By Janelle Lau

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On Saturday, Jan. 25, Hui Malama o Mililani helped with the Heeia Fishpond restoration, sorting out rocks called pohaku, to make flooring for the hale, a gathering center and to help restore the walls around Heeia. Along the way, the students learned about the importance of sustainability and how the Hawaiians used fishponds as their main food source.

“Helping out the environment in turn helps us because we are dependent on each other in that we give the land life and the land in turn gives us life,” said Hui Malama participant Junior Isaiah Kela-Pacheco.

Hui Malama is not a club, but a group that has branched from the science learning center. Any student is allowed to join in on events during any time of the year. The projects range from beach clean-up, habitat restoration and storm drain work to removing invasive species and usually require a lot of planning beforehand. Planning projects for first and second semester occur in the summer and over winter break. “Our main task at the fishpond was picking out ili rocks, a round (and) smooth type of rock, from a huge pile of donated rocks, so it could be used to help build possible walls or ground path around Heeia,” said Kela-Pacheco.

During the restoration, Hui members got to see the cycle of how the fish were trapped in gates, then released to reproduce before starting over again. The gates that trapped the fish were made of mangrove wood tied together. “It was really cool because it was a traditional style that they’re trying to make possible again today for their goals of sustainability,” said Hui Malama President Junior Samantha Alvarado. Kela-Pacheco added, “Our efforts have an impact on the environment because instead of using concrete walls or any foreign materials, everything is hand-built using natural materials and supports the regeneration of native species.”

The group in charge of the fish restoration is called Paepae. However, the head coordinator for Hui’s volunteer group and the director of their work was Peleke Flores. “That’s part of the cool part for me, is the people that my students get to meet when they go and the people that they get to learn from,” said Hui Malama adviser Sandra Webb.

The Paepae o Heeia group consists of many motivated workers, who are passionate about maintaining and fixing the environment they live in. “They formed their own organization, they do the work, they are making it happen, they have school groups come in, they have a website. This is not getting funded by tax dollars or anything else, they do their own fundraisers,” said Webb. Alvarado added, “The group leased it out from Kamehameha Schools, which is Bishop Estate, so Kamehameha Schools is in charge of the land and they let this group be the caretakers.”

Even though getting muddy and wet was fun for many, the Hui still had their share of work to do. “The most challenging aspect of the work was sifting the dirt using crates in order to find the rocks, because after a while it got tiresome,” said Kela-Pacheco.

Currently, Hui is planning to team up with NHS to host a beach clean up.