If you’re interested in finding out more about and preserving the ahupua‘a system, Hawai‘i’s unique form of land-use from mauka to makai, check out these one-year fellowships in ahupua‘a management for UH students. Beginning in Summer 2019, students will join a diverse team of UH faculty, natural resource professionals, and cultural and community groups engaged in restoring several Hawaiian ahupua‘a. These unique fellowships will involve experiential learning and community-based projects that employ Hawaiian concepts of biocultural resource management to address current and future challenges to the sustainability and resiliency of Hawaii.
Fellows will be placed at a project site on Kaua‘i, O‘ahu, or Hawai‘i Island during the summer (June–August). The fellowships will involve experiential learning and project work in partnership with UH faculty mentors and community groups working to restore and sustain ecologically and culturally important ahupua‘a in Hawai‘i. Fellows will be trained in how to access both the latest scientific information and also traditional ecological knowledge to restore the health of the Islands and their people. They will also enroll in an upper-division summer course, NREM 467 Natural Resource Conservation Planning, to learn how government agencies and professional organizations develop management plans to promote sustainability and resiliency.
The one-year fellowship includes a stipend for project work during the summer as well as funds to support travel and data collection and analysis. Junior or senior undergraduates enrolled at any UH System campus are eligible to apply. Preference will be given to students with knowledge of Hawaiian or other Pacific Island languages and protocols for biocultural management.
The attached flyer provides a summary of the fellowship requirements and benefits. Online applications are due March 31. Selected applicants will be interviewed before final offers are made. For more information, contact project director Travis Idol at idol@hawaii.edu.