A Freshwater Excursion

This week we went to Māhuahua ʻAi o Hoi,which means "replanting the fruit of Hawaii." It's a state-owned property managed by the organization Kākoʻo ʻŌiwi, which means "to support the natives."I have not seen so much undeveloped land on Oahu! The land is a wetland that used to be entirely kalo loʻi. The loʻi today look healthy. Kākoʻo ʻŌiwi plan to restore the loʻi to what they once were.

First, Kyrie gave us a tour of the property and told us a few of the moʻolelos of Heʻeia. She took us to the pond and then on the road back to the loʻi. Then we were the guinea pigs for troubleshooting some environmental monitoring methods that Kākoʻo ʻŌiwi will teach to
volunteers and students who visit the property. Sam, Martin, and I started with the vegetation mapping. We measured the dry and underwater canopy heights as well as the water depth of the discrete wetland vegetation units surrounding the freshwater pond. We noted the
species and traced the edge of the pond with a GPS unit. Only two native species are left in this wetland, and California grass seemed to be the dominant alien species.
When we were finished slogging around the pond, we moved to the next station- plankton tows. Determining the planktonic composition of the pond required this
little net with a bottle attached to it. Sam tossed the net and pulled it back. We rinsed the plankton into the bottle then used a field
microscope to classify the critters. We found a lot of detritus-parts of leaves and twigs, mostly, but Megsie found a cute little copepod. Our group didn't make it to the last station, which tested the turbidity and dissolved oxygen concentration of the pond. Dissolved oxygen is low in the pond, so only the really hardy species, like tilapia, live in it. I think all of us had a lot of fun and I thought that Kyrie's tour was the best part. It will take a lot more hard work from many people, but one day I think Heʻeia will be more like it used to be, with as much kalo in the wetland as moi in the pond. The ahupuaʻa has seen the sort of monumental work restoring it will take when the ancestors built the kuapā enclosing the fish pond. I'm honored to be a part of it.