Bringing Natives Back With Kilo ‘Āina

Post date: Apr 22, 2020 12:01:36 AM

Hello everyone! I am Nicole Buyukacar, one of the students working in the native plants restoration group. I am the most recently joining member of the Kilo ‘Āina program! I was introduced to this project by one of the members, Marlon, and I have no regrets deciding to apply. This program is a good place for students with a passion for STEM and the ‘āina (land) to get hands-on experience. I personally am very interested in the biology of plant-life; I found the perfect group to pursue my interests…

The native plants restoration group is working this semester to propagate and acclimate a handful of native species to outplant back to Kapapaphui Point Park. Every Monday we would meet at the Leeward CC shade house to discuss what progress we have made and to continue our acclimating/propagating. A typical meeting would vary greatly in our group, some days we were getting our hands in some dirt, sorting through plants, and sometimes we didn’t have much to do. The variability of the meetings kept things constantly interesting and exciting. We have propagated Neke, Milo, Naupaka Kahakai, and Mauʻuʻakiʻaki grass, and our current objective is to acclimate them and outplant them at Kapapapuhi. So far the acclimating hasn’t killed the little guys (fingers crossed) and they are looking great under the care of Mrs. Ward.

Now with the COVID-19 pandemic, we are no longer able to meet in person, however Mrs. Sandy Ward from Hui O Hoʻohonua has graciously agreed to take the little plants and

continue our acclimating procedures. The acclimating is simple, we just want the seedlings stronger for when they are moved to Kapapapuhi’s dry and salty conditions. So, we are giving them small doses of salt water and exposing them to outside conditions more.

Hopefully the group can keep momentum and eventually be able to meet back up to outplant this semester’s products to Kapapapuhi Point Park and continue to help restore the Natives back to their ‘āina.

- Nicole