A new video series produced by the Department of Land and Natural Resources and its Division of Forestry and Wildlife seeks to illuminate how managing ecosystems requires an understanding of their cultural context.
DLNR recently released the first episodes of Ike Kaiaulu (“Community Knowledge), which features experts in the laau lapaau (medicinal plant collection), wood carving, kilo limu (seaweed observation) and stewardship of special areas.
In a release promoting the series, DLNR noted that the interviews yielded common themes of optimism for the resilience of Hawaiian ecosystems and “a shared kuleana for seeing resources persist into the future.”
In one episode featuring Wally Ito of the Ewa Limu Project, Ito remarks that limu is “resilient if given the chance. The only question is what do we do to give it a chance?”
In another episode, former DLNR chair and longtime caretaker for the Kaena area of Oahu echoed the message with regard to cultural practices.
“One of the most troublesome things to me is when people say, ‘Hawaiians used to do this,’” Aila said. “Well, they’re still doing it. It’s occurring today. They still surf, they still fish, they still plant. It never really stopped.”
One episode features laau lapaau practitioner Roddy Akau, who spoke on the responsibility to see that cultural knowledge is shared with future generations.
“I’m passing on a lot of knowledge,” Akau said. “It’s the students that keep me going.”
In the episode on wood carving, Nalu Andrade, who taught workshops for the Kaulunani Urban and Community Forestry Program, likened the purpose of carving mana ai (bowls given to weaning children) to the food shared in the bowl.
“If you put this ike in this bowl, by teaching your child to be a good steward of the land, to be a nice person, you are putting ike in there so when the kid takes this, he turns it into mana.”
The first installments in the series were produced as a primary project of AmeriCorps member Claire Generous, who recently completed her service at DOFAW, via the local nonprofit Kupu. Future episodes will highlight community knowledge focused on different types of cultural practices.
Michael Tsai covers local and state politics for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at michael.tsai@charter.com.
