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There they were! I’d spotted the dark shapes of the flying foxes hanging by their feet in the ironwood trees by Pago Pago Bay. I’m always amazed and thrilled to see these large native fruit bats (peʻa) when I visit the Samoan Islands. Later that day I saw them soaring overhead with their three-foot wingspan exceeding that of the white-tailed tropic birds gliding alongside.

I’d come to the islands for three weeks to visit both American Samoa and (Western) Samoa. In 2007-08 I served in the Peace Corps in a small village on ʻUpolu Island. I had an amazing adventure and became part of my Samoan family. In the spring of 2023, I was finally able to visit for the first time since the islands’ borders were closed for more than two years due to the worldwide pandemic. The half hour flight from Apia to American Samoa was highlighted by stunning views of the coral reefs and aqua seas below.

I was on the island of Tutuila in American Samoa to visit the National Park of American Samoa (NPSA), one of seven park partners of  Hawaiʻi Pacific Parks Association (HPPA). The park visitor center is in center of Pago Pago while the national park boundary begins a few miles away where visitors can drive and hike the volcanic terrain blanketed with dense tropical rainforest and ringed by dramatic coastlines. About 2,500 hundred miles southwest of Hawaii and 2,000 miles northeast of New Zealand, NPSA is the only U.S. national park in the Southern Hemisphere. The park is distributed across three islands (Tutuila, Ofu and Taū) and includes 4,000 acres of  biodiverse marine areas offshore.

The displays in the visitor center are beautifully done and tell the stories of the islands’ geology, archaeology, flora, fauna, and legends in Samoan and English. Indeed, many of the park materials are presented in the two languages to represent and respect the traditional culture of the Samoan Islands that still exists today. HPPA’s unique NPSA items are for sale in a kiosk at the center entrance. Park staff say they are delighted to be able to offer once again not only items that make traveler’s lives a little easier like water bottles and totes, but also those materials that share interpretive, educational, and research programs, and connect people to NPSA in a way that will encourage lifelong learning and enable a deeper connection to the park.

We drove from sea level up to the top of the ancient volcanic crater that surrounds the harbor, winding our way as we came to the park entrance. The highest mountain on Tutuila is Matafao (2,100’), said to refer to the fact that, from its peak, in fair weather, one can see as far as Mount Fao on ʻUpolu Island in Samoa. Soon we came upon the beginning of the famous Mt. Alava Trail which traverses three and a half miles along the ridgetop to the mountain’s summit. Intrepid hikers can continue for almost two more miles to the Village of Vatia on the northern shore, climbing numerous ladders up otherwise inaccessible slopes, some of them vertical! There are three villages within the national park.

Not being that intrepid, we drove on to Vatia and the spectacular views of Pola Island, a protected seabird nesting area and important cultural site. These 400-foot cliffs, the most active seabird nesting area on Tutuila, make ideal nesting areas for noddies, frigatebirds, and brown boobies. The nearby forest provides nesting for red-footed boobies and white-tailed tropic birds. My time there was too short, so I plan to go back again one day soon.

I’ll travel to ʻUpolu again next year to visit my Samoan family and to celebrate the publication of my memoir about my stay there – My View from the House by the Sea: A Life Transformed by Samoa and the Peace Corps. I look forward to another visit to American Samoa as well. I think that next time I’ll hire a local fisherman to motor us to Ofu Island to see some of the 950 species of fish and 250 species of coral in these protected waters. I’m looking forward to it already!

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Donna Marie Barr is a former HPPA board director, and has begun work on a new book about the historic trails of Hawaiʻi Island.

Learn about the National Park of American Samoa here: https://www.nps.gov/npsa/index.htm

Pick up Donna Marie Barr's book here: https://www.amazon.com/My-View-House-Sea-Transformed/dp/0994120311

Shop the National Park of American Samoa here: https://shop.hawaiipacificparks.org/collections/national-park-of-american-samoa

Aloha, my name is Keith, and I am on the HPPA team at two of our Haleakalā National Park store locations, on the island of Maui. I learned about the Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in our training at Haleakalā National Park about the history of the park captive nēnē breeding program.

The staff were absolutely ecstatic about the Makana the Nēnē Plush I brought for them. They want to add Makana to their store as they have many plush toys. I also took our Kahoʻokele Petrel Plush and shared our remarkable story of success on Maui, especially since they lay only one egg a season. I took national park brochures and HPPA membership brochures with me, along with chocolate-covered macadamia nuts.

The park is divided into various regions: i.e. North America, South Africa, South America, Arctic, Asia, and the birds of those regions return to their specific habitats although they are able to fly freely through the entire wetlands.  To see geese flying towards Slimbridge from the outside English Countryside is magical. I brought someone with me who was amazed, and connected with all the conservation work that Sir Peter Scott developed to create habitats for birds that are not caged - truly amazing.

Everyone there was sympathetic to our challenges with the fire on Maui. I shared with them photos of our Upcountry fires and appreciated His Royal Highness King Charles III's acknowledgment of our plight, and the prayers of the British people.

We spoke at length about the nēnē rehabilitation habitat at Haleakalā National Park, which is isolated from human contact. The success of saving a family that now frequents the park headquarters visitor center was remarkable. We talked about the gentle character of the nēnē, how they don't spend much time in the lake at Slimbridge as they are primarily land birds and sometimes they even go on the road for heat.

I also mentioned that they are smart. They can differentiate people's faces, and for them (the staff) to take note! I saw the small flock fly to their habitat just before the noon feeding, and they went into the bushes at the end of their feeding time. When I was there in 2003 I was able to feed them grain, but I'm glad they switched to lettuce during the highly publicized feeding time at their habitat.

In 2003, I was still with the hotel industry and just stumbled upon the place. Many great changes have occurred since then, and I loved having my frozen clotted cream at their restaurant again! I returned in 2010 when a Haleakalā park ranger reminded me of the place. I meant to return sooner, but my family and friends weren't interested. My girlfriend is quite open to new experiences, so I finally had my chance recently. I received my Slimbridge newsletter in 2020 with the news about their new habitat and made it a priority. The nēnē are their number one attraction, and I was proud to have a Hawaiʻi-specific habitat that was not grouped with North America. My girlfriend had never really seen a nēnē until Slimbridge. She was intrigued by the bird hides for viewing wildlife, taking us into five different hides and two observation towers.

For students, one of the greatest lessons is that healthy, ecologically functioning habitats for various animals are so important. If we do not take care of our natural lands and features, our unique species will be affected. Again, the bird species at Slimbridge are free to fly away, but they return to their familiar habitats.

The reason I return to England is to discover more about the culture and how it influenced Hawaiʻi. For instance you'll also see "Kalakaua Rex" signed on Hawaiian documents, where "Rex" means "king" in Latin.

I was trying to see if we still have active nēnē at Haleakalā National Park that came from Slimbridge, as they have a special leg band, but couldn't get a definitive answer. Hawaiian Airlines' Hana Hou magazine had an article about Sir Peter Scott and nēnē in 2008.Link: https://www.hawaiianairlines.com/hawaii-stories/hana-hou/nene

The talk I gave on my Slimbridge visit when I got back to Hawaiʻi was attended by quite a few Brits who had never heard of it, and they had the most questions. I think we should get our ED (Executive Director) over there, as HPPA (formerly HNHA) helped fund the captive breeding program!

Side note: I ran out of time and could not make it to the Royal Gardens at Kew. In 2013, Pat Biley of Hawaiʻi TNC (The Nature Conservancy) asked me if I was willing to take native hapu'u ferns from Maui to the Kew Research Center in England. Of course I agreed. About a month before my trip, he called to say they were not able to harvest any hapu'u ferns due to an introduced ant infestation. I offered some from my home, and Pat saw that they were ant-free, so he harvested them and I took them to Kew. Last year, I ran into Pat, and he said that the ferns are growing well. I had planned to see them in the Temperate House of the Gardens on this trip, but ran out of time. The fern had graced the front cover of Kew's 2014 annual report.

Makana the Nēnē Plush is here: https://shop.hawaiipacificparks.org/products/plush-nene-hppa

The story of nēnē at Haleakalā National Park is here: https://www.nps.gov/hale/learn/nature/haleakala-nene.htm

Learn about Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust here: https://www.wwt.org.uk/wetland-centres/slimbridge/

The Next Generation

All of the carvings we see at Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau today are a modern recreation and restoration of what was once there. In 1823 the original kiʻi were removed by William Ellis, who then auctioned them off in Prussia to collectors. He fortunately made a lithograph first, which is now the park's best reference material. The site fell into disrepair in the 1800s, and restoration efforts started back up with the National Park Service in the 1960s. Chief among carvers for the restoration was Anton Akoni Grace, who came from a line of South Kona carvers nine generations long. Because Ellis’s journals describe the original carvings and scene in detail, the many-year restoration project felt accurate, and by 1971, Hale o Keawe and the heiau on which it stands were complete. Several carvers worked under Grace, including the venerable Sam Kaʻai from Maui. As has always been tradition, all of the trees were large ʻōhiʻa found and collected on nearby slopes.

Of the roughly two dozen carvings on the park grounds, the majority are the 16ft.-tall kiʻi ākua (carvings of gods) arranged in a semicircle near Hale o Keawe. These are ritually dressed during the opening of specific ceremonies and are considered the central meaningful images for the heiau. Each represents a key function. “When heiau are built or restored,” says Ranger Kahakaʻioikamālie, “part of the process is defining the function of the heiau: success in fishing, primacy in war, a sacred royal mausoleum, and so forth. The specific deities chosen support its function.”

For example: “The god Lonokīnaʻu is associated with the arts of healing and identifying defects so you can repair the defect,” he explains. “Lonomakahialele is about having a discerning eye and being careful and deliberate in your decision-making. For the puʻuhonua, or refuge, that this park once was, people seeking shelter there were running to it for a lot of reasons, and must be analyzed in order to see how the puʻuhonua will support their recovery.”

The park follows a loosely cyclical restoration plan as these elaborate standing carvings age, dry and crack. Roughly 25-30 years pass before the weathered and degraded kiʻi are replaced. After the initial reconstruction of the 1960s, the second generation of restoration efforts happened in the 1980s. The third generation of restoration spanned 2001-2004. There is now a carving hui (group) outside of but related to the park, and it includes Kahakaʻioikamālie, Sam Kaʻai (now in his 80s), and prominent Maori carver Lyonel Grant. They are preparing for the next, fourth generation restoration. As is the cultural tradition, the stately, dense, native ʻōhiʻa would be the tree of choice, but the new ecological threat of Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death, a deadly introduced fungus impacting native Hawaiian forests, may require a different tree.

Take a virtual tour of the park here: https://www.nps.gov/hdp/exhibits/puho/PUHO_Tour.html

Shop the park here: https://shop.hawaiipacificparks.org/collections/puuhonua-o-honaunau

More on the ʻōhiʻa tree is here: https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/forestry/plants/ohia-lehua/

The Transformation

Let us take ourselves back, say, 500 years ago, when a solemn group of people stood in the cool, deep forest on the flank of one of Hawaiʻi Island’s volcanoes. A massive ʻōhiʻa tree rose before them high into the shifting green of the canopy. Deeply resilient, impressively patient, ʻōhiʻa trees are able to generate even on barren lava flows and slowly grow to massive proportions as the ecosystem builds around them. Birdsong looped through the branches. A ritual began with chant and offerings. This tree, eight to ten feet in circumference and an elder of the Hawaiian forest, was about to be transformed. After being cut with gratitude and skillfully carved onsite, then carefully transported downslope to the village on the coast, it might stand on or near a heiau, a Hawaiian temple. Wherever the new carving was to be placed, it would now be tasked with the important job of holding the mana, the life force, of a Hawaiian god whose powers and attributes would contribute to that location and undertaking. It would become a kiʻi.

For the Maori of New Zealand, who lost less of their traditional carving knowledge with western colonization than the Hawaiians did, kiʻi is tiki, a word you may feel more familiar with. You may think of it as a wood carving, usually with a snarly face, most often seen as “tropical” decor in bars and restaurants. If you have travelled to any part of Polynesia, that bluegreen scattering of islands dotting the sea between Australia and the Americas, you may have experience of kiʻi that is more culturally authentic. Maybe you visited a national park site, like our partner Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park on Hawaiʻi Island. In that setting, the kiʻi are striking. Imposing, even. They are arranged throughout the park grounds as well as clustered around Hale o Keawe, a restored traditional structure that was once a resting place for the bones of Hawaiian royalty. Maybe you stood in front of the 16-foot-tall single-piece wooden carvings  and felt, in your bones, that something important was represented here in what was once a place of refuge, a puʻuhonua for those fleeing war or retribution. Maybe what you felt was mana. 

How can a piece of wood have any mana at all? Former HPPA cultural interpreter and National Park Service interpretive ranger Kahakaʻioikamālie was part of a group of park employees and area residents who tended to the cultural objects, which include two dozen kiʻi, at this park site. He said, “There is always an understanding that the kiʻi and the tree it was carved from are part of the same life force as everything, as all of us, so we acknowledge, when we take the tree out of the forest (and the plant and animal community living on it) that we are destroying something, and also taking out one of our water collectors in the watershed. When we take the tree, there is a protocol for how we are going to change it and give it a new life, change its mana.” The appropriate god or god aspect is invited to take up residence in the carving, imbuing it with mana relevant to the purpose of the location. “The resulting carved images are not what we think the god looks like,” he clarified, “because gods are incomprehensible. We carve a kiʻi to look humanlike so we can form a relationship with it and relate to it.”

Part 2 will post in September.

Discover Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park: https://www.nps.gov/puho/index.htm

Learn about the ʻōhiʻa lehua tree: https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/forestry/plants/ohia-lehua/

Shop the park: https://shop.hawaiipacificparks.org/collections/puuhonua-o-honaunau

Most young adults have no idea how one becomes a national park service ranger.  
 
The Big Island of Hawaiʻi is home to four national park sites including massive Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park (HVNP). Despite this density of parks in the island community, most island teens grow up unsure how to begin national parks careers. The National Park Service structure can look intimidating from the outside and the processes for hiring seem complex, with layers and levels and different statuses, permanent and seasonal positions, terms of one or four years. Getting to that uniform seems hard and confusing. Most teens turn to simpler jobs and forget about the park service. That youthful energy and idealism becomes directed elsewhere. 

Read more: So You Want To Be A National Park Ranger

National park sites in Hawaiʻi protect more than famous lava flows, beaches, waterfalls and lush forests. In Hawaiʻi, national parks also protect and preserve Native Hawaiian cultural sites rich with meaning, history, and even mystery. One of the most intriguing mysteries swirls around the meanings of those most Hawaiian of symbol systems: petroglyphs.

Petroglyphs are shapes made by pecking into stone using very hard rock tools to break through the shiny volcanic crust of a lava field. In pre-contact Hawaiʻi, where there was no writing, no paper and ink, petroglyphs may have been meaning-laden public messages, possibly a way to commemorate a place, event, or person. The word for petroglyphs in Hawaiian: kiʻi pokahu.

Read more: Stone Stories: The Mystery and History of Hawaiian Petroglyphs

The Arrival

Uncountable generations ago, a seed or seeds from a plant in the sunflower family landed in a favorable spot on the as-yet-unpeopled Hawaiian Islands. The soil was adequate, the sun and rain were as well, the seed may have been deposited by a bird and, therefore, have arrived with a little bit of its own fertilizer. Eons would go by before humans arrived in their canoes, eons that afforded these sunflower-family plants the time to do something truly marvelous and absolutely spectacular: in this all-new environment, they evolved. And wow, did they evolve into something breathtaking.

Read more: The Story of Silverswords

National park resource managers, who are biologists, ecologists, and botanists, act as stewards for some of the rarest plants and animals on earth. The national parks sites in Hawaiʻi, justly famous for their lava flows, ocean views, stargazing and coastal trails, are also entrusted with the cultural legacy of the Native Hawaiian people.

Read more: The Amazing Women Who Work In Resources Management

Rhonda Loh is the fiercely intelligent and unfailingly kind Superintendent at HPPA partner Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park (HVNP). She knows the park the way you only can by having walked, and studied, hundreds of miles of its terrain over decades. For Loh, this is home territory. Hawaiʻi Volcanoes has been her home, and her career anchor, since she first volunteered here in the spring of 1989.

Read more: Get To Know Rhonda Loh

January is officially Volcano Awareness Month in Hawaiʻi, an island state built completely of volcanoes old and new. Hot and fluid magma circulating in the planet’s mantle seeps up to and through the crust as a plume, and emerges on the seafloor in the middle of the Pacific Plate, where it methodically builds up a shield volcano. The plate is moving N/NW and subducting under Japan/Russia at a rate of about 5-10 centimeters a year. Like a great, slow, patient conveyor belt, the plate drifts over the “hot spot” of the mantle plume and volcanoes are built, one after the other.

Read more: Volcano Awareness Month is Every Month