Funded Kaulunani Projects
2022 Funded Projects
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Organization: Hui o Hoʻohonua Award amount: $30,000 Project Title: Hui Alaloa – Creating New Pathways for Abundance in the ʻEwa Moku Category: Tree Planting (Level II) Location: ʻEwa Moku, Oʻahu Project Overview: Honoring traditional Hawaiian systems of resource management, this demonstration project brings together community partners in a single biocultural restoration project. This project seeks to create a demonstration agroforestry project based along a quarter mile stretch of the Pearl Harbor Historic Trail (Puʻuloa Alaloa) based on our project pillars: community activation (via community work days, education, school-based leadership opportunities and cultural mural project), placemaking (enhancing community identity and public spaces, decolonizing place names and integrating Hawaiian moʻolelo and manaʻo), equitable food security (establishing a place with access to food and culturally relevant plants for community use) and mobility (providing improved safety and public use of the Pearl Harbor Bike Path for walking, biking and related wellness activities, providing a sustainable transportation alternative for those commuting to jobs and schools in the area). About: Hui o Hoʻohonua (HOH808) is a 501 (c)3 non-profit created by members of the ʻEwa community. The primary mission is to end the perpetuation of historical trauma to the land, water, and people in the ʻEwa Moku on Oʻahu. The development of our mission was motivated by our observations of environmental neglect and pollution in Pearl Harbor (Puʻuloa), as well as the social needs of the people who live in the surrounding moku. |
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Award amount: $154,000 Project Title: Land Accountability to Our Ancestors Category: Education and Outreach (Level II) Location: The ahupuaʻa of Kalihi, Kona moku, Oʻahu Project Overview: Land Accountability for Our Ancestors is a two-year project to Promote the Role of Urban and Community Forestry in Human Health and Wellness. The project will be led by Kōkua Kalihi Valley Comprehensive Family Services (KKV), a federally qualified health center (FQHC), and The Kohala Center (TKC), a community-based center for research, conservation, and education. KKV is a Nontraditional Urban Community Forestry organization, serving a High Potential Community. The project develops a research partnership with TEK experts knowledgeable in content and practice to solidify a set of native forest management practices and train forest stewards with the intention to impact national and international forest management practices. Activities include multi-day forestry workshops, convenings, and forestry workdays with staff, partners, and community members. Products created and distributed through conference participation, PDF documents, PowerPoint reports, Social Media, community engagement, and flyers, include Best Management Practices for indigenous forestry stewardship, training and educational curriculum, videos and plant products. Translations of key documents will be made in several languages including Spanish, Chuukese, Marshallese, and Ilocano, expanding the accessibility of the products developed through this project. About: Kōkua Kalihi Valley Comprehensive Family Services (KKV) has been serving the low-income community of Kalihi Valley since 1972 and became a FQHC in 1989. With nine service sites, including a 100-acre nature preserve Hoʻoulu ‘Āina, KKV provides primary care including medical, dental and behavioral, Elder Care, Maternal Child Health programs, and a range of community-engagement programs focused on Social Determinants of Health. |
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2021 Funded Projects
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Award amount: $14,999 Project Title: Roots and Shoots: Ulu for the Future Category: Education & Outreach Location: Hawai’i Island (Captain Cook) Project Overview: This project advances food security and environmental sustainability through sharing ‘ulu saplings with families, training on propagation, and creating online vignettes and educational outreach. Our partnerships with Lili’uokalani Trust, B. P. Bishop Museum and supporting organizations are essential in addressing State Forest Action Plan priorities and community resiliency in challenging times. About: Situated in historic Kealakekua ahupua‘a and overlooking the Bay, the 13-acre Amy B. H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden mission supports Hawaiian cultural traditions of land use and plants, and conserves the plant resources of traditional Hawaiian cultural activities. The Garden contains over 200 native plant species, many of which are rare and endangered. Amy’s garden is planted in exactly the right place; a cornerstone of Kamehameha’s agricultural kingdom in the historic ahupua`a of Kealakekua. |
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Organization: Pop Up Labs for Sustainability (PULS) Award amount: $6,700 Project Title: Building the Next Generation of Tree Stewards Category: Education & Outreach Location: Oahu Project Overview: The goal is to build the next generation of Urban Tree Stewards. PULS will develop an action-oriented lesson plan, Become a Tree Hugger, which merges STEAM/sustainable learning, and brings it to four schools it is scheduled to visit in the 2020-21 academic year. Each participating school and student will “earn” trees to plant. The program will result in the cultivation of over 200 conservation-aware tree-planting stewards and over 240 trees planted. About: The mission of PULS is to bridge STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts+design, and mathematics) and sustainable learning to help youth discover their potential in the field while inspiring commitment to protect our Earth among the next generation. |
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Award amount: $14,999 Project Title: Kōkua Learning Farm: Promoting Urban, Community-based, Cultural & Regenerative Agroforestry Category: Tree Planting Location: Oahu (Hale’iwa) Project Overview: This project creates a welcoming edible and native landscape sanctuary in the heart of Hale’iwa town. A diversity of backyard gardens, native tree plantings, and agroforestry zones will serve as demonstrations for the community, visitors, and schools and inspire them to take these ideas and implement them at their homes. About: The Kōkua Hawaiʻi Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that supports environmental education in the schools and communities of Hawaiʻi. Their mission is to provide students with experiences that will enhance their appreciation for and understanding of their environment so they will be lifelong stewards of the earth. “We believe our keiki are the seeds of change to preserving and protecting our beautiful islands.” |
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Award amount: $8,979 Project Title: Go Native: Growing a ‘Native Hawaiian Urban Forest’ Category: Education & Outreach Location: Oahu Project Overview: The “Go Native: Growing a ‘Native Hawaiian Urban Forest'” project aims to stimulate residents and businesses in urban areas to grow Native Hawaiian and Polynesian-introduced plants, as well as to increase public awareness of the value and benefits of native plants including trees. About: The mission of the Hawai`i Forest Institute is to promote the health and productivity of Hawaii’s forests through forest restoration, educational programs, information dissemination, and support for scientific research. |
 Organization: NiuNOW!, University of Hawaii, West Oahu
Award amount: $14,999 Project Title: Uluniu Project – Niu NOW! Category: Tree Planting Location: Leeward Oahu Project Overview: The Uluniu Project at UH West Oʻahu gathered students, community members, educators, farmers, and scholars interested in Island food security, Indigenous knowledge, sustainability, economic diversity, climate change, health and healing, and cultural arts – around the niu (coconut). This project addresses food security and cultural revitalization within climate-change needs and conservation priorities with the focus on indigenous-based urban tropical agroforestry practices. We aim to help amplify how indigenous food practices and agroforestry best-practices are often similar. In essence, the Uluniu Project practices cultural agroforestry for community empowerment. About: Niu NOW! started as the Uluniu Project at the University of Hawaiʻi West Oʻahu. They are an inspired ʻohana committed to reestablishing niu practices within Hawai’inuiākea. Kuʻu ʻāina aloha, our beloved natural world, ignites our passion for coconuts as food, art, mo’olelo, and cultural rejuvenation. Our ʻohana volunteers comprise niu knowledge holders, farmers, researchers, and aloha ʻāina practitioners. |
Organization: MA’O Organic Farms Award amount: $4,500 Project Title: Arboriculture Training and Green job Development Pathways for O’ahu Youth working in Community Forestry & Food Security Category: Education & Outreach Project Overview: Proper tree maintenance is critical for gaining benefits from our Urban and Community Forests. On O’ahu there is a high demand for certified and qualified arborists that outpaces the supply, resulting in poor tree care. There is a need for more certified and qualified arborists dedicated to promoting community well-being. MA’O Farms, in partnership with Aloha Arborist Association, will add specialist instruction in tree care to their young farmer development program. We also expect that an increase in tree-care knowledge will result in increased yields for our food-bearing trees. About: MAʻO Organic Farms is located in Lualualei Valley, home to the unique Lualualei vertisol soil series, abundant sunshine and a rich tradition of food production. Through the farm enterprise we train and mentor youth who work on the farm as interns and apprentices to become entrepreneurial community leaders. These youth co-manage the farm, growing and processing a wide variety of high quality organic fruits and vegetables sold to the community through farmer’s markets, a CSA subscription service, grocers, natural food stores and restaurants. |
Organization: Livable Hawaii Kai Hui Award amount: $13,410 Project Title: Cultivating Community Roots through Citizen Forester Native Tree Planting Category: Tree Planting Project Overview: There are two overall purposes of this project: ▪ Community Tree Planting and Stewardship: Demonstrate the practicality, aesthetic quality and cultural relevance of native Hawaiian dryland trees and shrubs in xeric areas of Honolulu and O’ahu by creating an easily accessible forest dryscape at Hawea Heiau Complex and Keawawa Wetland (Hawea/Keawawa) using native Hawaiian trees and shrubs once prevalent in the Maunalua region. ▪ Instill Urban Tree Values within Maunalua: Raise the awareness and knowledge of citizens, local government, schools, other non-profit organizations and service clubs with respect to the practical values (e.g., create a more livable environment, enhance the beauty of our neighborhoods, reduced water use, watershed improvement, flooding mitigation, fire management, cultural relevance, recreation) of using native Hawaiian dryland forest tree and shrub species to transform and improve the health of Maunalua landscapes, public and privately owned. About: Livable Hawaii Kai Hui is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, non-partisan community organization serving East Honolulu, established in 2004. Officers and Directors are pro bono. They encourage grassroots organizing, believe in open dialogue and disclosure guaranteed under the Sunshine Law. They strive to promote sensible growth and respect for the land. |
Organization: Kākoʻo ʻŌiwi Award amount: $12,573 Project Title: Hahai nō ka ua i ka ululāʻau – The rain follows the forest Category: Tree planting Project Overview: This project will leverage an existing collaborative community agroforestry restoration project to increase education and outreach impact in a context appropriate for healthy social distancing. This will involve: 1) enhancing and expanding existing outplant; 2) creating educational and community outreach videos; 3) creating an adaptive kilo (observation)-based management plan for the project. About: Kākoʻo ʻŌiwi is a Heʻeia, O’ahu based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to perpetuate the cultural and spiritual practices of the Native Hawaiian people. Since 2010, Kākoʻo ʻŌiwi has been working to restore ecological and agricultural productivity to nearly a nearly 405-acre wetland landscape in the ahupuaʻa of Heʻeia. |
Organization: Polyline LLC Award amount: $13,499
Category: Education & Outreach Project Overview: Polyline Architecture + Urbanism completed a design vision study entitled “Eight Islands: Hawaii State Capitol Mall”, located in the open space and pedestrian area between the Hawaii State Capitol and the Iolani Palace, State Archive and Hawaii State Library. Ideas from earlier stakeholder meetings were further explored and designed. A graphic report and presentation with final drawings, renderings and narrative were presented on September 1, 2021. The intent of the project is to re-envision the Capitol Mall area to address safety issues surrounding pedestrians and cyclists, while improving functionality, promote urban forestry, and thereby comfort and aesthetics of this important and representative public space. About: Polyline is a design studio operating in the convergence of architecture, urbanism and landscape. Polylineʻs vision is to elevate the standard of creating beautiful, usable, resilient, and sustainable spaces for the users and the community to thrive. |
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Award amount: $18,000 Project Title: Symphony of the Hawaii Forests Category: Education & Outreach Project Overview: The project is creating a curriculum and a new symphony consisting of music, animation, and hula, devoted to educating K-12 students of O‘ahu on the importance of trees through a multidisciplinary approach using both science and the arts. About: Led by Takoma Itoh, UH Manoa composer who led Symphony of the Hawaiian Birds, Symphony of the Hawaii Forests aims to educate and inspire students. |
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Award amount: $31,500 Project Title: Raising Awareness of Albizia in Hawaii Category: Education & Outreach Project Overview: This project aims to increase awareness of one of Hawaii’s most threatening invasive species, albizia trees (Falcataria moluccana). We will target O’ahu, Hawaii’s most populated and urbanized island and will develop a sharable model that will not only empower local communities to take action and remove invasive albizia trees from their neighborhoods, but can also be shared and applied across the nation and in other areas to galvanize local initiatives and show that community-driven control projects are an effective way to manage invasive species in urban and community forests. About: Led by Koʻolau Mountain Watershed Partnership, this project is still in its early stages. |
2021 Arbor Day Hawaiʻi Funded Projects
Organization: City and County of Honolulu
Project Title: Native Plantings and Youth Education at Liliʻuokalani Botanical Garden Category: Education & Outreach (Arbor Day Hawaii) Project Overview: Liliʻuokalani Botanical Garden (LBG), also known as Waikahalulu, is located in Nuʻuanu Valley in urban Honolulu. Waikahalulu was transferred to the City and County of Honolulu (City) in 1916. This project will plant native species at LBG with students from the School for Examining Essential Questions of Sustainability (SEEQS) to supplement their existing environmental curriculum. About: For the City and County of Honolulu (City), the Community Forestry Program aims to bridge the gap between the City and community on maintaining Oʻahu’s urban forest. The urban forest is an area where trees and people live together in the community and it is our mission to promote environmental sustainability, community stewardship, and tree education for the public. |
Organization: Trees for Honoluluʻs Future Award amount: $2,458.01 Project Title: Kaimuki Arbor Day 2021 – A community growing trees together! Category: Education & Outreach (Arbor Day Hawaii) Project Overview: Urban Honolulu is losing tree canopy. Budget cuts limit county agencies’ ability to plant on public lands. Leveraging Trees for Kaimuki partners we will: * Get site appropriate trees in the yards of residents * Build capacity by educating proper planting and care, teach vs just give * Track results, not just immediate, but one year hence. About: Trees for Honolulu’s Future fulfills a critical function not currently provided by other public or private organizations related to our urban forest. They build bridges among public and private organizations and local communities by working in concert with and through them to accomplish mutual goals. |
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Organization: Garden Island Resource Conservation and Development, Inc Award amount: $5,000 Project Title: Kauai Arbor Day Category: Education & Outreach (Arbor Day Hawaii) Project Overview: Kauai Arbor Day will offer free trees to the community of Kauai on November 6, 2021. This event enhances and strengthens Kauai’s beauty and overall island health. About: Building community, leveraging human and natural resources through creating economic, social and environmental opportunity—this is the work of the Garden Island Resource Conservation and Development, Inc. Its broad mission results in projects, workshops and programs, some of which spin off into viable entities of their own. |
Organization: ʻIolani School Award amount: $3,500 Project Title: Treevia: A Trees of Hawaii Card Game for Youth and Their Families Category: Education & Outreach (Arbor Day Hawaii) Project Overview: Trees in Hawai’i are valuable resources that are often underappreciated. We propose to create an engaging and educational card game about Hawai’i’s trees to inspire youth and their families to preserve, protect and appreciate this beautiful resource. About: ‘Iolani School is a culturally diverse, co-educational, college preparatory school for more than 2,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade founded upon Christian values. |
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Project Title: Waimānalo Celebrates Arbor Day 2021 Category: Education & Outreach (Arbor Day Hawaii) Project Overview: KKNOW will partner with the University of Hawaii CTAHR’s Waimanalo Learning Center to create a series of videos on tree propagation and care to be posted on-line. They will also distribute 100 ‘ulu trees and 100 dwarf coconuts at an educational event held November 5th and 6th at the Waimānalo Research station About: Ke Kula Nui o Waimnalo is a grassroots community based non-profit 501(c)3 looking to help community become self-sustainable in every way. From the mountain to the sea, the `āina and kai can provide for the community as it did years ago. The mission of KKNOW is to provide a community of practice through collaboration of Kānaka to promote strong and healthy ahupuaʻa. |
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Organization: Malama Learning Center Award amount: $5,000 Project Title: Celebrating Trees in the Urban Aina of West Oahu Category: Education & Outreach (Arbor Day Hawaii) Project Overview: This project invites West Oahu residents to plant trees in hands-on workshops, take home free trees, and shop at a pop-up store featuring tree-based products made by volunteers. The primary event led by Malama Learning Center will be held in Kunia and partner events will be held at two other sites in Waianae. A short companion video celebrating Arbor Day will be created and aired on television. About: Mālama Learning Center is a non-profit organization that brings art, science, conservation, and culture together to promote sustainable living throughout Hawai‘i. They are located in West O‘ahu, in the city of Kapolei, offering our services primarily to communities from Waipahu to Wai’anae. Mālama Learning Center is the result of a shared vision among educators, conservation groups, businesses, and community members to create an innovative learning center in Kapolei to promote healthy, sustainable living in an island environment. |
Organization: Maui Nui Botanical Gardens Inc. Award amount: $5,000 Project Title: Arbor Day Garden Expo and Hawaiian Tree Giveaway Category: Education & Outreach (Arbor Day Hawaii) Project Overview: Maui Nui Botanical Gardens’ Arbor Day Garden Expo and Tree Giveaway has the goals of increasing urban tree cover in residential areas in Maui, encouraging Maui residents to value native Hawaiian trees, and promoting best tree care practices for urban landscapes. About: Maui Nui Botanical Gardens (MNBG) is dedicated to the protection of Maui Nui’s rich native plants and cultural heritage. By collecting, cultivating, and distributing native and Polynesian-introduced plants MNBG provides people with a gathering place to see and understand the important relationship these plants have to our economic, social, and cultural livelihoods. |
20 years of Kaulunani Accomplishments, 1993 – 2013
Document highlighting 20 years of Accomplishments. Click to download the PDF document