Preserving Kohala’s Source Water and Native Forest

This project seeks to enhance the health and resilience of the sacred wao akua (realm of the gods) and cloud forest region of Kohala Mountain. Kohala’s cloud forests, one of Hawaiʻi’s oldest living systems, are home to the headwaters that feed streams, recharge aquifers, and sustain life from the mountain to the sea. Through mālama ʻāina (care for all those who feed), The Kohala Center (TKC) will build and maintain protective fencing, remove invasive species, and monitor forest health in priority cloud forest areas to nurture the return of biodiversity that once thrived here. Our approach will integrate contemporary science with ʻike kūpuna (ancestral knowledge), to guide restoration by listening and learning from Kohala. A key part of this effort will be developing a local workforce through the training and employment of interns.