Conservationists began the first phase yesterday of a five-year plan that will see native species replace invasive plants like the ratberry on about 30 acres of Grove Farm land. “We’re not just going to be here doing 1,000 trees today,”
Conservationists began the first phase yesterday of a five-year plan that will see native species replace invasive plants like the ratberry on about 30 acres of Grove Farm land.
“We’re not just going to be here doing 1,000 trees today,” said Warren Haruki, president and chief executive of Grove Farm. “We’re going to keep it coming.”
The reforestation project will populate the portions of Iliahi east and north of the Caleb Burns house with plants like the Ohia lehua, Kou and the rare Lo‘ulu, said Brian Yamamoto, a science instructor at Kaua‘i Community College.
Experts from the college, the National Tropical Botanical Garden and Makauwahi Sinkhole developed the five-year plan, selected and plowed the site and will help oversee cultivation of the area.
Local boy scout and girl scout troops, the first stewards of the project, gathered in the field yesterday, digging holes and nudging the root balls of about 1,000 plants into the soil.
They planted non-uniform rows, alternating species and the distance between the plants, then nestling black drip irrigation tubing at the base of the stalks.
“Eventually the rows will disappear, and we want to fill it in,” Yamamoto said. “It will be a native forest.”
Yesterday’s work only represents the beginning of the troops’ commitment, said David Burney, director of conservation at the NTBG.
“The problem is not to plant the plants,” he said. “The problem is to maintain the plants. You can’t simply plant them here and expect them to do OK.”
Each troop will return to the site every two months, working to counteract the influence of weeds, pigs and invasive species like the ratberry, he said.
“It’s wonderful for the kids to understand their responsibility to the land and perpetuate the native species,” said Mayor Bryan Baptiste, one of several political leaders on-hand for the blessing ceremony.
Gary Hooser, Democrat and newly elected majority leader in the state Senate, said he supported the effort to teach sustainability and would like to see the concept as part of the legislative focus.
“This is a good corporate model, too,” he said.
Grove Farm, one of the largest private landowners on Kaua‘i, also leases the Makauwahi Sinkhole to conservationists, Burney said. The area acts as a place to “figure out what works and apply it to the Botanical Gardens and here,” he said.
Tyrus Moises, a 13-year-old scout, stood back and admired a planted stalk that could become part of a 30-acre forest.
“I get to see how small they are when they start,” he said.
