Source: UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII SYSTEMS submitted to NRP
PUUHONUA KAULUWEHI: MAUI WILDFIRE RAPID RESPONSE STRATEGIES FOR AGROECOSYSTEM RESILIENCE, FOOD SECURITY AND COMMUNITY WELL-BEING
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
ACTIVE
Funding Source
AFRI COMPETITIVE GRANT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1031721
Grant No.
2024-68016-41659
Cumulative Award Amt.
$300,000.00
Proposal No.
2023-11172
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Jan 1, 2024
Project End Date
Dec 31, 2025
Grant Year
2024
Program Code
[A1712]- Rapid Response to Extreme Weather Events Across Food and Agricultural Systems
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII SYSTEMS
310 KAAHUMANU AVE
KAHULUI,HI 96732
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
1. Description. Non-technical summary. The Puuhonua Kauluwehi project aims to develop a rapid response to the recent Maui wildfires by collaboratively establishing biocultural refuges supporting the cultivation of native plants to accelerate landscape-scale agroecological resilience, food security and community well-being strategies. Puuhonua Kauluwehi is a Hawaiian phrase describing regenerative agroecosystem areas that provide shelter for native vegetation, attract native birds and insects, and serve as a source of thriving launching points to revegetate the landscape through community engagement. Similar to other biocultural refuge models such as "chinampa-refuges" in Mexico, Local Biodiversity Heritage Sites in India, community gardens in the global north, sacred forests in sub-Saharan Africa, and the traditional local ecological knowledge systems of Hawaii, biocultural refuges serve a critical environments to preserve threatened species, endemic genetics, ecosystem services, indigenous knowledge, and the culture of sites threatened by natural disasters. In Hawaii, establishing biocultural refuges is even more critical as the unique ecosystems of the islands continue to come under threat from invasive species, drought, commercial development, and lack of ecosystem management and are more at risk due to the dependence on imported response and aid resources from the mainland as demonstrated by the devastating impact of the Maui wildfires in August 2023. Research indicates that the annual burn area across all four counties of Hawaii has increased by 300% within the past few decadeswith 26% of the state covered by fire-prone invasive grasses.By creating a network of biocultural refuges, the project will cultivate new and existing sites as native seed orchards to feed local seed banks and seek to address the crucial bottleneck in the supply chains of plants for native forest and biocultural restoration projects. While Hawaii has pledged to plant and protect 100 million trees by 2030, currently, nearly all native plant material is sourced from wild populations. Developing refuges of native trees, shrubs, and groundcovers would provide an easily accessible and stable source of seeds for planned and anticipated large-scale agroforest restoration projects for wildfire recovery efforts, alleviating pressure on and disturbance of wild plant populations. Locating a model refuge on the UHMC campus and other project partner sites also creates opportunities for much-needed research on native plant growth rates, flowering, fruiting, and seed production, physiological variation, water use, and nutrient requirements, information that can support more effective planting, planning, and care of agroforestry and restoration projects. With 2,100 acres burned in the Lahaina wildfire, there is an opportunity to immediately initiate planning, replanting and reforestation of the burn zone areas that harbored the invasive grasses fueling the wind-spread fire and initiate restoration of the once thriving watershed ecosystem. Long-term benefits of these initiatives include groundwater rechargingto nurture restoration of the region's original wetlands, lowland flats and agroforestry systems such as Lahaina's culturally significant, ancient breadfruit grove Mala Ulu o Lele. This proposal responds within 30 days to the immediate need for UHMC and coalition partners to participate in the Lahaina Treescape Restoration Project initiated by government, non-profit and private entity stakeholders in September 202311 and outlines a timeline with rapid response activities and deliverables within 90 days. The overarching goal of this Integrated Strengthening Grant proposal is to effectively increase community stakeholders access to environmental, human health, and socioeconomic benefits in disadvantaged communities, broaden youth and adult engagement and education in agroecosystem planning and restoration, increase local capacity for agroforestry restoration across Hawaii's landscapes, and enhance awareness of the best practices of biocultural refuges to improve resilience to climate change and extreme events like the on-going threat of wildfires.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
100%
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
60101203100100%
Knowledge Area
601 - Economics of Agricultural Production and Farm Management;

Subject Of Investigation
0120 - Land;

Field Of Science
3100 - Management;
Goals / Objectives
This project aims to disrupt the trajectory of forest decline across the Hawaiian Islands by strategically establishing urban kipuka as biocultural oases supporting the cultivation of professionals and plants to accelerate landscape scale ecological restoration. Kipuka is a Hawaiian term for fragments of old-growth forest that have been surrounded by lava flows and provide refuge for native vegetation, attract native birds and insects, and serve as a source of propagules to eventually revegetate the lava-covered landscape. We envision urban kipuka as hubs that effectively increase equitable access to urban tree canopy and associated human health, environmental and economic benefits in disadvantaged communities, broaden community engagement in local urban forest planning, enhance awareness of best practices that improve urban forest resilience to pests and climate change and extreme events, and increase local capacity for forest restoration across varied landscapes. The metaphor of cultural kipuka is well-established for rural communities that persist in a landscape of change. For the urban setting, we flip the concept of kipuka as ecological remnants to envision the human-aided re-emergence of forest groves in landscapes of pavement. In this setting, human energy and plant life rather than lava are the critical disruptive forces. The decades-long development of urban cultural kipuka supporting Hawaiian cultural and community revitalization through Aina-based (place-based) educational auwai (waterways) provide a model for the parallel cultivation of social capacity to restore forests across urban lands they once occupied.Objective 1: Extend the applied research at the existing Kauluwehi Biocultural Restoration Project model to recommend solutions for agroecology system resilience for Maui communities facing wildfire disaster events.1.1) Inventory and map priority impact areas to complement existing tree canopy and plant datasets to collect data on agroecosystem site growth and health, pest and disease, and biocultural indicators to compare to climate and caretaking effort.1.2) Quantify the current baseline of agroecosystem services (heat mitigation, biodiversity, rain/flood water infiltration, cultural aesthetics, access to native species) within priority wildfire impact locations and related resource sites. Develop a website with a coalition contact list, educational resources and links to share indicator datasets.1.3) Produce research poster for presentation at relevant stakeholder conference (local or statewide or national).Objective 2: Develop strategies to ensure all children, youth, and adults have access to abundant local food during and after wildfire disasters through a coalition building of seed orchard, seed bank, nursery and food hub partners.2.1) Coordinate engagement with community stakeholders and identify priority projects for partner engagement to launch a coalition.2.2) Produce online guides for locale-specific restoration initiatives that are reflective of community needs and values including communication strategies, tools and technologies, food supply logistics, and climate-smart practices (via PDF distribution to stakeholders and project website).Objective 3: Design extension and integrated community education initiatives to address the health and well-being of children, youth, and adults affected by wildfire disasters.3.1) Develop curricula for each of the three training programs that integrate the principles of ecosystem services, native plant conservation, protection and maintenance to improve community resilience to climate impacts such as wildfire disasters.3.2) Provide community trainings engaging neighborhoods and families in agroecology systems restoration and maintenance through knowledge of ecosystem elements including native seeds, establishing native seed orchards and seedbanks, improving soil health, and reducing fire risk.3.3) Engage 300 participants from wildfire impacted communities in three work-based training programs: a) ?ina Data Stewards (40 youth and adult students), b) ?ina Data Interns (4 adult students), c) Kauluwehi Community Stewards (256 youth and adult participants).
Project Methods
Methodology. The project will integrate an indigenous knowledge framework including ike kupuna (ancestral knowledge observations) and ike aina (careful observations of the land) with a participatory mapping methodology for GIS data collection, inventory and analysis that creates a holistic resource for the Maui community impacted by the wildfires. Ike aina kupuna-based education is a Hawaiian ancestral knowledge framework drawing on Hawaiian cultural practices, including kilo (critically observing environmental changes), kanu (plant and harvesting laau), oli (chants), mele (songs), kaao (ancient stories), and kuahu (altar) to more effectively engage local students in STEM education(Irvine, 2021). The project will integrate Ike aina kupuna with a participatory mapping methodology that is sensitive to location-specific community values, perspectives, and the future planning for the restoration of the wildfire-impacted lands using the Explore, Explain, and Predict/Modelthat engages non-academic community and student participants in the Explore phase, and the academic team and advisory council members engaging in the Explain and Predict/Model phases to produce integrated education and applied research products.

Progress 01/01/24 to 12/31/24

Outputs
Target Audience:The project has an objective to design extension and non-formal community education initiatives to address the health and well-being of children, youth, and adults affected by wildfire disasters through work-based agroecosystem and stewardship training in the Kauluwehi Biocultural Garden for 300 participants. This target audience for the Pu'uhonua Kauluwehi project included a diverse range of youth K-12 students, adult college students and community members including families impacted by the Maui wildfires. The project has served 455 total participants, exceeding the target of 300 participants. Participants were recruited from local high schools, community colleges and among the communities impacted by the wildfires for three educational programs: a) Aina Data Stewards,with 21 participants from the 32 total projected were recruited from local high schools and Maui College, applied to the program based on their interest in gaining technical skills relevant to GIS mapping, data science, public health, and other STEM college and career pathways. This group collected project data related to native plant inventories and biocultural, health, and environmental indicators and were motivated to give back to the wildfire impacted communities through work-based learning. b) Aina Data Interns,with 4 participants from the 4 total projected were recruited from local high schools and Maui College, developed more in-depth, applied projects as paid internships to gain hands-on skills in community outreach and engagement, curriculum content development and workshop coordination at biocultural refuge sites. c) Kauluwehi Community Stewards, with430 participants exceeding the 256 total projected were recruited from communities impacted by the wildfires and engaged in community volunteer work, participated in workshops and network-building activities like community volunteer work days to strengthen and scale community engagement in wildfire recovery activities, health and wellness workshops grounded Hawaiian cultural practices, best management and maintenance practices for native agroecosystems, and workshops to anticipate and plan for local climate change threats in their communities. Changes/Problems:The project faced challenges in receiving funds in a timely manner from the UH Office of Research Services while a new account was being set up resulting in a slow start for project expenditures. The project also faced a staffing challenge when a graduate student withdrew from the project to focus on their academic work and new staff had to be recruited and hired. These issues were resolved and the project proceeded without any major changes other than scheduling and procurement delays. The no cost extension proposal will enable the project to move forward with planned budget spending to resolve the issues with delays in originallyreceiving project funds. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Opportunities for staff training and professional development was provided by the project including: 1) Attendance by the project program manager at the 2024 Annual Conference of the American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS),Sept 23-27, 2024 in Honolulu, HI including horticultural workshops on native plants and propagation best practices. The program manager also presented a poster with current outcomes and results of the project to support community engagement, outreach and sharing of duties. 2) Attendance by theproject program manager and collaborating staff at the 2024 Annual Hawaii Agricultural Conference,Nov 7-8, 2024 in Honolulu, HIincluding a workshop on wildfire mitigation and firewise landscaping, as well as professional development trainings on food systems, food security and food hubcommunity projects. 3) Project staff and students also participated in native seed collection and propagation training with community partner Tipu Tipu & Sustainability in Summer-Fall 2024. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results have been dissimenated through poster presentation at Hawaii regional conferences and sharing the project poster and presentations in community forums and agriuculture and conservation partner networks. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?With the request for a no cost extension through 2025, the project plans to finalize mapping data collection with intern cohorts and coordinate monthly native plant workshops with community participants in the next quarter. The project also plans to finalize the data platform contract to move forward with the project budget spend down as outlined in the no cost extension plan and launch the public data dashboards to further disseminate project results.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The project achieved the following outcomes under these goals: 1.1) Inventory and map priority impact areas to complement existing tree canopy and plant datasets to collect data on agroecosystem site growth and health, pest and disease, and biocultural indicators to compare to climate and caretaking effort.The project completed the inventory and mapping of priority areas across 7 biocultural refuge sites in Maui County including over 6,300 unique data points for plant/tree location (with GPS mapping), size (measured as diameter at breast height: DBH), plant health, pest and disease and biocultural indicators like use in Native Hawaiian medicinal andfiber arts. The project also inventoried 5,559 plants in nursery inventories and collected native seeds and coordinated a new seed orchard system and seed bank at UH Maui College for over 50,000 seeds (20,000 Ma'o and 32,000 Pili). 1.2) Quantify the current baseline of agroecosystem services (heat mitigation, biodiversity, rain/flood water infiltration, cultural aesthetics, access to native species) within priority wildfire impact locations and related resource sites. Develop a website with a coalition contact list, educational resources and links to share indicator datasets.The project launched a website and collected initial data for the baseline measure for biodiversity. The project has requested a no cost extension to continue the proejct work of expanding the baseline for other agroecosystem services and expanding the website to include more resources and indicator datasets with dashboards. 1.3) Produce research posterfor presentation at relevant stakeholder conferences. Two posters were presented by the project at Hawaii Ag Conference on Nov 7-8, 2024 and American Horticultural Society of American Conference on Sept 23-27, 2024. The posters presented impacts and conclusions including: i) GIS mapping is an effective method to engage youth in work-based learning using new technologies and agroecosystem restoration; ii) Data-driven projects have the potential to build community resilience, breaks down silos and inspire collaboration iii) The project developed new relationships with stakeholders, opportunities to build trust in ground truth data collection, and more meaningful understanding of community needs; iv) Citizen science approaches including paid internships and applied projects are effective methods to involve the community in real-world, solution-oriented projects and inspire youth to explore and advance in STEM college and career pathways. 2.1) Coordinate engagement with community stakeholders and identify priority projects for partner engagement to launch a coalition. The project has established the Pu'uhonua Kauluwehi network with 7 participating priority project biocultural refuge sites including UHMC's Kauluwehi Garden,Hawaii Land Trust, Maui Nui Botanical Garden, Grow Some Good,Kealia Pond Refuge, Tipu Tipu Restoration & Sustainability Wahikuli Watershed and Moloka?i High School to launch the coalition of collaborating partners for data collection and native plant propagation. The project has also engaged with multiple community partners includingMaui United Way,Responsible Markets,Hawaii Institute of Public Health, The Center for Getting ThingsDone, Hawaii Off Grid, County of Maui, Maui Economic Recovery Commission, Maui Strong Fellowship Program, Arizona State University NASA Harvest project, Hulihia Center for Sustainability Systems,and multiple local schools including Waihee Elementary School, Hawaii Tech Academy,Princess N?hi?ena?ena Elementary and Job Corp to recruit and engage with students. 2.2) Produce online guides for locale-specific restoration initiatives that are reflective of community needs and values including communication strategies, tools and technologies, food supply logistics, and climate-smart practices (via PDF distribution to stakeholders and project website).The project is still in progress of developing Standard Operating Procedures for native plant propagation methods, firewise landscaping, climate-smart practicesand other online guides to be distributed to stakeholders and on the project website. 3.1) Develop curricula for each of the three training programs that integrate the principles of ecosystem services, native plant conservation, protection and maintenance to improve community resilience to climate impacts such as wildfire disasters. The project developed new curricula for the three training programs includinga) Aina Data Stewards training program guide and handouts for Aina app platform and native plant mapping activities, b) Aina Data Interns program orientationtraining and Aina app platform training, and c) Kauluwehi Community Stewards native plant seed collection and community propagation workshops. 3.2) Provide community trainings engaging neighborhoods and families in agroecology systems restoration and maintenance through knowledge of ecosystem elements including native seeds, establishing native seed orchards and seedbanks, improving soil health, and reducing fire risk.The project hosted multiple community trainings engaging local residents and schools including native seed collection andseed orchard activities at UH Maui College, and agroecology systems restoration through native plant giveway events for families and neighborhoods impacted by the wildfires. 3.3) Engage 300 participants from wildfire impacted communities in three work-based training programs: a) Aina Data Stewards (target 40 youth and adult students), b) Aina Data Interns (target 4 adult students), c) Kauluwehi Community Stewards (target 256 youth and adult participants).The project engaged: a) 21 Aina Data Stewards participants from the 32 total projected, recruited from local high schools and Maui College. The students collected native plant mapping data, inventoried nursery plants,and recordedbiocultural, health, and environmental indicators. b) 4 Aina Data Interns recruited from local high schools and Maui Collegein appliedprojects as paid internships to gain hands-on skills in community outreach and engagement, curriculum content development and workshop coordination at biocultural refuge sites, as well as website content development. c) 430 Kauluwehi Community Stewards, exceeding the 256 total projected, were recruited from communities impacted by the wildfires and engaged in community volunteer work, participated in workshops and network-building activities like community volunteer work days to strengthen and scale community engagement in wildfire recovery activities, health and wellness workshops grounded Hawaiian cultural practices, and best management and maintenance practices for native agroecosystems.

Publications