Kalepa Stream Free to Flow to the Ocean

Since the end of the cultivation of sugar in the mid-1980s, the Kālepa Stream corridor has been clogged up with a variety of invasive species, including dense stands of African grasses, including both Guinea and Napier grass, both of which can grow to over 8 feet tall, choking out all other life in the stream and effectively halting stream flow.

Since becoming owners and stewards of Waiheʻe Coastal Dunes and Wetlands in the early 2000s, clearing Kālepa Stream has been a goal for HILT. Reducing these dense stands of invasive species and restoring stream flow will help to regulate sediment discharge from the stream, while making the stream available for native stream species, such as ʻoʻopu, ʻōpae and hīhīwai. We are hopeful that, with ongoing management of the habitat for these species, we will soon see them return.

Among the most important benefits of restoring regular stream flow is the regulation of sediment on the reef. Excessive quantities of sediment on the reef will quickly kill the reef, eliminating both the marine habitat and the protective barrier the reef provides. The fringing reef off of Waiheʻe serves many roles, including habitat for the fish, octopus, lobster and numerous other nearshore marine species (and benefiting the humans who rely on them), but perhaps most important, as a barrier against coastal erosion during large surf episodes, hurricanes and tsunami. The offshore reef at Waiheʻe, which also extends through Waiehu and Wailuku, protects the coast from these disturbances, and protects the wellbeing of everyone who lives along the coast in these areas. Restoring stream flow, regulating and attenuating sediment on the reef are two critically important steps to make our island more resilient.

In October 2020, HILT partnered with the Maui Nui Marine Resources Council to achieve our goal of clearing Kālepa Stream. CARES Act Funds were used to hire 21 people for two months. Fifteen of these temporary hires were impacted by job losses due to COVID-19. These employees ranged in age from 18 to 50 and every single one of them made a huge impact on our efforts toward habitat restoration and climate resiliency.

While this program provided excellent benefit to our restoration and conservation work at Waiheʻe, the employees also gained skills and knowledge for potential green career pathways. This project focused on the basics of land care and management based on the principles of ecological restoration, and a cultural understanding of place.

“Team Kālepa” primarily worked at the Waiheʻe refuge, and also contributed significantly to wetlands restoration at Nuʻu Refuge, and, to a lesser degree, the Laʻie Wetlands in Kīhei.  Through their work at Waiheʻe, Nuʻu and the Laʻie Wetlands, “Team Kālepa” gained exposure to ecological restoration work in riverine, palustrine and estuarine wetlands, or three of the five wetlands types.  The intent of exposing “Team Kālepa” to restoration work in these types of wetlands derived from our desire to expose and train them to conduct ecological restoration work in as many wetlands types as possible, and to broaden their experience for the prospect of future employment.  

“Team Kālepa’s” on-the-job training included: 

• Ecological restoration in riverine, palustrine and estuarine wetlands, or three of the five wetlands types 

• Use of high-powered brush cutters including chainsaws, as well as hand tools (including mattocks to remove roots). Proper safety equipment and procedures for all equipment used 

• Native and non-native plant identification

• Training in areas of Hawaiian culture (particularly in the transference of ancestral wisdom, or ʻike kupuna, related to mālama ʻāina and the history of the Waiheʻe Ahupuaʻa)

• Learning ʻoli related to Waiheʻe Refuge 

• Learning traditional Hawaiian cultural practices, such as the production of ʻili Hau, or rope made of the bark of Hau (Hibiscus tiliaceous)

• Teamwork, relationship building and leadership skills

• Understanding of safety protocols and emergency response steps

• Understanding and following strict COVID protocols

The dedication of this team and the speed with which they united to support and collaborate with one another was remarkable. The working conditions were not easy. Quite frequently they were working in 2 or 3 feet of water, under both hot and humid conditions, yet they consistently met each challenge with a degree of tenacity rarely seen.  By the end of the first week, they had come together as a team, and their efforts only improved over time.  Several of the team members have commented on how much they enjoyed the work and how meaningful they found it. 

Goals and Results:

Goal: Clearing of invasive species along 900 feet of the 3,900-foot corridor of Kālepa (the portion of the stream on the Waiheʻe Refuge). Remove aggressive species (such as the African grasses Pennisetum purpureum and Panicum maximum) within the stream corridor.

Result: Thanks to the commendable tenacity and perseverance of Team Kālepa, they cleared the entire 3,900 feet, more than 4 times the length proposed in the original project plan. The combination of teamwork, leadership at the team leader level (Mr. Kia`i Collier), and the individual commitment of each individual facilitated this significant accomplishment.  

Goal: Collecting and cultivating appropriate indigenous plant species for planting, including  ʻAhuʻawa (Cyperus javanicus) and Kaluha (Schoenoplectus juncoides), as well as Naupaka (Scaevola taccada) and Hala (Pandanus tectorius). Cultivate and plant native sedges which are known to better regulate sediment attenuation and discharge.

Result:  Owing to the fact that the plants need time to mature before out-planting, relatively few native species were planted in the Kālepa Stream corridor before the end of the project. However, HILT staff and volunteers will plant these native species when they have matured. Planting them before they are mature enough to survive would have been wasteful, so an executive decision was made to wait until a more appropriate time to plant the sedges (primarily ʻahu ʻawa, Cyperus javanicus) in the Kālepa Stream corridor. 

Goal: Installing coconut coir rolls to act as strategically located erosion control barriers.

Result: While HILT staff attempted to procure the sediment retaining coconut coir rolls to install in the Kālepa Stream corridor, we were unable to do so.  The only source of these coir rolls is outside of Hawai`i, and, in spite of our initial optimism that they might arrive before the cessation of the work, this did not prove to be the case.  However, HILT staff and volunteers will begin installing them when they arrive. We anticipate installing these at approximately 20 foot intervals along the 900 foot corridor (installing no fewer than 45 coir rolls).

Watch a short video, captured by drone, which shows what the area looks like now that the stream has been cleared.

— Dr. Scott Fisher and Makana Reilly