Niuli‘i Hala Groves Restored with Help from HHF Preservation Grant
Hala is happy when birds can fly through. ~Emily Claspell, kumu ulana lauhala According to Aunty Emily Claspell, you know that hala is happy when birds can fly through its branches and leaves. Hala is a resilient plant that withstands drought, winds, fires and salt sprays. Each part of the tree has uses critical to the cultural heritage of the people in Hawai‘i: fruit and flowers to eat and to make lei, poles and branches for construction, leaves for weaving, medical use, erosion control, windbreak, as well as shade and shelter. The Kohala Center—an independent research, education, and ʻāina stewardship nonprofit for healthier ecosystems established in 2000—was gifted 48 acres of historically significant conservation and agricultural land on the North Kohala coast on Hawai‘i Island. Many practitioners agree that the variety and quality of Niuliʻi hala is the best in all of Hawai‘i. Niuliʻi hala is the strongest and best, the salt air strengthens and thickens the lauhala. There are very special and rare hala on site that have not been seen in other areas. ~Uncle Maʻulili Dickson, crewmember on the Nā Kālai Wa‘a. The Kohala Center developed a plan to preserve and perpetuate Niuli‘i by restoring the overgrown and neglected hala groves. Through cultivating and nurturing hala, TKC was able to cultivate their knowledge and enlarge it with the support of cultural practitioners and community stewards. With funding support from the Freeman Foundation in cooperation with Historic Hawai‘i Foundation, TKC spent two years conducting an ecosystem health assessment with a team of lauhala practitioners and specialists in order to identity the best section of hala in which to focus preservation efforts and restoration planting activities and to target invasive plant species for [...]