For centuries, breadfruit has served as a major staple food in the Pacific Islands, and starting 200 years ago has spread widely across the global tropics. Lauded as a crop that could potentially transform tropical agriculture and address global hunger, breadfruit has high productivity, an excellent nutritional profile, and is a long-lived tree—whereas virtually all other world staples are annual crops.

Any answer to the question “Can We Ever Eat All Local in Hawai‘i?,” the subject of a recent Honolulu Magazine article, depends significantly on CTAHR’s work in education, research, and community outreach. So it’s fitting that the article features several members of the CTAHR ‘ohana, including ag economist and assistant Extension agent Sarah Rehkamp, MS alumnus Gabe Sachter-Smith, and GoFarm Hawai‘i graduate Rob Barreca.

NREM Extension Agent Sarah Rehkamp was quoted in the April issue of Honolulu Magazine.

Link to the article is below.

Natural Resources and Environmental Science MS student Derek Esibill will discuss “Investigating an Impaired Estuary: ‘Ike One o Ka‘elepulu” in his MS capstone project defense. You are invited to view his defense via Zoom on Wednesday, April 29, 9:00 to 10:00 a.m.

Congratulations to CTAHR alumnus and former faculty member James Leary and his co-authors! Their scientific paper, “Interpreting Life-History Traits of Miconia through Management over Space and Time in the East Maui Watershed, Hawaii,” recently won the 2019 Outstanding Paper, Invasive Plant Science and Management award from the Weed Science Society of America.

As the world copes with the pandemic, it becomes more and more important for all of us to promote plant health, especially in Hawaiʻi and other geographically isolated Pacific Islands that currently import more than 80% of our food. Hawai'i is also home to almost 1,400 native plant species, 90% of which grow only here.

Zoom in this Wednesday, April 1, at 3:30 p.m., to find out about efforts to eradicate the invasive weed tree miconia with Herbicide Ballistic Technology. In this latest installment in the Natural Resources & Environmental Management seminar series, NREM grad student David Lewis will discuss “Risk & Resources for Mitigating an Incipient Miconia calvescens Invasion.”

Mehana Vaughan (NREM) has collaborated with two other scholars to research, create, and implement a new audio track to be played on the tourist shuttles that travel to remote parts of Kaua‘i. The recording informs riders about the sacred areas of Kaua‘i and the roles they have played throughout Kaua‘i's history, as well as how to have a respectful and safe visit.

The Hawai‘i Tourism Authority presented educational specialist Corie Yanger (NREM), William Stormont (DLNR/DOFAW), and William Buckley (Big Island Invasive Species Committee) with the 2019 Tourism Legacy Award, Ho‘ohanohano Ho‘oilina Ho‘okipa, for their hard work and accomplishments in protecting Hawaii’s ‘ōhi‘a forests from Rapid ‘Ōhi‘a Death.

Welcome back to Kristen Jamieson, the new Wai‘anae Farm to School coordinator! While her position is housed in HNFAS, Kristen is a CTAHR alumna with a B.S. in NREM and a minor in TPSS. But her previous experience working at UH as the student sustainability coordinator and at Kahumana Organic Farms makes her the perfect person to educate keiki about healthy local foods.

Know someone doing good work in environmental social sciences? The Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Management has posted an advertisement for a tenure-track assistant professor in the field. This is a 9-month tenure track position.

You’ve probably heard about the importance of eating more locally grown foods. What are some ecological implications? Natural Resources and Environmental Management MS student Tanya Torres will discuss her findings during her defense of her thesis, “Quantifying the Environmental Footprint of Doubling Hawai‘i’s Local Food Supply.”

The Symphony of the Hawaiian Birds will be performed on Kaua‘i for the first time in February 2020, and help is needed to recruit teachers on the island to bring their students. All classes in grades 4–12, as well as home-schooled students, are welcome. It's a place-based interdisciplinary program that brings together science, music, art, dance, and education to tell the story of our endangered Hawaiian forest birds.

Clay Trauernicht (NREM) wrote a chilling article on a hot topic in Civil Beat. The wildland fire researcher and Extension faculty member discussed Central Maui fires that burned nearly 20,000 acres this summer (see image of burned area from the Sentinel-2 satellite). This “unprecedented” area reflects “dramatic increases in wildfires across the state,” he warns.

Join in the avian excitement as the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra performs the Symphony of the Hawaiian Birds, an original set of works produced by Hawai‘i’s composers, artists, biologists, and educators! Melissa Price of CTAHR’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management is a creator of the concert project, bringing to it her perspective on conservation and wildlife management. It’s all happening November 5 at the Blaisdell Concert Hall!