Learning the Language of the Land

Learning the language of the land, actively putting that into practice, and continuing the cycle is the kind of reciprocity that excites me when working on land conservation transactions across Hawaiʻi.  

With just one full month of serving as Hawaiian Islands Land Trust's, Director of ʻĀina Protection, I have enjoyed every minute from late nights drafting funding applications for the protection of Māhukona, Kohala's navigational and cultural lands; to assisting facilitation of ʻohana and community outreach and visioning for the protection of Mapulehu, Molokai lands; to meeting with partners on the land to explore protection options for agricultural lands producing healthy food for local schools in Niuliʻi, Kohala. 

February 2020 Coastal cleanup at Keopuka, Kona, a site of one of HILT's 41 conservation easement holdings across the State with Shae Kamakaʻala, HILT's Director of ʻĀina Protection (pictured far right), La Crivello, Cultural Liaison with Hokulia's Parks and Cultural Sites Association and Coordinator of the Ala Kahakai Trail Association, and students of Ke Kula o Ehunuikaimalino.

There is so much energy and passion to restore the health of Hawaiʻi's lands and community and I am grateful for the opportunity with HILT to share in the work.  First and foremost, I'd like to express my aloha to our kūpuna, our ʻāina. It is the resiliency of our ʻāīna in which I find my strength, and for which I know my purpose. I also aloha and mahalo the community of practitioners and those who are learning the land and putting it into practice--it is here we find community resilience to a changing climate. And across the public and private sectors, mahalo to the vast realm of supporters, funders, volunteers, who make it all possible. I look forward to the exciting, busy, and humbling years ahead for HILT, our communities, and Hawaiʻi.