform Hawai‘i tourism from something often seen as extractive to something restorative to the ‘āina.“The work our visitors get to do is participating in real, tangible movement toward restoring and preserving these native plant species and helping get them to a place where they may not be endangered one day.”
In 2009, MLT launched the Anapuka Dune Restoration Project is focused on converting arid, invasive-species-covered landscapes back into thriving native ecosystems.
The Molokai Land Trust team began by fencing in 60 acres of the reserve to keep out axis deer and predators such as rats and mongoose. They also cleared out kiawe trees so that the landscape can be restored with native plant species grown at their nursery headquarters in Ho‘olehua. These native plants include āweoweo papa, mau‘u‘aki‘aki, nehe, ‘ilima papa, ma‘o, ‘a‘ali‘i, ‘ākia, wiliwili, and more.
Starting in 2021, the trust has been working on expanding and replacing the original barrier with a new 10-foot-tall, 1.1-mile-long fence that will protect almost 100 acres. This project was completed just last month.
With the help of volunteers, MLT is currently working on planting 6,000 new seedlings by June of this year. The MLT’s “voluntourism” efforts are partially funded by the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority through its Aloha ʻĀina program, which is administered by the Hawai’i Community Foundation. Haase sees visitors’ participation in these efforts as a tangible step towards preserving and restoring native plant species.
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