Kahuwai Project Goals:
In ancient Hawai’i, fresh water was recognized as a precious, life sustaining resource, and each useable source was carefully protected and judiciously managed by the community’s kahu wai for the good of the people and the land. The Hawaiian term “kahu wai” means “water master, or one in charge of water rights and division”, (Pukui, Elbert, 1986).
The goals of the KAHU WAI project are to foster environmental literacy among future decision makers through place-based education right where they live, and to raise awareness in the community about the health and wise management of our local watersheds.
Our intention is that through outdoor experiences involving hands-on learning, students will develop a deeper connection with the places where they live and an understanding of the real life challenges they may soon face as stewards of the land. We will encourage an integrated view of ahupua’a/watershed systems by incorporating traditional knowledge, resource management practices and views about our relationship to the natural world.
We are currently working to restore health to several coastal areas of Hawai’i Island’s watersheds, including the Wai ‘Opae Marine Life Conservation District (MLCD), Lihikai (Onekahakaha), and Ha’ena/Paki Bay. We are also restoring upland habitat in Wao Kele O Puna, an important remnant lowland wet forest and major recharge zone for our island’s largest aquifer. We plan to focus on these sites for student field work.
We will orient teachers and students by providing site specific curriculum materials, resources and support. Then, we will assist students in designing projects around a question or issue to be investigated by the class, and conduct site visits for data collection, monitoring and hands-on learning activities. The project will culminate as students evaluate and synthesize the results of their research, and then present their findings in a variety of formats.
The wise management of the watershed begins with understanding it as a whole, interrelated system on which all living creatures depend. Soon, it will fall to our children to make important decisions about the care and management of our fresh water and the many systems that sustain watershed health. It is imperative that they have an understanding of the vital function of these systems so they will be able to make informed decisions about their stewardship.
Ahupua’a as Classroom
In Puna, ahupua’a boundaries were drawn around dependable sources of freshwater from springs. These springs were closely guarded and cared for by the kahu wai and recognized by the entire community as a vital resource. Through the use of historical maps, narratives and the guidance of our kupuna, we will explore the importance of our individual sites within the larger ahupua’a, and how they functioned as parts of a whole system. We will place particular emphasis on the different ways in which resources were managed, especially how water was used, and food was grown and harvested here through time, comparing ancient Hawaiian techniques with those of industrial agriculture, and current residential use.
Most all of the lands adjacent to our project sites are currently zoned for agricultural use, but in reality, are used for a wide range of activities which affect the surrounding environment in different ways. We will explore some of these effects in an effort to better understand how what we do on one part of the ahupua’a ultimately affects the whole.
Integration with Coursework
Our outdoor education experiences are designed to coincide with what the students are simultaneously working on in their classes. Our intent is that the field work will reinforce similar lessons in class. We will work with teachers to provide background information, materials and support to help students design their research projects. The outdoor experiential learning will be aligned with the Hawaii Content and Performance Standards (HCPS).
Hands-on Investigative Experiences
This work will be project oriented, and students will have the opportunity to design many aspects of their own research projects. Field work is meant to be investigative in nature, and will focus on specific questions. All research will use the scientific method and incorporate best management practices.
Students in grades 2-4 will work on an overall class project they design as a class using the background information and materials supplied as a guide. The Project Coordinator and Technical Advisors will provide support for teachers and students during the project design phase. Students may organize into groups for specific tasks during data collection or analysis, and may focus on certain aspects individually. High School students will have more latitude in the design of their projects, which may be individual, partnered or group endeavors. The approach is meant to provide structure, but also be flexible enough to accommodate individual interests.
Integrated Approach
This project will embrace many disciplines and acknowledge that there are many ways of learning, including traditional oral history and cultural practices. We will use traditional resource management as a touchstone in our investigations, with an emphasis on local history, chants, traditions and lore. We will also encourage students to express what they are learning creatively, using creative writing, art, photography dance, traditional practices, and digital and other media.
Sharing and Communication
Especially because our Puna communities are geographically isolated, we are working to facilitate sharing among the students and teachers who may live a long distance apart. We will facilitate this by creating and maintaining a project website where students can post their findings and a forum on which both students and teachers can interact and share their experiences.
Through a partnership with the Kea’au Youth Business Center we will be able to provide a state of the art facility and instruction in digital media and graphic arts for 11th and 12th grade students. As students complete their research we will coordinate with the center to provide a series of seminars and mini-classes covering many facets of digital media. Students will have use of the facility and get technical support from instructors to complete their presentations.
An important project goal is to provide students with experience presenting environmental issues to the public and decision makers. We will host a community event in which the students will be able to present their work to a wide audience, including local policymakers and elected officials.
Water in the District of Puna
Puna’s watershed and ahupua’a divisions are unique in that our land is so new and porous. We have no permanent surface flows of water. Instead, our fresh water flows hidden beneath the ground, from high in the upland wet forests down to the coral fringes of our spring laden coast. Wherever water appeared in precious springs, ancient villages grew and the land was traditionally divided and wisely managed as ahupua’a. According to Hawaiian lore, Puna was the island’s richest agricultural district in ancient times (Handy, Handy and Pukui, 1972).
Although they are largely hidden from view, the health of our watersheds is as vitally important to us today as it was to ancient Polynesians who ingeniously harvested fresh water from dripping lava tubes and coastal underwater springs. Hawai’i island’s largest source of drinking water, the 222 square mile Pahoa Aquifer, is located right here in Puna. Yet much remains to be understood about its function and wise stewardship.
Puna means “spring’ in Hawaiian, and the district was so named for the many freshwater springs that flow into the ocean at our coasts. These springs change the near shore environment in ways scientists do not yet completely understand. Many of our precious endemic marine creatures may very well depend on these conditions for survival, and it is unclear what effect altered flow or contamination may have on our coastal environment.
Over a century of outhouses, cesspools and intensive agriculture has left us with soil and groundwater contamination. Rapid residential development in recent decades has resulted in less native forest cover, increased erosion and contaminated runoff. Invasive species have wreaked havoc on the ecology of our remaining native forests, resulting in less purification and aquifer recharge. These are just some of the many challenges our children will face as they become tomorrow’s kahu wai, the stewards of Puna’s fresh water.