About

E kolo ana no ke ēwe i ke ēwe

The rootlet will creep toward the rootlets.

Of the same origin.

Our aloha ʻāina remains the same, generation across generations.

Brief History + Function

Māla Māunuunu is a site of collective restoration since 2008, by the active limahana (working hands) of Kapiʻolani Community College ; comprising of students, faculty, staff, and community members. Prior to 2008, this land section was inhabited by non-native and federally listed invasive flora and was not being utilized as a functional resource.

The initial spark to repurpose this ʻāina was from two faculty members of Kapiʻolani Community College: Nawaʻa Napolean and Lehua Gaison-Tyler. Their stewardship aimed to honor our profound volcanic environment, to restore ea (life) to our pōhaku (rock people). From their leadership and vision, many hands took part in revitalizing the space. The intention was to give life back to the ʻāina of our campus, to give this re-enliven this landscape through reintroducing native Hawaii flora back to the scene. Land stewardship at Māla Māunuunu is guided by ancestral wisdom and practices of Mālama ʻĀina.

Over the years, the Māla has served as a medium for educational, bio-cultural, nutritional, and medicinal resources for Kapiʻolani Community College. The mission has always been the same, then and now, to continue and create functional, bioavailable, and regenerative ʻĀina through the bioldiversity of Hawaiʻi's flora, and promoting Pilina Honua (environmental kinship): by connecting kanaka (humanity) to their ʻĀina (earth), wherever that may be.

Founders: Nawaa + Lehua

Photo Credit: Kapulani Landgraff

Kumu Honua: Geological Setting

Māla Māunuunu is located on the island of Oʻahualua, in the Kona Moku (district), in the ahupuaʻa (larger land division) of Waikiki, and in a ʻili ʻāina (smaller land division) of Kalāhū. Kapiʻolani Community College being located on the leeward side of the island, and at around 200 ft. in elevation, receives a low amount of annual rainfall, deeming this ecosystem as a dry lowland climate.

Māla Māunuunu is located on the eastern facing plateau of the large cinder cone known as Puʻu o Kaimuki (volcanic feature apart of the volcano: Koʻolau). This cinder cone is birthed within the rejuvenation stages, a result of the secondary eruptions of the Koʻolau caldera known as the Honolulu volcanic series. Puʻu ʻo Kaimuki is estimated to be 50,000 -65,000 years old.

Part of Lehua and Nawaʻa's vision was to clean up the space to showcase the large pōhaku (basaltic rocks) that were created from the volcanic activities of Pele. The geo-chemical composition of Puu o Kaimuki is different from the formation of Leahi Crater (Diamond Head), where Puu o Kaimuki is formed by lava flows and/or fountains, where as Leahi is formed by the consolidation of tuff/ volcanic ash. Leahi' s volcanic composition is what is known in Hawaiian terms as a Puʻu Hakuone.

Oʻahu, being an older island formed over 2-3 millions of years ago has experienced higher impacts of erosional forces; weathering from rainfall + wind. Kapiʻolani Community College being located on a slope has loss many of its primary nutrients leached from the soil horizon downwards and down slope of its location leaving behind the highly weathered red-clay soils (oxisols) seen today.

Despite the physical and chemical limitations of Māla Māunuunu's environment, this place has yielded fruition with the kōkua (assistance) of the limahana of Kapiʻolani CC.