“Konohiki Calling” // Summit 1.1, Feature

Naomi Sodetani’s feature on the efforts of three community groups in Kahaluʻu, Oʻahu, to revitalize the sustainable land management and agricultural practices of indigenous Hawaiians is the crowning jewel of Summit’s second issue. It brings together the history or the area (which was once a breadbasket for all Koʻolau Poko), the narrative of political struggle there (the Waiāhole-Waikāne water struggles, fighting off a proposed nuclear power plant), and modern day efforts at reclamation in a solid piece of long-form journalism that exemplifies what Summit was all about.

Not only are all three reclamation programs worthy of feature, but each one is located in a different segment of the ancient ahupuaʻa system of Heʻeia, beginning with Heʻeia Fishpond, one of the largest Hawaiian fishponds still in-tact, where Paepae o Heʻeia is clearing mangrove and repairing the wall and gates; then moving inland to Hoi, where Kākoʻo ʻŌiwi is reclaiming critical farmland and growing kalo; and finally moving upland to Waipao, where the rain collects against the Koʻolau mountains to create a lush upland forest maintained and stewarded by a Kamehameha Schools initiative.

Once the story was in and being edited, it became clear we might need some back-up photography of the locations mentioned in the piece just in case, so I hopped in the car and drove out to Kahaluʻu, where my parents still lived at the time, to get some visual narrative content.

Photographed: June, 2015

Locations: Heʻeia Fishpond; Mahuahua 'Ai o Hoi; Waipao, Kahaluʻu, Oʻahu