Land and People

Sierra McDaniel is the resources management program manager at Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, having worked at the park for 25 years. She first came to Hawaiʻi as a biology undergraduate and then entered the University of Hawaiʻi at Hiloʻs Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science masters program. She speaks to the challenges of working to conserve ecosystems, endangered species, and cultural values across the 354,461 acres, a place that hosts over 1.5 million visitors annually. We get into the challenges of changing ecosystems in response to fire on the landscape, the value of grounding the biological conservation work in Hawaiian lifeways and what it means to be in a place where volcanic eruptions are a constant presence.

In this episode, Melissa and Clay talk to Waikōloa Dry Forest Initiative executive director Jen Lawson and preserve manager Rob Yagi about their work to promote and restore one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world. Formed in 2011 to protect, promote, and restore a native Hawaiian dry forest after years of grassroots advocacy, the Waikōloa Dry Forest Preserve was established to protect many of the remaining native trees in the region. We get into Jen and Robʻs respective backgrounds in biology, how they came to Hawaiʻi through their stewardship of Pōhakuloa Training Area, and the unexpected rewards and challenges in helping to enhance the wiliwili forest that is so public facing, in the midst of fires, browsing goats and weeds.

Dr. Jim Jacobi has spent the past 50 years in Hawaiʻi as a biologist specializing in mapping Hawai’i’s unique ecosystems and studying the plants and animals contained within them. Like so many of his cohort, he is a skilled naturalist, having worked on introduced rats, native insects first for the Bishop Museum and then mapping vegetation and management research projects for the Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center of the US Geological Survey in Volcano. We talk to Jim about the evolution of tracking changes in vegetation by hand from aerial photos to the use of computer mapping and modelling. He shares with us the unique experiences heʻs had across the rugged U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service transects that traverse mountainous summits to sea, as well as the profound sorrow in witnessing the last Hawaiian honeycreeper in the wild, the Kauaʻi oʻo.

David Okita has flown helicopters on Hawaiʻi Island for many decades, first for emergency responders assisting with fire department search and rescues and then later for conservation organizations like The Nature Conservancy and the Department of Land and Natural Resources. David reflects on how flying for him has been a family affair, growing up on Hawaiʻi Island beginning with his dad in the 1970s, and now with his son as his assistant. He speaks to the unique relationship between helicopter pilots and the forestry and biology field crews he supports–one of mutual respect and admiration for the skills and hard work required to build fences, monitor ecosystems and conserve endangered species in the remote wilderness.

In this interview, Clay and Melissa talk to husband and wife biologists Colleen and Ian Cole about their respective careers as land stewards and conservation program managers. Both have been working in Hawaiʻi for 25+ years; Ian as a forester and now Wildlife Biologist for the Hawaiʻi Island’s Division of Forestry and Wildlife, and Colleen as a land manager for the Three Mountain Alliance and now as a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Colleen and Ian speak to the hard work of managing land and people which sometimes equates to small victories over time. They tell us about forging alliances between land owners, hunters, conservationists and biologists and how these experiences bring both unique challenges and lasting rewards.