WAIMEA — Ouli Park’s entrance isn’t always easy to spot while driving up Kawaihae Road, as native plants often camouflage the sign.
But progress on the proposed community park was evident Saturday as volunteers could be seen clearing the trail alongside Keanuiomano Stream, weeding invasive species and outplanting koaia trees.
Donated to the county for a park in 1999 by Henry Clark, former chairman of Castle & Cooke, the 8-acre parcel is managed by Ka Ahahui o Ka Nahelehele, a local nonprofit, through a Friends of the Park agreement with the county. The site sits across from Kamuela View Estates, approximately 3.3 miles from the center of Waimea.
Nahelehele board members submitted an Ouli Park management plan to the county in March 2017, and a preliminary draft of an Environmental Assessment (EA) was completed last month.
“It doesn’t look like there’s a lot going on, but there is,” Sally Rice said, a Nahelehele board member.
A fence was added to the park alongside the south bank of the stream almost a year ago.
“The fence keeps the cattle out, from eating the native plants we’re planting in the park, and it also prevents the further erosion of the stream. Mud and silt were going all the way down to the ocean,” Rice said, “We plan to plant reeds to stabilize the banks that will prevent any silting or erosion going into the coral reefs.”
The next priority is getting the basic infrastructure in. Within the next three to six months Nahelehele plans to add a water system to the park, followed by an irrigation system.
“We will add the irrigation system in sections. We won’t irrigate the entire project,” Rice said. “As we plant a section, those plants will be on irrigation for about 18 months and will then be removed from irrigation, never to be put back. As dryland forest plants they’re suitable for this area and they eventually will have to survive on their own.”
The Kohala Center (TKC) works closely with Nahelehele and has brought school groups to work on the park for the last several years. In December, students from Waimea Middle School (WMS) started a two-year Ouli Park program led by Mahina Patterson, an aina-based education specialist with TKC.
“I was really excited to create a safe haven for drylands species and an opportunity for our community to know what these plants are, what they look like and to experience them,” Patterson said. “Our drylands are even more threatened than our wet forest. We want teachers and students to eventually be able to come here on their own.”
WMS students have also spent quarterly IKAIR (Ike meaning knowledge, Kaizen meaning doing better than the day before, A for accountability, I for integrity and R for responsibility) days at the park. On their first visit they planted 75 aalii trees.
“The kids are doing a long-term research project,” Patterson said. “Every time they plant a tree, we flag it. Eventually, we’d like to GPS mark them as well and measure their height and diameter so we have the ability to track survivability and growth over time. The ultimate goal is looking at how teachers, classes and individuals can make a difference in our local ecosystems.”
She added that another goal is to make a difference globally by helping capture carbon at the park.
“Eventually we want to work with students to calculate the amount of carbon that they’re sequestering through their outplantings so they can say that a certain amount of aalii trees equals a flight to Oahu, or something like that, to get a feel for how powerful a seemingly simple action of planting a tree really is,” Patterson said.
Currently, residents can access the park on volunteer days, such as the one last Saturday. Activities helped prepare the park for students to do future outplanting and data collection.
“Our hope was to set up the space for the summertime and the following school year. We have a summer program with WMS that will focus on restoration with native plants. Ouli Park will be one of the sites they will come to,” Patterson said. “We also really want kids to get involved with the trail building. It’s an important piece of this park as well.”
Nahelehele plans to add an inter-park trail loop to the park eventually. Board members hope to meet with Waimea Trails and Greenways staff and Waimea Outdoor Circle in the near future to become involved, Rice said.
Funding for the fence came from Atherton Family Foundation, a Hawaii Tourism Authority Natural Resource grant and a NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) grant from SRGII (Sustainable Resources International Inc.). Recently, TKC also secured a grant from EPA.
“It will be used for some serious brush control,” Rice said. “We’ll use professionals for that. Hopefully the invasive trees will be gone in the first section.”
Nahelehele board president Mary Metcalf has submitted a grant request to Home Depot to supply the park with several benches and picnic tables for volunteers and children who visit for learning projects.
“Grants are always in the works,” Rice concluded.
Info: Contact Sally Rice at sallyhrice@gmail.com or Mary Metcalf at meametcalf@yahoo.com