Wai'anae Forest Reserve

Wai'anae Forest Reserve

The Wai'anae Forest Reserve is another example of an effort to save our forests. We were greeted by Ms. Yumi and Ms. Michaela from the Waianae Mountains Watershed Partnership at the bottom gates in Wai'anae valley and then walked five minutes into the reserve.

Ms. Michaela gave us a brief description of the work that they were doing there and how we could help. She started off by talking to us about the invasive Koa Haole trees (stacked in the background of the picture above) that were taking over our forests. She explained that they were the number one problem for this area and they are what we would be cutting down. She then went on to talk about the out planting of native plants they were doing with the cleared space. 

 

 

Afterwards, we were assigned very laborious work. We were supplied with hand saws and gloves then went to work, cutting down invasive Koa Haole trees and stacking them in rows on the side. The trees towered above us. We were driven to take them down. We admit that sawing through a 2-5 inch in diameter Koa Haole tree trunk and then watching it fall was a satisfying feeling. It was a symbolized our fight against invasive species and our love for the natives. The work was hard, but we were filled with content in the end because we knew that the work we did was to protect our 'āina from the aggressive alien species.

To end the day, Ms. Michaela gave us a tour of the reserve. We got to look at all the native plants that were planted by the students of Mililani Middle School. We were amazed with the work that was done and how a forest of horrendous non-native species can be turned into a resplendent place of Hawaiian plants and cleaner air. At that moment, we realized that we didn't mind the hard work. We knew it would be turned into a well-formed native forest that our keiki (children) would later mālama (take care of).