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K e e p i n g Up W i t h t h e Ho n u … Na t i v e R e c o v e r y… No w h e r e t o H i d e . . . Pa l m y r a : A R e s c u e a t S e a
Kamakou
Preserve
30th Anniversary
MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
SPECIES SPOTLIGHT
Connecting with
Keeping Up With the Honu
Communities
HAWAIIAN SEA TURTLE POPULATIONS ARE IMPROVING
Windward Mall:
T
his past April, I flew to Moloka‘i for the
island’s annual Earth Day celebration,
an event The Nature Conservancy launched
more than 20 years ago and which this year
commemorated the 30th anniversary of our
Kamakou Preserve (see cover story).
Early the next morning, I flew back to
O‘ahu to participate in a second Earth Day
event—this one at Windward Mall, where the
Conservancy was preparing to announce the
winners of an invasive algae poster contest for
windward O‘ahu school children (see back cover).
The two events could hardly have been
more different. While one celebrated our
oldest and most established forest program in
a small, rural neighbor island setting, the other
showcased our latest marine project at one of
Moloka‘i Earth Day celebration:
G. Timmons
teeth, so to speak, and learned to do effective
conservation. And one of the basic tenets of
our program is the importance of working in
partnership with the local communities whose
resources we are trying to protect.
Today, we are applying that approach in
Kāne‘ohe Bay, where we are partnering with the
State Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR) to
remove the invasive algae choking its coral reefs.
To educate the larger Kāne‘ohe community
about this effort, Conservancy and DAR staff
gave presentations to hundreds of 4th-6th
graders in surrounding windward schools, and
then invited them to create a poster depicting
the project as part of an Earth Day contest.
More than 100 posters were submitted and
judged by a group of Kāne‘ohe residents, artists
G. Timmons
O‘ahu’s largest urban malls. Taken together,
however, the two events illustrated the broad
spectrum and history of our conservation work
in Hawai‘i.
If you have never been to a Moloka‘i
Earth Day, it’s a true community gathering. It
annually attracts more than 1,200 people, or
close to one-fifth of the island’s population. In
the opinion of many, it’s the best Earth Day
event in the state.
Each year the Moloka‘i community turns
out to celebrate the island’s natural wonders
and to enjoy the food, entertainment and
educational displays. Inside the Mitchell Pauole
Center, where the event is held, families can
learn about native plants, invasive species and
wildfire prevention, see the results of the latest
conservation research on Moloka‘i or calculate
the amount of water they use each day. Outside
on the lawn, they can sit and enjoy plate lunches,
shave ice and a steady stream of entertainment.
Moloka‘i was the first island program we
established in Hawai‘i, and it’s where we cut our
and kūpuna, who volunteered their time to select
the winners, all of whom received prizes from
Windward Mall merchants.
Driving home that day, I thought about
the two Earth Day events and how, despite
their many differences, they both had a similar
purpose: to educate and engage community
members to work together to protect Hawaii’s
precious lands and waters. You too can support
that mission by taking care of nature in your
own neighborhood and ahupua‘a, supporting
legislative efforts for conservation, or making
a donation. In fact, I hope that by the time
you finish reading this newsletter, you will be
inspired to do all three.
With Aloha,
Suzanne Case
The Nature Conservancy of Hawai‘i
newsletter is the publication of
The Nature Conservancy of Hawai‘i,
923 Nu‘uanu Avenue
Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96817
Tel (808) 537- 4508
Fax (808) 545-2019
Web: nature.org/hawaii
Executive Director
Suzanne Case
Director of Communications
Grady Timmons
Editor
Florence Chong
Design
Info Grafik–Bernie Kim
The Nature Conservancy of Hawai‘i is the
local affiliate of The Nature Conservancy,
an international, non-profit organization
based in Arlington, VA.
The mission of The Nature Conservancy
is to conserve the lands and waters on
which all life depends.
Written contents may be reproduced with permission.
Visual material is subject to copyright laws.
On the Cover:
Moloka‘i Director Ed Misaki at Kamakou
Preserve. Photo: Richard A. Cooke III
2
BUT HAVE NOT YET RECOVERED
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Alan H. Arizumi
Christopher J. Benjamin
Anne S. Carter
Richard A. Cooke III
Peter H. Ehrman
Kenton T. Eldridge (Chair)
Thomas M. Gottlieb
James J.C. Haynes III
Mark L. Johnson
Dr. Kenneth Y. Kaneshiro
Eiichiro Kuwana
Duncan MacNaughton
Wayne K. Minami
A. Catherine Ngo
James C. Polk
H. Monty Richards
Chet A. Richardson
Jean E. Rolles
Scott C. Rolles
Crystal K. Rose
Dustin E. Sellers
Dustin M. Shindo
Nathan E. Smith
Peter K. Tomozawa
James Wei
Eric K. Yeaman
Hawksbill sea turtle:
Green sea turtle:
M
nature.org/hawaii
John De Mello
Green sea turtle hatchling:
Don Whitebread
entioned in the Hawaiian creation
chant, the kumulipo, and once a
delicacy in traditional Hawaiian diets,
sea turtles are as much a part of our local
culture as coconuts or ti leaves. A holdover
from the time of the dinosaurs (75 to 150
million years ago), these ancient reptiles
fascinate and delight nearly everyone who
encounters them.
However, because of habitat loss,
invasive species and overharvesting, turtles
are a protected species. And thanks to this
protection, their populations have grown,
especially populations of the green sea
turtle, or honu, which is commonly seen
in the main Hawaiian Islands eating limu
(algae) in shallow coastal waters and resting
on our shorelines.
In other parts of the Pacific, where
limited seasonal take of some turtle species
is allowed, it is very rare to see a honu
anywhere—they avoid humans as predators.
hddwallpaper.com
But here in Hawai‘i, they are no longer afraid
of people and sometimes have to be protected
from enthusiastic onlookers at popular
beaches.
Nevertheless, honu populations are a
long way from being recovered. The National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) estimates there are approximately
2,000 nesting pairs in Hawai‘i, with a
minimum of 5,000 nesting pairs needed
before they are no longer endangered.
Green sea turtles nest in
Papahānaumokuākea (the Northwestern
Hawaiian Islands) and migrate hundreds of
miles to breed. The much rarer hawksbill sea
turtle, or honu‘ea, nests predominately on
Hawai‘i Island. Honu‘ea is not a culinary
delicacy—the meat is poisonous to humans.
Their small population size is instead due
to overharvesting for their beautiful shells,
habitat loss and invasive species.
Bruce D. Eilerts
Honu‘ea are prevalent along the
southwest coast of Hawai‘i Island, including
at the Conservancy’s 24-acre Kamehame
Beach Preserve in Ka‘ū. Kamehame is one of
the most important hawksbill nesting sites
in the U.S., as well as a refuge for honu and
monk seals. The Hawai‘i Island Hawksbill
Turtle Recovery Project helps to maintain
the site, records data, monitors the nests day
and night, and protects the eggs and hatching
turtles from invasive species like rats, ants,
cats and mongoose.
On average, a honu‘ea will lay four to
six nests per season. Approximately two
months later, 80 percent of the eggs will
hatch and the little hatchlings will make
the life or death run to the sea. This season,
approximately 1,000 hatchlings made it to
the ocean safely. About 1% will survive to
adulthood.
— Evelyn Wight
3
Native Recovery
Conservation
in brief
BIRDS AND PLANTS BLOOM AFTER KIAWE IS REMOVED ON MOLOKA'I
Wedge-tailed shearwater chick:
SUMMIT CAM
Conservation in Hawai‘i
frequently involves working
in inaccessible locations. This
is especially true in the steep,
mountainous interior of Kaua‘i,
where the Conservancy is
installing a wireless camera
system that will allow staff to
gauge weather conditions and
conduct animal surveillance from
the comfort of their Līhu‘e office.
The system’s first “base”
station was recently installed on
the 5,148-foot summit of Mt.
Wai‘ale‘ale, one of the wettest
spots on Earth, and is now being
tested. Once it is fully operational,
the system will be expanded and
eventually include three base
stations and 29 camera or “client”
stations placed along fence lines
and well-established pig trails.
Utilizing a micro-wave radio
signal, the system will provide
real-time video and still images of
weather conditions and animal
movements in the Conservancy’s
remote, 7,050-acre Wainiha
Preserve.
Trae Menard, the
Conservancy’s Hawai‘i director
of Forest Conservation, says
the system will maximize the
efficiency of staff operations
in Wainiha, which can only be
accessed by helicopter: “With
this system, we will know if
there are animals in our preserve
and whether or not weather
conditions are suitable for us to
go up and remove them. It’s kind
of like having wireless internet in
the forest.”
F
‘Akepa:
Jack Jeffrey
MOST ETHICAL
The Nature Conservancy
was recently named one of
the Most Ethical Companies
for 2013 by the Ethisphere
Institute, a leading international
think-tank dedicated to the
creation, advancement and
sharing of best practices in
business ethics, corporate social
responsibility, anti-corruption
and sustainability.
Suzanne Case, the
Conservancy’s Hawai‘i executive
director, said the organization
was honored to have been selected
for the award. “‘Integrity beyond
reproach’ is a core Conservancy
value, and one that we hold
very dear,” she said. “We are
extremely proud to be part of
an organization known for its
ethics.”
The World’s Most Ethical
Companies designation
recognizes companies that truly
go beyond making statements
about doing business “ethically”
and translate those words
into action. Honorees not
only promote ethical business
standards and practices internally,
they exceed legal compliance
minimums and shape future
industry standards by introducing
best practices today.
Ethisphere, which received
nominations from companies
located in more than 100
countries and 36 industries,
reviewed codes of ethics, litigation
and regulatory infraction histories
and evaluated the investment
in innovation and sustainable
business practices to select this
year’s honorees.
A total of 145 companies
made the list, from aerospace
to wind power, with 43 of the
winners headquartered outside
the U.S.
Ben Nyberg
FAREWELL TO A FRIEND
This past March, The Nature
Conservancy bid a fond aloha
to Jean Cornuelle, a former
trustee and longtime Nature
Conservancy supporter, who
passed away at the age of 90.
Jean’s 30-plus year history
with the Conservancy dates to
1980 when her husband, Herb
Cornuelle, co-founded the
Hawai‘i program and recruited its
first board chairman, Sam Cooke.
Following Herb’s death in 1996,
Jean served as a trustee from 1997
to 2007, and then continued to
support the Hawai‘i program in
4
many ways, including serving as
chair of the Legacy Club.
“Jean was always completely
committed to conservation, sharp,
enthusiastic, fun and gracious­—a
truly wonderful representative of
The Nature Conservancy for all
Hawai‘i,” said Hawai‘i Executive
Director Suzanne Case.
Jean had a life-long interest
in conservation. In her youth she
hiked over the Sierras and at age
10 became a member of the Sierra
Club. She was delighted when
her husband helped found the
Conservancy’s Hawai‘i program
in 1980.
Kathy Tachibana
As a board member’s spouse,
Jean was able to attend the annual
board retreats, which deepened
her love for Hawaii’s natural
environment. When her husband
passed away, she gladly stepped
onto the board to carry on the
passion they shared for The
Nature Conservancy.
“The Conservancy has a
long record of accomplishment
because they find ways to work
with others so that everyone
benefits,” she once said. “After all
these years, I am glad to be a part
of it. My heart is forever with The
Nature Conservancy.”
Phil Spalding III
Nature Conservancy of Hawai‘i
ragile sand dunes of Mo‘omomi on
Moloka‘i, once overrun with alien kiawe
thickets, are blooming with new native
growth.
A 14-year passive restoration program by
The Nature Conservancy is letting the blue
blossoms of pa‘u o Hi‘iaka and the yellow
flowers of ‘ilima bloom amid the spiky native
‘aki‘aki and shimmering hinahina.
That’s on dunes that once held singlespecies thickets of the introduced legume,
kiawe (Prosopis pallida), which was brought
to Hawai‘i to support cattle ranching.
“Kiawe transforms the ecosystem. It
forms dense thickets. If there’s a fire, it burns
hot and hard. Since it’s a legume and fixes
nitrogen, it changes the soil,” said Russell
Kallstrom, graphical information system
coordinator for the Conservancy’s Moloka‘i
Program.
Kiawe removal combined with predator
and weed control benefits not only native
plants, some of them rare, but also the
ua‘u kani or wedge-tailed shearwater. The
number of wedge-tailed shearwater burrows
has increased from 3 nests in 1999 to 704
nests in 2012.
“It seems like the shearwaters were trying
to recolonize before 1999, but feral cats used
the safety of kiawe thickets as staging areas for
raids on the nests,” said Wailana Moses, the
Conservancy’s Moloka‘i weed coordinator.
“When we removed some of the kiawe
clumps near the bird colony, we would find
piles of shearwater wings.”
The shearwaters faced a three-pronged
mammal threat: mongooses would prey
primarily on eggs, cats would take birds one at
a time, and dogs would occasionally wipe out
dozens at a time. In 2009, a single dog killed
60 shearwaters in one night.
The Nature Conservancy began kiawe
control at its 921-acre Mo‘omomi Preserve
in 1998, under the direction of its Moloka‘i
Program Director, Ed Misaki.
“The idea of passive restoration was to
focus on removing invasive species and let the
natives naturally regenerate—removing the
threats and allowing the native system to heal
itself,” Misaki said.
‘Ena‘ena thriving on sand dunes.
‘Ilima:
Nature Conservancy
‘Ena‘ena:
Dewitt Jones
One key strategy was to remove kiawe
next to intact native sand dune habitat so the
natives could reclaim the open area naturally.
Another technique was to quickly paint a
small amount of herbicide on the cut kiawe
stump, to prevent it from re-sprouting. Still
another was to use a chipper to grind up
kiawe branches, creating mulch that helped
the native crawling plants and inhibited
weeds.
“We learned that if we took out too
much kiawe, we would have a hard time
keeping up with removing weeds coming into
the area,” Moses said.
The ‘aki‘aki grass was generally the first
species to move in after kiawe removal.
“The chips slowed the weeds down a
little and helped the ‘aki‘aki grow into the
area. Little by little, the other species came
in,” Moses said.
Kallstrom said the native plants do
better on land you’d think was the worst
habitat for them—the northeast sides of
dunes, which are blasted by the trade winds
Dewitt Jones
Hinahina:
Dewitt Jones
and regularly doused with salt spray. Most of
the weeds can’t handle the salt; the coastal
natives by contrast are adapted to it.
“It’s really an amazing thing to see. After
the kiawe is removed and the chips cover the
open area, the natives just crawl in from the
outside. The ‘aki‘aki turns fluorescent green
when it hits the nitrogen left by the kiawe
chips," he said.
The kiawe occurs in patches across the
Mo‘omomi dunes, and the removal process,
since increments must be small, has cleared
a little over nine acres in the program’s 14
years. For most of that period, it was done by
Conservancy staff and volunteers, but since
2010, some of the work has been contracted
to the Moloka‘i Land Trust, which also does
weed control.
The results are remarkable. Some of
the cleared areas, originally bare sand, now
support dense mats of Hawaiian coastal
species.
— Jan TenBruggencate
5
nature.org/hawaii
Mo‘omomi shoreline:
Dewitt Jones
COVER STORY
Kamakou at 30
THE CONSERVANCY’S FIRST HAWAI‘I PRESERVE HAS BECOME A JEWEL OF DIVERSITY
Partulina tree snail:
Nature Conservancy
Coil of ‘ama‘u fern:
G.T. Larson
Happy-face spider:
G.T. Larson
T
he Nature Conservancy of Hawaii’s first
forest preserve celebrates complexity—
of species, of color, of shade, and even of
texture.
While many other preserves have been
established since, Kamakou remains a crown
jewel, draping the Moloka‘i upland from an
elevation of 2,034 feet to 4,527 feet.
“I’ve been in good native forest all around
the state, and Kamakou is the gem—an
explosion of diversity from the ground up
to the canopy,” said Sam ‘Ohu Gon III, the
Conservancy’s senior scientist and cultural
advisor for Hawai‘i.
This year, the 2,774-acre Kamakou
Preserve celebrates its 30th anniversary. It
was the Conservancy’s first Hawai‘i preserve,
acquired from Moloka‘i Ranch through the
state’s first conservation easement.
And for almost its entire existence,
Kamakou has been in the care of one man,
a third-generation Moloka‘i boy named Ed
Misaki. He was hired in 1983, just five years
out of college with a degree in biological
science.
Ed Misaki:
G. Timmons
Misaki developed his steadfast
commitment to the wet upland preserve
during a week-long camping trip with the
Conservancy’s then deputy director, Alan
Holt. “After seeing it, and learning about the
birds and plants, it just clicked,” Misaki said.
That is not an unusual response to
Kamakou. “Even if you’ve seen native forest
before, you recognize that this is so special.
You come down from there and you’re
converted,” adds Gon.
Kamakou lies at the heart of the island’s
watershed. More than 200 species of native
6
Pēpe‘ōpae Bog:
G.T. Larson
Pinao ‘ula, rare native damselfly:
G.T. Larson
plants are woven together here in a rich
biological tapestry, providing habit for
Partulina tree snails, happy-face spiders and
colorful forest birds like the crimson ‘apapane
and yellow-green ‘amakihi.
“When I was young, I called it the
‘ancient forest’. It wasn’t until years later that
I realized what a treasure it is, when I went
there as a photographer. I would go up there
for the ‘ōhi‘a. It was pristine ‘ōhi‘a forest, so
dense, covered with huge amounts of moss,”
said Rikki Cooke, a Conservancy Hawai‘i
board member and National Geographic
photographer who was raised on Moloka‘i and
still lives there.
N
owhere in Hawai‘i can you find the
dense palette of Kamakou’s famous
‘ōhi‘a forest—the red, pink, orange and
yellow blossoms. “I have flown over it when
it’s in bloom, and you see a dense carpet of
color,” said Suzanne Case, the Conservancy’s
Hawai‘i executive director.
Adding to the color are complex visual
textures—ghostly, diaphanous fogs, trembling
‘ōlapa, showy flowering spikes of the native
lobelias, jagged sedges of the miniaturized bog
forests.
Kamakou boardwalk:
G. Timmons
“I have always thought of Kamakou as
an enchanted forest. It is magical. And it is
completely different from what people think
of as Hawai‘i,” Case said.
And Misaki has been the perfect
caretaker. During his tenure, he has reduced
the damage from pigs and other feral animals
to almost zero, removed invasive weeds and
helped stop three major wildfires.
“He’s just so passionate about what he
does. He has almost a child’s sense of wonder
about ‘his’ forest. You just get his enthusiasm,”
said Case.
Gon, who in addition to his scientific
training is a chanter and cultural practitioner,
composed a chant for Misaki when Kamakou
was 25 years old. It starts with these lines:
He ala loloa ho‘i i ka piko o Moloka‘i
Such a long path to the summit of Moloka‘i
I ke kī‘ohu‘ohu po‘ohiwi o Hanalilolilo
In the clinging mists on the shoulder of
Hanalilolilo
Lilo wale ke alahele i ka uhiwai
The path can be lost in the thick fog
A loa‘a ke alaka‘i pono e kuhi a‘e
Unless a righteous leader points the way...
Nature Conservancy of Hawai‘i
M
isaki started out in 1983 working alone
for Kamakou and the Conservancy. “I
remember Ed. He had a young baby. He and
his wife lived in Kualapu‘u and the office was
in a shed,” said Cooke.
A young Sam Gon was one of the first
volunteers at Kamakou. He recalled that
despite its splendor, the preserve had plenty
of problems. Invasive New Zealand flax was
spreading everywhere, pigs were tearing up the
forest floor, and goats were threatening the
lower reaches. And hikers were churning the
native bogs into wide mud wallows.
Today, the flax is gone. Fences keep
ungulates at bay. The state’s first forest
boardwalk—built in 1985 with a crew of
youth workers from Alu Like—protects the
fragile Pēpē‘ōpae Bog so well that rare native
bog violets pop up between the planks. A
Moloka‘i understory monitoring system tracks
the health of the forest.
“One of the signs of a healthy forest is a
good understory,” Misaki said.
And Misaki has built the Conservancy’s
Moloka‘i Program into something whose
reach is far beyond the boundaries of
Kamakou. The Conservancy has two other
preserves on the island: Pelekunu and
Mo‘omomi. He helped form and now leads
the 33,000-acre East Moloka‘i Watershed
Partnership, which joins the landowners of
much of upland Moloka‘i in a collaborative
effort to protect the island’s watershed. He
is working to expand it to include all of the
island’s high watershed. He also launched the
island’s renowned Earth Day celebration and
is a founding board member of the Moloka‘i
Land Trust, which manages three preserves on
the island.
“Ed is good at quietly getting the job
done. He’s kind of low key. But he has quietly
created a conservation community on this
island that would not exist if not for Ed. He
has created a fabulous staff. He teaches in the
college. He’s the one who comes up with the
water plan, comes up with the money, writes
the grants,” Cooke said.
“My whole adult life has been protecting
the native forest on Moloka‘i,” said Misaki.
For 30 years, Kamakou has been his
passion. It will also be his legacy.
Red ‘ōhi‘a lehua flowers:
Phil Spalding III
— Jan TenBruggencate
7
nature.org/hawaii
‘Ōhi‘a forest in bloom.
G.T. Larson
Nowhere to Hide
Palmyra: A Rescue at Sea
INFRARED TECHNOLOGY CAN DETECT EVEN THE MOST ELUSIVE FERAL ANIMALS
THE CONSERVANCY’S ZACH CALDWELL SAVES A LOST SAILOR
“He said his boat was
disabled and sinking.
He sounded hysterical.”
Ben Nyberg
F
or the military, infrared imaging
technology is old hat, but for
conservation, it’s the hottest, newest thing.
“We can pick out a mongoose in the
grass from a helicopter at 1,000 feet. We can
detect animals like pigs and deer 10 miles
away,” said Jake Muise, axis deer coordinator
for the Big Island Invasive Species
Committee.
Muise has been using forward-looking
infrared imaging, or FLIR, for two years to
control the axis deer population on the Big
Island. It has been so useful a technology
that it now plays a role in virtually all of the
committee’s invasive animal work, he said.
The Nature Conservancy’s programs
on Maui and Kaua‘i are using the infrared
technology to identify pigs and deer in
fenced preserves, and to identify feral animal
intrusions into animal-free areas.
“The first time using it, it was a
game-changer,” said Francis Quitazol, the
Conservancy’s natural resource manager for
Maui County.
Infrared devices, long a staple of military
operations, pick up the heat differences
between different objects.
At his Līhu‘e desk, Trae Menard, the
Conservancy’s Hawai‘i director of Forest
Conservation, displays a color video of a pig
moving in the Wainiha Valley Preserve on
Kaua‘i, as recorded from a helicopter on one
of the imaging devices. The shape of the pig,
yellow with a red-orange outline, is running
through the cooler undergrowth shown in
blue and black.
The animal’s legs, body, head and snout
clearly are distinguishable. “It looks like a fat
pig,” Menard said.
These are just a few of the infrared devices
in the hands of island conservation teams,
all of the units built by FLIR Systems, Inc., a
NASDAQ-listed defense contractor based in
Oregon. And as good as the systems are, they
employ a technology a decade or more older
than what the military currently uses.
“We first looked at this technology 10
years ago, but at that time it wasn’t good
enough to see a pig through a dense, wet
forest. Two years ago, as some of the military
technology started going commercial, we
were able to see images we had never been
able to see with the naked eye,” Menard said.
The best time to use the infrared devices
are when it’s cool out—at night or early in
the morning. Most helicopter monitoring is
done between dawn and about 10 a.m. After
that, the sun warms the vegetation and it is
difficult to pick out a mammal’s body heat.
“They lose efficiency when you get
too much reflective heat from the canopy,”
Quitazol said.
In addition to daytime helicopter work,
Muise and his team do night surveys on the
ground, either walking transects through
the forest or viewing long distances from
selected vantage points.
Menard said FLIR technology is
particularly useful for identifying the last few
animals in an area.
“We’re pretty good at getting about 85
percent of the population, but that last 10 to
15 percent is tough. Pigs are smart. As soon as
you start applying pressure on them, they start
to adapt. We end up spending 80 percent of
our resources controlling that last 10 percent,”
he said.
The FLIR systems look like high-tech
spotting scopes or binoculars, and can
run from thousands of dollars to tens of
thousands of dollars. Conservation teams
across Hawai‘i are developing their systems to
most effectively use the new technology, but
they are already convinced of their value.
“I think that the FLIR technology, in
combination with our ground motion-sensing
technology, is really going to enable us to
catch those last few pigs in a fenced area, and
keep it pig-free,” Menard said.
— Jan TenBruggencate
8
Nature Conservancy of Hawai‘i
Ben Nyberg
Ben Nyberg
The sailor’s boat as the rescue crew found it.
L
Amanda M. Pollock
ast fall, the U.S. Coast Guard informed
The Nature Conservancy that a distress
signal had gone off in the remote Central
Pacific, 15 miles southeast of Palmyra Atoll,
where the Conservancy operates a research
station. A solitary sailor en route to Hawai‘i
from the Line Islands was stranded at sea,
and both his health and his boat were
severely compromised.
“It wasn’t until 8:30 or 9 that night
that we able to make contact with the man,”
said Zach Caldwell, the Conservancy’s dive
safety officer for the atoll. “He was using a
hand-held VHF radio and we could barely
hear him. He said his boat was disabled and
sinking. He sounded hysterical.”
When it was safe to go out the next
morning at first light, Caldwell and three
others went in search of the sailor. Motoring
out of the channel into the open ocean, they
encountered rough, choppy seas, yet within
two hours had managed to locate the man,
who was now 15 miles east of the atoll.
When the crew boarded the vessel, they
found the sailor lying half-conscious in the
cabin. He didn’t know who, or where, he was.
“His symptoms seem to indicate that he had
had a heart attack or a stroke,” said Caldwell.
“He said it felt like someone was sitting on his
chest and he couldn’t breathe.”
nature.org/hawaii
Zach Caldwell:
R.J. Shallenberger
Caldwell’s training as a dive safety officer
qualified him to administer first aid. He took
the man’s vital signs, administered CPR and
gave him oxygen. “What I was doing was
text book and what I teach in my dive safety
classes,” he said.
evacuated on an emergency Coast Guard
C-130 flight to Honolulu that afternoon. He
has since recovered and returned to his family
on the mainland.
Mark Tercek, president of The Nature
Conservancy, sent Caldwell a letter of
commendation for his role in the rescue. The
recognition was well deserved, but Caldwell
wanted to share it. “I was the primary
responder,” he said, “but what was impressive
was the response of the entire Palmyra
community. Everyone from the Coast Guard
to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to the
Atoll staff and researchers made a huge effort
to save this individual. That, to me, was truly
inspiring.”
Another letter came from the sailor’s
wife, who profoundly thanked everyone
Zach Caldwell:
Kydd Pollock
involved and noted, “Without you…we
Still, the situation was far worse than
would not be having a holiday season this
he had anticipated. The sailor had a fever
year.”
and a blood-soaked bandage on his right leg,
As it turned out, the wife also helped
and when Caldwell removed it he found an
save her husband’s life. As he was leaving on
acute infection. Later, on the hour-and-a-half his trip—walking out the front door—she
return trip to Palmyra, the sailor stopped
gave him a personal EPIRB, or Emergency
breathing twice. “He looked like he was
Position Indicating Radio Beacon.
dead,” said Caldwell. “We had to roll him over
“It was that instrument that allowed
and drain his air passages to revive him.”
him to send the distress signal that led to his
Back on Palmyra, Caldwell worked with recovery,” said Caldwell.
atoll staff to stabilize the sailor, who was
Without it, he might still be lost at sea.
9
DONOR PROFILE
THE PHILANTHROPY DESK
introducing our
CELEBRATING A
Centennial
New Trustees
A
lan H. Arizumi, executive vice
president of wealth management
with First Hawaiian Bank, and Catherine
Ngo, executive vice president and chief
administration officer for Central Pacific
Bank, have joined The Nature Conservancy
of Hawaii’s Board of Trustees.
“The Conservancy is fortunate to have
the expertise and enthusiasm of these two
rising business leaders,” said Kenton Eldridge,
chair of the Hawai‘i board. “Both are known
in Honolulu as being real doers.”
Added Suzanne Case, the Conservancy’s
Hawai‘i executive director: “We look
forward to engaging Alan and Catherine
in the business of conservation. They both
value the environment and understand the
contribution it makes to our economy and
quality of life in Hawai‘i.”
Arizumi has 30 years of banking
experience and currently oversees First
Hawaiian Bank’s wealth management group
division after managing its business, dealer
and card services group.
A graduate of the University of Hawai‘i
and the Pacific Coast Banking School in
Washington, Arizumi serves on several
boards including Kuakini Medical Center,
First Hawaiian Bank Foundation and KCAA
Preschools of Hawai‘i.
Ngo has more than 17 years of
executive experience in the banking and
private equity industries. As Central Pacific
Bank’s executive vice president and chief
administration officer, she oversees legal and
compliance, human resources, marketing and
service quality.
ON HER 100TH BIRTHDAY, NORMA LAMPRECH
CHOSE TO CELEBRATE NATURE
Alan H. Arizumi
Catherine Ngo
A graduate of the University of Virginia
and University of Virginia School of Law,
Ngo is an advisory board member for
Zero2IPO Group, a private equity industry
service provider in China, and sits on the
boards of Enterprise Honolulu and the
University of Hawai‘i Foundation.
Both trustees enjoy being outdoors in
their free time. Arizumi likes to hike and take
shoreline walks, and Ngo spends weekends
swimming and jogging at the beach and
hiking up Koko Head.
Leave a legacy for the future of our natural world
By including The Nature Conservancy in your estate plans,
you can help protect nature for generations to come. A
bequest is a simple way to support the Conservancy in
the future while retaining control of your assets during your
lifetime. We can be named as a beneficiary of your will, trust,
retirement plan, life insurance policy or financial accounts.
The real beneficiary, of course, is all life on Earth.
CONTACT:
PHONE:
EMAIL:
WEB:
Lara Siu
(808) 587-6235
[email protected]
nature.org/bequest
Please consult a qualified financial advisor before making a gift.
10
Kenwei Chong
Nature Conservancy of Hawai‘i
iking 12 miles around
the crater at Volcanoes
National Park in her 70s,
camping and paddling a canoe in
Alaska in her 80s, and running a
plant nursery in her 90s—these
are just a few of the ways Norma
Lamprech has maintained a lifelong relationship with nature.
This past December,
Norma, a longtime Nature
Conservancy supporter, reached
a major milestone—her 100th
birthday. Celebrating with
family and friends, she asked that
in lieu of gifts, donations be made
to the Conservancy. She wanted
to mark the special occasion by
Her father had an
understanding of conservation
that was unusual for his time.
He was aware that he and his
neighbors were drastically
changing the forested landscape
with their farming practices.
Although he farmed his land to
feed his family, he was committed
to being a good steward of his
80 acres and insisted on leaving
some of it forested instead of
clear cutting like his neighbors.
Norma has fond memories
of growing up on that farm.
She remembers working in the
gardens and walking to the icy
cold, spring-fed creek that ran
Norma Lamprech, 100 years young.
on fir tree branches, paddled a
canoe up the Wisconsin River
and continued their journey in
a turbulent Lake Superior. “I
didn’t realize that I should have
been afraid,” laughs Norma.
After getting married in
1947, Norma and her husband
moved to Illinois, where she
raised their two daughters, Mary
and Sandra, and worked as an
suburbia, and how these changes
were affecting our resources
and the lives of the people who
depended on them.”
In 2001, at 85, Norma
moved from Illinois to Hawai‘i
to be closer to Sandra and her
family, who had made the islands
their home. She now lives in a
beautiful retirement community
overlooking Honolulu,
When asked what her secret is to
being so youthful at 100, she says:
“Being interested in everything,
getting outside and keeping active.
I’m really not one to sit around.”
Photos courtesy of Norma Lamprech
Pass on Your Values
H
Norma in 1940.
giving back to nature, which has
always given so much to her.
Born in 1912 in a Wisconsin
log cabin built by her father,
Norma was one of seven
children who grew up with an
appreciation for the natural
environment. “My father had a
real reverence for the land,” she
says. “He came from Germany
where there were only small
scraps of land, but in America
there was so much pristine land
available—he wanted us to
appreciate that.”
nature.org/hawaii
through their property. “My
mother would always say, ‘stay
out of the creek’,” recalls Norma.
“But of course we could never
stay out of the creek. We had to
be completely dry by the time
mother saw us, so we’d sit out on
these giant flat stones. The heat
from the stones would dry us off
so that it was safe to go back to
the house.”
That sense of adventure
stuck with Norma. In her 20s, she
and a girlfriend set out on long
treks. They slept in the woods
with their sleeping bags nestled
Norma was born in this log cabin built by her father.
elementary school teacher. Well
before it was the popular thing
to do, she included conservation
into her science lessons. An
outstanding teacher, she received
several national and state awards.
Like her father, Norma
instilled in her students and her
own children an awareness of
the environment. Her daughter
Sandra recalls how her mother
would lament about the changing
landscape in their Bloomington,
IL community: “I grew up very
aware of the farmlands that were
disappearing to make room for
and continues to enjoy and
appreciate nature.
When asked what her secret
is to being so youthful at 100,
she says:
“Being interested in
everything, getting outside and
keeping active. I’m really not one
to sit around.”
The Conservancy proudly
recognizes Norma Lamprech as a
member of our Silversword Society,
which celebrates members who
have supported our work for 20 or
more years.
11
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Non Profit Org.
U.S. Postage
PAID
Honolulu, HI
Permit No.141
923 Nu‘uanu Avenue, Honolulu, HI 96817
Visit our website for the latest news and updates at www.nature.org/hawaii.
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KEIKI ART
Making a Splash
W
indward O‘ahu youth, grades 4-6, recently competed in an Earth
Day art contest at Windward Mall to depict the Kāne‘ohe Bay
Reef Restoration project, a collaborate effort between The Nature
Conservancy and the State Division of Aquatic Resources. The project
is using a pair of underwater vacuums, or “Super Suckers” to clean
invasive algae off the bay’s coral reefs. The reefs are then seeded with
native sea urchins that eat the algae and keep it from growing back.
First, second and third-place prizes were awarded in three categories.
Check out the winners!
MOST
COMPELLING
FIRST PLACE
Noelani Root
Kapunahala Elementary • Grade 5
SECOND PLACE
Jack Clawson
Le Jardin Academy • Grade 5
THIRD PLACE
Nanea Spies
Le Jardin Academy • Grade 5
12
Poster contest winners:
MOST
CREATIVE
FIRST PLACE
Abigail Dietrich
Le Jardin Academy • Grade 5
SECOND PLACE
Lizabel Sanchen
Ben Parker Elementary • Grade 4
THIRD PLACE
Casey Cummings
Le Jardin Academy • Grade 6
G. Timmons
BEST DEPICTION
OF THEME
FIRST PLACE
Ashli Sordillia
St. Ann’s School • Grade 6
SECOND PLACE
Zoe Pacarro
St. Ann’s School • Grade 6
THIRD PLACE
Katelyn Pang
St. Ann’s School • Grade 6
Images of winning posters by Marc Schechter