KALOKO — There’s a popular ‘olelo no‘eau: “I ulu no ka lala i ke kumu,” — the branches grow because of the trunk.
It’s a reminder that we’re here because of those who came before. And walking the trail through the Maka‘ula O‘oma tract of the Honua‘ula Forest Reserve, the koa trees, in varied stages of growth, are a reminder of those who came before, putting new life into the ground to restore the forest and improve the land for those who would come after.
On Saturday, Earth Day, Hawaii Community College — Palamanui lecturer Richard Stevens led a group — many of them his students and students’ family — into the forest to continue that effort by planting 450 koa trees in the area. The group also included students from Kealakehe Intermediate School and other community members.
“This forest is going to be a healthier, more powerful place because of what you’re doing here today,” Stevens told the crowd of roughly 60 attendees before they headed into the forest.
Over the years, he said, koa had disappeared from the forest, leaving the forest with a limited overhead canopy. Other trees in the area, such as ohia, have a narrow crown and don’t fill out the canopy space like koa does, Stevens said.
“And the koa as the largest tree in the forest, just is a really keystone species for the importance and the health of any Hawaiian forest,” he added.
Stevens explained that the trees’ expansive branches keep rainfall from coming down too hard on the ground below and are the first filter for the sun’s rays.
Stevens has been bringing groups here to plant since 2004 and has continued to do so every semester since. Saturday’s group, he added, is the biggest group to come out yet, with Stevens telling them they would plant more trees than any group before them.
The trees being planted Saturday came from the State Tree Nursery in Waimea, grown from seeds collected from those first trees planted in the forest years ago.
Inside the forest, Stevens told participants of the forest’s spiritual power.
“The Hawaiians called the forest up here ‘wao akua,’ or the ‘realm of the gods,’” he said. “This is where the gods lived, up here. We kanaka live down below. This is a place that is really divine.”
The trail, rising and falling as it winds along, forces hikers to breathe more deeply, pulling the forest air into their lungs. Every so often, a mature koa, splashed with orange-gold lichen, appears around a bend.
Among those planting koa that day was George Scheibe, a 28-year-old Kona resident and one of Stevens’ students.
A veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom, Scheibe said the event was a great opportunity to “restore (land) for a change.”
“I was in Afghanistan and, you know, we kinda tear things up while we’re over there,” he said, “so it’s nice to put back what we took away from the Earth.”
Scheibe said he has some anxiety issues from his time in the service, but this was a chance to appreciate the serenity, peace and calm of nature.
“It’s just serene; you just listen to all of the birds and the rest of the nature going on,” he said. “It’s really relaxing, like it’s hard to be anxious. There’s not very many people up here and it’s just calm.”
Also on the trail was Keiko Lathrop, who came with her partner and grandson.
A former student of Stevens herself, Lathrop’s son is currently enrolled in Stevens’ class.
“The Earth is our home and we need to take care of it,” she said. “And part of it is our forest. They provide us with our water and our weather. It affects everything — all the way down to the food that is provided for us.”
She said the day was a beautiful one for planting.
“It’s just really nice to be out here in the forest listening to the birds and the peace and being part of it,” she said.
Lathrop added that she wanted her grandson, 4, to connect with the land and “learn how to take care of our honua.”
Mikako Yasuhira, an international student at Hawaii Community College’s intensive English program, said the day was a great chance to enjoy the forest and learn by doing.
“It’s a nice idea to help the environment come back,” she said. “And also you can learn from the experience.”
About a mile up from the trailhead along a forestry road stood some of the area’s tallest koa, their towering trunks blazing orange-gold.
Stevens was there, collecting koa seeds for future plantings.
There on the road, which runs along a fenceline separating the forest from neighboring ranchland, Stevens spoke again about the forest’s spirituality, explaining the connection all people have to the forest.
“So we’re really tuning into, I think, the depths of ourself when we come out here,” he said.
It’s also a mutual relationship, with both the planter and the Earth benefitting from the act.
“Planting trees is probably the best thing you can do for the Earth these days,” he said. “So it just feels like something that we’re doing that has a much larger significance.”
As Stevens spoke, an ‘apapane or ‘i‘iwi flew into an ohia tree up the road.
“Thinking of the whole world, the life that was here for so long before humans arrived on the scene, you really can get a feeling of that up here,” he said. “The sounds that we hear up here are different from the sounds down below … the smells, the air, the species of plant life that we see up here. We’re really tuning into this original world here.
“And we’re playing our role in healing some of the wounds of the past,” he added, “and bringing this forest up to its radiant heights again.”
When Stevens left, he walked alongside his daughter and granddaughter with a bag of seeds that, one day, will take root and grow trunks of their own.
I ulu no ka lala i ke kumu.