Protecting Āwawamalu
The ocean doesn’t end where the waves break. Beach, dune and coastal forest habitats are a vital part of the wider marine ecosystem, and need protection from pollution, invasive species and other threats.
For World Oceans Week 2022, the Parley Hawaiʻi crew are running a landmark series of events to bridge the gap between local communities and conservation – mobilizing volunteers at Wawamalu on Oʻahu for shoreline cleanups, the restoration of native plants and the rehabilitation of dunes and trails. We caught up with Kahi Pacarro of Parley Hawaiʻi to learn more.
Q & A
So for those who don’t know Hawaiʻi all that well, where is Wawamalu?
The stretch of coastline known as Wawamalu is a coastal ecosystem east of Honolulu that’s home to native plants, beaches and sand dunes, some rocky volcanic coast and ample space for public access. It serves as a critical wildlife habitat and natural resource for the cultural, recreational and resiliency needs of our community. Historically, Wawamalu is recognized as a former Native Hawaiian farming and fishing village, sandalwood forest, ranch and trading route where archaeological evidence exists of human burials. Species found along the coast here include a native plant called beach naupaka (Scaevola taccada), an indigenous sandalwood species called naio, sea turtles, seabirds and endangered species like the Hawaiian yellow-faced bee and Hawaiian monk seal.
The Wawamalu coastline is an area that is constantly hit with really strong side shore winds – and that makes it a really rough coastline where people don't necessarily want to have a picnic on. So that also makes it a great place for our native monk seals, which are one of the most, if not the most critically endangered mammal in the United States. There's roughly about 1400 left in the world. It allows them to come up on shore and not be bothered, same with our green sea turtles, etc.
What threats does Wawamalu face?
About, I'd say 15 years ago, it became popular for people to start offroading on the beach and it more or less made it impossible for the monk seals to come up and bask or our green turtles to come up and nest or even for our Kupunas Iwi – that's our ancestors' bones, the native Hawaiian ancestors' bones – to rest in peace. Traditionally, it’s an area that would've been used to bury the dead. You’d have lifted trucks and SUVs rambling, getting stuck, having to get towed – and the beach went from this beautiful sandy color to actually more gray, right? It was the gray from the abrasion of their tires and micro plastics all over the beach. So it had gotten to a point where it was just too much, and finally we did something about it.
When I say we, I would say it was the community – it wasn't the government, it wasn't the police. Each of those entities pointed the fingers at other entities to say, this isn't our responsibility. Or there's no signage so we can't regulate this. Nobody wanted to take responsibility for the regulation of this activity, even though it was illegal. So what happened was community members more or less created a plan to stop this activity. And they identified a large collection of giant boulders that were sitting in this field that were a result of a development that happened close to 60 years ago. And they said hey, let's take those boulders and line every access point that there could have been for these trucks to get onto the beach.
With the trucks gone, is the area recovering?
The next step is the community getting involved in removing the invasive species, removing the debris from the bonfires that were being set on there, and just bringing a sense of stewardship back to this area. So we decided to collaborate with a bunch of local nonprofits and community groups to take the next steps – and that's what we're launching for World Oceans Week. It's looking at the groups that are already doing work out there and looking for other groups in the community that could potentially be long term stewards of this area and do a week long celebration of our oceans by celebrating the protection of this beach by bringing people together, and working on invasive species removal, trail restoration, symbolic fencing and cleanups – and anybody that does any of the days of service gets to come to our celebration at the AIR Station on the Friday. That was the genesis of how and why, but it's been this perfect Parley project where we are collaborating with partners like Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii, Hawaii Marine Animal Response, Surfrider Foundation, the Bishop Museum, Kekoa Cazimero of AVVA and legendary local surfer Zeke Lau – both of whom have been super instrumental in getting the community deeply involved in the project.
SCHEDULE
MONDAY MAY 30
Invasive Species Removal / Dune Restoration / Trail Rehabilitation
Partner: Sierra Club
TUESDAY MAY 31
Invasive Species Removal / Dune Restoration / Trail Rehabilitation / Animal Response Education
Partner: Hawaii Marine Animal Response
WEDNESDAY JUNE 1
Cleanup at Sandy Beach
Partner: Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii
THURSDAY JUNE 2
Invasive Species Removal / Dune Restoration / Trail Rehabilitation
Partner: Kaiwi Coalition (Maunalua.net, Livable Hawaii Kai Hui, Hui Nalu Canoe Club)
FRIDAY JUNE 3
Beach Cleanup at Wawamalu
Partner: Surfrider Foundation
Grand Finale Concert
Concert and celebration at the Parley AIR Station / Bishop Museum – free for all participants.
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