kapa kulture

People + Family + Kuleana = Community

Kohala celebrated Kamehameha Day on Tuesday June 11, 2013 . Kids and adults who came by the Ala Kahakai NHT booth got to put their feet on the trail. 40+ footprints of people, family names and kuleana (responsibility) graced a 15 foot long poster created by the local community and guests at this annual Kohala event.

One of the formula for connecting, reconnecting and enhancing connections to the Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail is using outreach activities which can engage active involvement of people at community events. People who participated got to realize that their families are part of the living culture of the trail. Mahalo to all the footsteps on the paper trail. Hope to see you out and about on the real trail soon.

“The law is a hard, queer thing.  I do not understand it.” — Poundmaker, at his trial, 1885

Louis Riel surrendered to General Middleton on May 15, 1885, and the Northwest Rebellion was over, although the Indian Chiefs Poundmaker and Big Bear were still at large.  Poundmaker was in the bag first, but Big Bear did not give up until July 2.  He scattered his men, eluded dozens of military scouts, and reached Fort Carlton, where he surrendered personally to Sergeant Smart of the Northwest Mounted Police.

Poundmaker and captured a supply train and twenty-two prisoners on May 14, but realized the game was up when he heard the news of Riel’s capture.  He released Indian agent Jefferson, who had been one of his prisoners, and sent him with a message to Middleton on May 24.  He asked for surrender terms in…

You can be part of the frontline defense against new alien plant invaders. 

The Pacific Island Network, the Inventory & Monitoring arm of the NPS in the tropical Pacific,  just released  Invasive Plant Field Guides as part of the Early Detection of invasive plants monitoring protocol. Each Pacific island national park unit is now armed with sets of these useful cards to increase awareness and detection of aggressive park invaders before they spread and become a devastating nuisance for the parks and communities around them.

NPS Botanist Alison Ainsworth and her vegetation team worked closely with Natural Resources Management at each Pacific island park to develop a list of likely invasive species. “We focused on plants not yet in the parks, but ones that may cause park-wide damage,” said Ainsworth. “If we find them before they become established in the parks, there is a good shot at controlling them.” 

The…