Land and People

EP 53 Former Nature Conservancy Kaua`i program director Trae Menard on protecting the heart of the watershed through landscape-level fence building

Conservationist Trae Menard has spent decades protecting Hawaiian native ecosystems, with special attention to his home island of Kaua`i for the past twenty years. As the former program director of The Nature Conservancy’s Kaua`i program, his experience is that of an ecologist who moved to Hawai`i from the east coast--first for graduate school in geography at University of Hawai`i at Mānoa, and then later as a natural resource manager. Trae tells us how Kaua`i has seen the seismic shift from opposition to fencing for conservation purposes, to support for the establishment of the Kaua`i's first Watershed Alliance. The consortia not only protects core watershed acreage through public and private partnerships, but helps reduce the threats of weeds and pigs to some of the most unique flora on the oldest island in the archipelago.

EP 52 Former Hawai`i Division of Forestry and Wildlife administrator Lisa Hadway Spain on paving new paths as a woman in conservation leadership

Lisa Hadway Spain has worked in Hawaiian native species and ecosystem conservation and education for more than three decades. She first entered the field as a zoology graduate student studying endangered land snails at University of Hawaii at Mānoa, eventually transitioning to the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Forestry and Wildlife and obtaining the top position as the division administrator overseeing statewide programs. Lisa shares with us her experiences working at the forefront of shifting paradigms in forestry as well as the controversy over critical habitat designation on private lands. Her perspective is that of a woman leadership positions–from working with the rarest dryland species on Hawai`i Island to supporting the intersection of science and Hawaiian culture at `Imiloa Astronomy Center in Hilo.

EP 51 Keith Robinson on the complexities of the Robinson family and going at it alone

Keith Robinson of Kaua`i comes from a multi-generational, large land-owning family who has been in Hawai`i for more than 200 years. The Robinsons (descendants of the Sinclairs) owned and operated sugar plantations and cattle ranches across many thousands of acres in Kaua`i, including the entire island of Ni`ihau. A self-described "black sheep", Keith's varied interests range from Ni`ihau defense operations, to ranching and native plant restoration. His passion is as a one-man operation in growing, planting and helping to sustain in some cases rare plant species across Robinson-owned land. He shares his unusual upbringing, as well as his controversial views related to public versus private stewardship of rare species.

EP 50 Kaua`i kupuna Sabra Kauka on beauty and importance of Nu`alolo Kai

Aunty Sabra Kauka  is founding member and past-president of grassroots nonprofit, Nā Pali Coast `Ōhana, dedicated to preserving natural and cultural resources of the Nā Pali Coast State Park. Her work and that of the volunteers centers around the ancient Hawaiian village, Nu`alolo Kai, once a thriving, rugged and isolated community on the north shore of Kaua`i. Sabra shares with us the wide scope of her travels and experiences across the continent to Alaska and then back home to Hawai`i where she has held anthropology and journalism positions, and taught Hawaiiana and cultural protocols for decades.

EP 49 Kaua`i firefighter and land steward Jeremie Makepa on restoring and nurturing once abandoned places

Jeremie Makepa is a captain for the Kaua`i Fire Department for more than 2 decades in fire prevention side and as a fire fighter. His is a multi-generational Hawaiian homesteading family and most recently he serves as a land steward with the non-profit `Āina Alliance, formed in 2021. His work and that of his partners is award-winning: he’s been recognized by the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement with an E Ola Empowering O`iwi Leadership award for his “community partnerships rehabilitating areas that have been abused and neglected" particularly in Anahola, on the north shore of his home island.

EP 48 Pacific island botanist Steve Perlman talks about putting your life on the line for the love of nature

Melissa and Clay pivot this season to the oldest island in the Hawaiian archipelago--Kaua`i. They revisit one of their earliest LAND & PEOPLE interviews with retired botanist Steve Perlman, of the Kaua`i Plant Extinction Prevention Program (PEPP). Steve talks about his love of Pacific island peoples in remote places, his start with the National Tropical Botanical Garden, the thrill of discovering new plants, and climbing the highest sea cliffs in the world to save the last of a species.

EP 47 Willy Kostka on preserving and protecting the land and sea of Pohnpei and across Micronesia

William (Willy) Kostka is a long-time conservationist and islander who was born and raised on the island of Pohnpei, in the Federated States of Micronesia. In 1998, he helped found and became the first Board Chairman and Executive Director of the Conservation Society of Pohnpei, and then transitioned to lead the Micronesia Conservation Trust for 17 years. He has helped to bridge, fund and formulate island ecosystem stewardship and marine protected commitments from islands and countries across the nearly 7 million km2 of Pacific Ocean. Willy speaks to us about growing up in Pohnpei, as well as the traditional land tenure and agroforestry systems. He speaks to his new role in helping to promote sustainable development projects in energy and water resource care as the Director of Micronesia Regional Office of the Pacific Community.

EP 46 Palauan stewardship educator Ann Singeo on connecting generations of islanders across space and time

Ann Singeo is a founding member and Executive Director of Ebiil Society, a non-profit organization that promotes environmental education and conservation in Palau. She holds a Masters Degree in Communications for Social Change from University of Texas in El Paso which enabled her to learn from and work with subsistence communities across Micronesia. For two decades, she has helped to facilitate stewardship learning by young people in Palau in both science and traditional knowledge.  Students and researchers are involved in everything from giant clam and sea cucumber restoration, dugong and turtle monitoring, fish weir restoration, marine debris removal, to working with women fishers in sustainable harvesting and traditional medicinal healers in learning Palauan customary land and marine practices.

EP 45 Poet Craig Santos Perez on reclaiming and suturing Micronesian language, place and storytelling

Craig Santos Perez is a poet, essayist, university professor, and American publisher born in Mongmong-Toto-Maite, Guam (Guåhan) Island, formally considered a U.S. territory. His literary distinctions are many. In 2023 he won the National Book Award for poetry,  2015 American Book Award and the 2011 PEN Center USA Literary Award for Poetry. He immigrated to California when he was fifteen, thus sparking his life-long exploration into what it means to be of a tropical and culturally rich place, and then separated from his CHomorro  homeland. His poetry and scholarship settles into the question of identity, navigating place and also challenges many of the contemporary notions of geography and American poetry traditions. Find out more about FROM UNINCORPORATED TERRITORY [ÅMOT] here, and watch his acceptance speech and his reading of the extraordinary poem "ginen ars pasifika" here.

EP 44 Part II Jermy Uowolo of Fais, Micronesia on how preserving the past is they key to thriving into the future

Part II of a two-part conversation with Jermy Uowolo, who was born and raised on the island of Fais in the State of Yap, in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). Jermy's background is as a Micronesian cultural practitioner, anthropologist, historian and Hawaiian ecosystem restoration specialist for the Mauna Kea Forest Restoration Project. He shares with us the value of gathering and recording knowledge from Micronesian elders and culture keepers, as well as the challenges and opportunties of his own immigration story--from Yap to Guam and eventually Hawai`i Island.