A part of Kamehameha Schools’ reimagination of its Kuʻia lands is already beginning to take shape ma waena, just above the Lahaina Bypass. That’s where native trees and food crops are about to be planted on a one-acre parcel, with plans to add more food trees on an adjoining parcel in 2025.
ʻUlu, kou, kamani, hau and milo will soon be flourishing at this heritage site. Non-native grass will be removed and replaced with native shrubs and ground cover plants.
Community advocate and Lahaina native Carolyn Auweloa has been handling outreach to inform neighbors about the effort. She says the community response has been quite positive.
“We had one woman in the neighboring subdivision who literally started jumping up and down in excitement. She’s so happy that something’s going to be happening here and that it’s going to be this beautiful, curated, native landscape.”
The vision here is for this ʻāina to be a community gathering space, with the kaiāulu eventually taking the lead to mālama it.
“It’s a kākou thing,” Auweloa said. “This cannot be the responsibility of the government, and it cannot be the responsibility of only a few. Everybody can help. Sometimes that just means showing up, sometimes it means making a phone call. Sometimes it’s getting involved in a real way and committed way. It does require sacrifice, but that's what you do when you love something.”
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