Stacey's Blog: Transplanting, seed finding, seed planting...

March 18

I had planned to drive to Olinda the night before a great adventure to the Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project in Olinda, which is up a steep, windy road. For some reason, I put it off all day. I could not get myself going, even though I was really looking forward to going on this trip.

There was a certain point that I realized, that for no reason I could explain, I felt that something bad was going to happen. What? No idea. When? soon... I had this really vague premonition that something challenging was coming to me. I called my mom. I didn't realize it was 3AM in Ontario but my mom seemed to know I needed her help, so she didn't even react and she answered right away. Well, mom's sometimes know best. She knew what to say to make me realize what I needed to do. Somehow, without saying much at all, Mom made me feel better. And at that point, after trying to find my way in the dark and in pouring rain, I was exhausted and in tears because I thought someone was going to die. So I decided sleep was all I needed. I parked the car on the side of a road and slept.I woke at 4AM and drove up the mountain, with time to spare before I would hop into a truck then a helicopter for my 5-day volunteer planting trip in Hawaii. I was scared, but I decided that this fear did not serve me and if I was going to die, I'd rather die knowing that I did something I felt proud of.

As an example of the plant life, the koa tree has what appears to be leaves (which are actually branches) that are comparable to the shape of eucalyptus leaves, a yellow puff-like flower and gray bark. The name Koa means warrior, as these trees are the biggest of the endemic species and they grow really quickly. Also, where you see multiple koas near each other, it is often rooted from one mother plant, so they are all connected. They're sensitive to trauma on the bark (so don't hit it with a lawn mower or weed wacker) and they generally grow in high elevations. They are also nitrogen fixing and benefit from being planted near other endemic Hawaiian plants. (By the way endemic means they're only existent in one place (being Hawaii.)

Koa Trees

Ōhiʻa trees are a personal favourite since they're so crucial to the endemic forest bird populations and they're really beautiful trees, with or without the flower. First of all, they grow in a wild, windy, mazelike fashion. Sometimes I got dizzy trying to follow the branches all the way to the end. Every tree looks so different, but the leaves are teardrop shaped and they look similar to the Ohello (will describe later.) The flowers, which actually have a different name, (Lehua) are a fascinating sight. It's a wonder why there aren't, to my knowledge, Ohia trees planted all over the world for it's beauty. The flowers I saw were all red (on other islands they're often yellow) and they look a bit like cartoon flames, with strings of red from each bud. The honeycreepers (birds) we were meaning to help recover rely on this tree for the nectar. Unfortunately, since there are so many other plant species (strawberry guava, for example) that have taken over the Hawaiian forests, as Ohia trees have decreased, so have the birds.

The ohia flower, Lehua. There's a Hawaiian legend that tells us not to pick these as it separates lovers.

Ohia tree. Magical!

Māmane are shrubs that generally grow in mid to high elevation. We were planting in high elevation, so all the plants mentioned grow in high elevations. The leaves are a bit fern-like, and the branches are woody. They have yellow flowers, but I didn't see any flowering as, on Maui, they tend to flower in the summer time.

Ōhelo are Hawaiian blueberries. When they're young, they look very similar to the Ohia trees, but ohelo leaves are a bit more jagged. Ohelos are interesting because there seem to be so many varieties of them within the forest. I definitely saw at least three kinds that looked like totally different plants with similarly shaped leaves. What I love about Ohelo, is that the leaves themselves look like flowers! When the new leaves come in, they are often red and they grow in shape kind of similar to a tulip.. beautiful! I didn't find any berries though! Though we did find Kolea (another tree) berries, which are very hard to find!

ʻĀkala, or hawaiian raspberry, is a gentler version of what we know as a thorny plant. The thorns are soft, but the branches, unlike the look-a-like blackberry bushes, are woody. They can grow very tall and long and they provide yummy berries, of course. However, thimbleberries (originating from Jamaica) are much more abundant in the forests and tasty but not all that sweet. There was a really great patch of thimbleberries right by the lua (toilet) at the camp and it was SO tempting to eat some. When I realized that they were likely covered in human pee, I stayed away though.

Two 'iliahi (hawaiian Sandalwood) trees were also planted on our trip. Unfortunately, because sandalwood was so sought after for some time, there isn't much of it left! And it looks very similar to the Kolea tree, with subtle differences in the leaves.

Last, but not least, we planted ʻAʻaliʻi, which is generally a dwarf shrub. They also differ a lot from plant to plant. The leaf colours vary from light green, dark green and some red. The leaves and fruits were used in lei making and the wood sinks so it was used for bait sticks in fishing. I've also read that it can be used as a topical medicine for ringworm and a tonic. (http://nativeplants.hawaii.edu/plant/view/Dodonaea_viscosa)

Aalii on the left, Ohia (and probably some ohelo as well) on the right These plants were grown in a nursery on Maui for about 2 years.

We finished planting a whole day early since planting in erosion scars was much faster than they had thought it would be. So we got to spend a whole day walking through the woods looking for seeds. Well, it was worth it to go for the planting, but walking around to find seeds was so much fun because it felt like exploration. And, of course, we were planting in areas that needed more vegetation, so there wasn't a whole lot. Upon exploring, everything I saw around me was so new. We couldn't walk more than 5 minutes without me asking another question about the plants around me. "Is this akala?... whoa! What is that!?!?!" The plant life in the gulches is very diverse and rich, I suppose because it is more moist and feral grazers cannot get to these places.

Now I don't think this kind of volunteer opportunity arises often. The people that work for Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project are very organized and well educated professionals. They do all their work very methodically, leaving nothing unwritten. It was a real honour to be part of the operation, as I felt our work was very goal oriented and beneficial to the environment.

I recall pausing in moments of planting trees to think: this is what I want to be a part of. I need to be doing more hands on conservation like this to do my part.

I want to conserve the land, and I feel as humans, it should be more accessible. More of us need to be doing our part to offset our carbon footprint one way or another, and there's no better way to do so than to help a forest recover from damage that we created.

Native Hawaii is not the tropical Hawaii you think of. The mountainside is actually more grasslike (though most of the grass, even in the native forests, is actually non-native...) with trees that grow up and outward, and some, with branches that grow in maze-like formations. The native plants we put in the ground were all grown from seeds harvested from the lands near where they are planted, grown in a nursery in Maui for about 2 years, then shipped by heli-ops to the place where they are hand planted. We used augers to dig holes (until they all died, and we used o'os (I don't know the English word for that, but it's essentially a big medal pole with a flat end that you have to manually turn.)

It's so cool to know all about these Hawaiian plants! It reminded me how much I love botany and made me think really hard about maybe going to school to take biology and botany and pursue further work in conservation. I really felt this when I was travelling in the Yukon, even fantasized about harvesting medicine for a living. On this planting trip, I noticed that even through harsh conditions, I felt good about what I was doing and really enjoyed it. The people that worked with MFBRP all seem to seriously sincerely enjoy their jobs and their lives and they are really patient, informative and kind. They really take care of you as volunteers on top of that! Oh and I had a blast laughing with them over a silly card game.

By the end of the trip, I didn't particularly want to leave, so I was on my way to start the car...

The car wouldn't start. I laughed, I was relieved. This was my premonition. Oh golly, what a HUGE relief. My family wasn't going to die, I wasn't going to break a leg, the helicopter wasn't going to crash... Now getting the car home, I could figure it out.

So I stayed at MBFRP another night. In the morning, I went with my new bird friends to a forest reserve near Haleakala that is closed to the public as it is for researchers and supervised guests only. They provided binoculars too! On our beautiful slow stroll, we were near all 6 honeycreepers! We just didn't see any kiwikiu (Maui Parrotbill) (but heard them!) They are quite rare as they reproduce slowly (I believe there are only about 500!)

We saw apapane (red birds, we saw them in the mountains too. They have a great variety of songs so they're interesting to listen to :)), Akohekohe, crested honeycreepers (they look so cool! They're black with what looks like yellow mohawks. Their song sounds a lot like a robot. It's really neat to hear. They are also quite rare), I'Iwiwi (they're bright red and they have longer, more curved beaks), Alauahio and Amakihi (both of these are smaller yellow birds, but they move differently. One likes to creep along trees). I read that scientists hypothesize there used to be over 56 honeycreepers in the past. (http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=2224&from=rss_home#.VSyPgPnF-So) These birds are particularly sensitive to climate change because as the weather changes, the mosquitoes have more breeding grounds and more birds migrate to Hawaii, which means more competition for the honeycreepers and many, like the kiwikiu, cannot reproduce fast enough to adapt.

If you want to read more about the birds, I highly recommend checking out the MBFRP website :) http://mauiforestbirds.org/articles/1

And the next day I tested the car to see if it would start and who knew, it started! So I drove it home and decided to stop driving it since. Instead, I began to hitch hike anywhere I needed to go on Maui and I'm super glad I did! (You'll find out later why hitch hiking was a great experience.)

Who knew a 5-day volunteer could teach you so much about a place, plants and oneself. I really felt that this opportunity guided me toward considering a whole new career path I had never previously considered: conservation. I want to get my hands dirty, go to the places people don't get to explore and be part of offsetting our carbon footprints. I don't just want to aimlessly put trees in the ground. I want to be part of finding solutions that secure a better future for the recovery of nature.

Now, this doesn't mean I love people any less or that I don't want to massage,but somehow I want to incorporate my love of plants with my love of people. Perhaps I'll be doing conservation in northern Canada and leading educational tours, hiking expeditions, anything with a greater purpose for a sustainable future. I hope to find volunteerism or some way to give back like I did in Maui in every place I go to.

I metaphorically planted a seed when I planted these trees. I'd say I found that seed when I was in the Yukon, exploring the diverse plantlife in the trails, but on the mountains of Nakula Forest preserve I planted it somewhere. I imagine that plant might grow in Norway (that's where my mind has been.) Or Iceland, maybe Northern Canada somewhere as I've been feeling a connection to the arctic. We'll see... the world has it's ways of giving us exactly what we need if we're calling for it!