The Hawaiian Islands Land Trust’s Talk Story on the Land environmental education series, a free, public hike series on properties protected by the Hawaiian Island Land Trust, will receive a Preservation Commendation at the 2017 Preservation Honor Awards.
The program provides residents and visitors the opportunity to visit these lands to witness responsible stewardship, learn about the natural history and cultural significance of each place, and the vital necessity of conserving them. To date, 1,300 individuals have participated on 63 hikes to properties including Waihe’e Coastal Dunes and Wetlands Refuge, Nu‘u Refuge on Maui and Maunawila Heiau Preserve on O‘ahu. By providing a personal experience of these places, the Talk Story on The Land program is a successful means of engaging the public in the benefits of conservation and preservation.
Maui’s Nuʻu Refuge Shares Kupuna Wisdom from the Natural World
By Scott Fisher, Ph.D.
Leading our Talk Story on the Land hikes at our Nuʻu Refuge, on Maui’s arid south east coast, is an amazing experience. These excursions are an opportunity for us to learn more about our land, to dig deeper to learn the stories of ka poʻe kahiko, the people of old, who lived and thrived on this land, and to understand the importance of these special places.
Based on the landscape, it makes sense that one of the most common question I am asked is “how did people survive in this dry, arid land?” I really love this question since it gives me an opportunity to explain how caring for the land will lead to sustainability and abundance. Our kupuna knew how to do this, and not only lived sustainably, but thrived. We can learn so much from them–their stories are recorded on the land; we need only to take the time to listen.
We can hear these stories by watching how the rain falls, listening to the wind, and hearing the crash of the waves, all reminders of how the natural world communicates with us, if we are only patient and present enough to listen. Simply being on the land is usually enough to convey this profound, but simple message.
While I really love to see how enthusiastic people get on the Talk Story on the Land hikes, I always end up learning so much, and, more importantly, realizing how much more I have to learn. Perhaps even more essential, however, through the Talk Story on the Land hikes, we realize how important relationships are: our relationship to the land, and our relationship with one another.
In a place like Nuʻu, it is easy to remember that our relationships help us thrive. The most profound and inspiring part of the Talk Story on the Land hikes comes from the bonding that takes place among a group of people, strangers at the beginning of the hike, who build a relationship with one another, and with a previously unknown part of their island through their joint experience.
People love what they know, and the Talk Story on the Land series provides an opportunity to know the land in a new way, and to realize, he aliʻi ka ʻāina, he kauwā ke kanaka, the land is the chief, and people are its servants.
Scott Fisher, Associate Executive Director of Conservation, Hawaiian Islands Land Trust.
Scott grew up in Kula, and at age 17 enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. After his discharge, he studied at Colorado State University. Scott’s graduate work includes an M.A. in peace studies with a concentration in native Hawaiian strategies of peacemaking and reconciliation. His Ph.D. explored the dynamics of post-conflict recovery in a civil war on the island of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, with a particular emphasis on how communities make wise decisions about conflicts over natural resources.
Since 2003 Scott has worked for the Maui Coastal Land Trust, first as a project manager at the land trust’s 277-acre Waihe‘e Coastal Dunes and Wetlands Refuge and now as the Associate Executive Director of Consevation for the Hawaiian Islands Land Trust. In this capacity he has led all aspects of the ecological restoration work conducted by the Land Trust.
Since 2005 he has served on the Maui/Lana‘i Island Burial Council and, more recently, as a board member of the Hawai‘i Wetlands Joint Venture, Public Access Trails Hawai‘i, and the Friends of Midway Atoll.
Scott enjoys teaching people about cultural and natural history of Hawai‘i and pounding poi with his kids on the weekend.