Land and People Melissa Chimera

As the Hawaiian Islands Land Trust's Director of ‘Āina Stewardship, Dr. Scott Fisher has worked for two decades to restore the coastal sand dunes and wetlands of Waihe‘e on Maui. His unusual background is that of an infantryman in Kuwait during the Gulf War where he witnessed unparalleled ecological devastation. In war torn Papua New Guinea he pursued his PhD in peace and conflict studies focused on indigenous knowledge as a means of social and environmental sustainability. He bridges local Maui communities and Hawaiian indigenous knowledge with the study of the ancient ecology of coastlines to help bring life to Waihe‘e, Nu‘u and other sacred and significant places.

Native Nursery on Maui is one of the largest Hawaiian native plant growers in Hawai`i founded by lifelong friends and partners Ethan Romanchak and Jonathan Keyser. With twenty years of experience in native species horticulture, rare plant propagation and ecosystem restoration, their business now includes growing citrus to help re-claim and make productive once more thousands of acres of former sugar lands in the central valley. We talk to them about growing up on Maui, running a business together, and witnessing the massive changes in Maui--from commercial development to environmental challenges including the recent fires.

Dr. Kalehua Krug is a mea kākau (traditional tattooist), musician, activist and school principal at the Hawaiian immersion school Ka Waihona o ka Na`auao in Nānākuli, West O`ahu. His advocacy for land and indigenous philosophy not only stems from his personal journey into Hawaiian identity, but his desire to improve kānaka (Hawaiian) health and educational outcomes, and to expand aloha `āina (love and connection to land) to all. We gain an understanding of how his activism, art and language is rooted in research, learning through practice and an urgency for greater environmental sustainability that transcends ethocentric notions of self.

For over five decades landscape designer, sculptor and naturalist Leland Miyano has connected people to Hawaiian native ecosystems through his gardens in Kahulu`u, at the Bishop Museum and at The Contemporary Museum in Honolulu. In 2019, he created an award winning double hulled canoe installation comprised of invasive guava branches which reflects a Hawaiian sense of place while acknowledging the massive ecosystem transformations Hawai`i has undergone.  He shows us his native Hawaiian garden at the Atherton Halau, his work in stone and wood, and talks about his life-long passion for endemic species from snails to plants as an expression of connectivity between science and art.

Hannah Kihalani Springer of Hawai`i Island is a storyteller, environmental activist, and scholar of Hawaiian history for many decades. As a former trustee for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and advocate for land and sea conservation, she has headed up the nonprofit `Ahahui o Pu`u Wa`awa`a which advocates for the conservation and management of forest systems including endangered Hawaiian plants. Her perspective and that of her husband retired fire fighter Michael Tomich is one of hybridity--in their support for ranching and sheep herding in fire prone grasslands while at the same time restoring native species. She brings us the mo`olelo (place based stories) of Kaʻūpūlehu which demonstrate how we might bring a holistic and reverent relationship to `āina (land) based in aloha kekahi i kekahi (love for one another).

Emily and Ann Fielding, the mother-daughter marine duo of Maui have both lived and worked in Hawai`i to help educate and conserve the ocean, its creatures, coral reefs across the Pacific. Ann's experience is as an underwater naturalist where she introduced visitors, kama`aina and students to the abundance of Maui's coral reefs and their creatures. Emily has worked in many capacities from helping to protect one of the largest marine protected areas in the world--Papahānaumokuākea--to conserving the marine life of the Hawaiian archipelago as The Nature Conservancy's Hawai`i Marine Conservation Director. Together they bring us a vision of what real and lasting ocean sustainability might mean for both people and the environment, based on their many decades bridging education, science and culture via community-based management.