Project will out plant native trees, shrubs, and ground covers and control alien weeds to provide habitat for the survival of native plant and animal species including the listed endangered oahu…

Project will out plant native trees, shrubs, and ground covers and control alien weeds to provide habitat for the survival of native plant and animal species including the listed endangered oahu elepaio (chasiempis ibis). Gill EWA lands LLC s mission is to restore the biological, cultural, and economic health of the waianae mountain ecosystem at palehua. We propose to out plant and maintain native plants, with an emphasis on on lama (diospyros sandwicensis), in 7.2 acres located in four fenced sites: 2.5 acres within the 4.9 acre akupu valley fence located inside the current elepaio population, 1.5 acres within the 3.1 acre akupu ridge fence located at the edge of the current elepaio population, 1.5 acres in the lama NUM fence located at the pasture-forest transition, and 1.7 acres in the camilo badlands fence. We plan to focus a large effort on lama trees because although they are an important tree species in many dry to mesic forests in hawaii they have little natural regeneration and are challenging to establish in typical restoration efforts. The lama trees also hold deep meaning for the hawaiian people as symbols of enlightenment and the embodiment of lake, the deity of hula. Through this project, we expect to see interest grow among west oahu youth in learning about the elepaio, lama trees, and native drylands-mesic forests, including stories (MO olelo) associated with these species. Gill EWA lands staff, malama learning center staff, volunteers from west oahu schools, and other community volunteers will grow and plant over three years 1000 lama (diospyros sandwicensis) and 600 lonomea (sapindus oahuensis), native shrubs such as 500 a ALI i (dodonaea viscosa), 500 aweoweo (chenopodium oahuense), and LEI (osteomeles anthyllidifolia), and native ground covers including 600 LIE e (plumbago zeylanica), 100 kupkupu ferns (nephrolepis exaltata), and 100 palapalai ferns (microlepia strigosa). Survival of out planted trees and shrubs will be monitored every six months and growth of out planted trees will be monitored once a year with monitoring data recorded on monitoring forms. Weed control will be conducted on the 7.2 acres to prevent the outplanted native plants from being overwhelmed by weeds.