The Kohala Center has a big mission statement: “To respectfully engage the Island of Hawaii as a model of and for the world through our work in the areas of energy self-reliance, food self-reliance, and ecosystem health."
Toward that objective, the Kohala Center is hosting the 2022 Hoa‘āina Stewardship Day on Friday, Sept. 17. The free event will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and include workshops and half-day journeys.
"Participants will share knowledge of this North Kohala community, meet and get to know a legendary hala grove, and build foundational skills of hana lauhala (working with and caring for lauhala)," The Kohala Center website said.
It’s the first of several stewardship days the center is having. There will be five events coming up in the fall. Registration began on Sept. 7.
The center was founded in 2000 to enhance the interests of Big Island residents in the areas of education and the cultivation of the environment, the website said. The massive, diverse landscape of the Big Island gives The Kohala Center the perfect canvas to do necessary and enlightening research and employ "conservation and restoration initiatives."
To make the event safe, organizers are limiting space to 15 participants and requiring face masks to be worn when within 10 feet of other participants outside of one's household. For more information, please contact Mia Akau-LaClair at makaulaclair@kohalacenter.org or 808-887-6411, or visit kohalacenter.org.