Waikane Restoration | Volunteering in Waikane Valley

Waikane Restoration - July 3, 2015

Paul Zweng, property owner of Waikane Valley invited Dave to do restoration in Waikane Valley. Dave in turn invited us. The goal today was to kill albizia trees. These trees as beautiful as they are tall and their branches spread out like bonzai trees are invasive as it gets. Because they are so tall and their branches spread out, they pretty much kill any plant living underneath them. For these reasons, invasive plants take over the environment in Hawaii. Take for instance the strawberry guava. It is a native plant from Brazil. These plants have to compete for centuries with other plants in a tough environment. When they come here to Hawaii, competition is much less, so they take over the native plants, stealing their nutrition, sunlight, and water. The native plants can't compete, so they die. 

Joining the hike today was Paul, Dave, Allison, Darren, Erik, David, & I. Meeting place was in Waiahole Valley. I thought that was sketchy because people in Waiahole Valley hate hikers, but Paul knows a family there and they offered their lawn so we could park our cars. I have nothing against people in Waiahole, but I can empathize with them and do understand they don't want hiker's in their valley.

P.C. David J. Picture at stream

In 4 wheel drives, Paul's truck and Dave's Jeep, we shuttled to Waikane Valley. We got to the stream where we would debrief and go over our assignment for the day. Paul gave us a hatchet and some poison. He also gave us spikes. He is very meticulous in his preparation. We crossed the stream and headed up the road, less than a mile to kill our first albizia trees. 

Paul showing us the different native plants (P.C. Dave F.)

We went down a slippery slope to the first of 3 trees. There, Paul showed us how to use the hatchet to create a girdle. After making the girdle, we had to make notches, and drop the poison. It took me a few trees, but I think I got the hang of it. After poisoning the first 5 trees, Paul showed us some restoration efforts he's been doing. He has been planting native plants in the area, most notably koa, ilima, and mamake, among other plants which I can't remember. We took a break and started going up the dirt road to the Albizia Dome located on a ridge.

Picture on Albizia Dome Ridge (P.C. Paul Z.)

This area of the forest has tons of Albizia trees that blanket any smaller tree in its way. We split up and hacked away. My body got stronger as we went on. This summer break has been really good. The workout was unbelievable, so much upper body strength is needed to hack away at all these trees. After about 1 hour, we called it a day and took a ridge to the Ohulehule Saddle. It took us about 40 minutes to get to the saddle.  I use to call it the Waikane Saddle in years past. I guess it could be called either way.

on the Ohuluhule Saddle

This saddle takes you to Ohulehule if we went right. On this day, we went left on the saddle to the Waikane trail. We took the Waikane trail to the dirt road and finished our loop at the cars. After cleaning the equipment, we headed back on the vehicles to Kam Hwy and to our cars in Waiahole Valley. 

Allison had to leave, but we continued our banter about trying to restore the forest in Waikane Valley. Paul's focus on trying to restore the native forest is unprecedented. He seems driven and ready to do it. Right before it got dark, we left. 

The PHM was at Pakele's in Kaneohe. The food there is average, but portion size is big. It was only Darren, Erik, & I, but we talked a lot. We spent over an hour at Pakele's.