Author: malamahuleia

Serious progress is being made at Alakoko. The mangrove removal continues on two fronts.

A volunteer group of workers (Menehune) is manually cutting away the mangrove from the archaeologically sensitive area along the fishpond wall. By diligently working every Tuesday and Thursday mornings, they have covered approximately 20,000 square feet and are rapidly approaching the first break in the wall.

The second effort, which involves the use of heavy equipment, began with preparatory improvements to the entry road to Alakoko and the clearing of a staging area to be used for stock piling logs and chipping the mangrove. This effort has now progressed to clearing a path around the backside of the fishpond.

After years of planning, permitting and securing funding we are excited about the progress being made at Alakoko. In September we had an ahu ceremony to set our intentions and path forward. We are now moving ahead with the mangrove removal project at Alakoko, which will be a big step forward in clearing the invasive species from the Huleia watershed.

In October we had a ground breaking community workday and celebration.

Since then we have cut nearly 17,000 square feet of mangrove.

Today (December 19, 2018), we have mechanized help to clear the stockpile area where the cut mangrove will be piled. Once that stockpile area is filled the Kauai Green Energy Company will haul it and turn it into renewable energy.

We are happy to be moving forward and are grateful for the community support in the work we are doing. We have set the community workdays for the 4th Saturday’s of each month in 2019. Watch for details on how to sign up to participate in the New Year.

Happy holidays and best wishes for the New Year ahead!