Hawai‘i Land Trust names UH Hilo alumnus steward of Kūkūau Forest
Ulumauahi “Ulu” Kealiʻikanakaʻoleohaililani is the first steward and educator for Kūkūau Forest on Hawaiʻi Island.
Hawaiʻi Land Trust has hired Hilo native Ulumauahi “Ulu” Kealiʻikanakaʻoleohaililani as the first steward and educator for Kūkūau Forest on Hawaiʻi Island.
Kealiʻikanakaʻoleohaililani earned his bachelor’s degree in geography with an emphasis on environmental studies and a minor in anthropology from the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo.
Kūkūau Forest is just above Hilo town and encompasses 1,600 acres abundant with koa and threatened ʻōhiʻa trees. The land was donated to in 2019 to the Hawaiʻi Land Trust, a statewide local nonprofit that protects, stewards, and connects people to the lands that sustain Hawaiʻi.
As Kūkūau steward and educator, Kealiʻikanakaʻoleohaililani serves as the forest’s restoration specialist, strategic planner, and outreach coordinator.
Kealiʻikanakaʻoleohaililani was born in Hilo and raised in the ʻāina hoʻopulapula (Hawaiian homesteads) of Keaukaha and Panaʻewa, where his family has lived for five generations. He has been a student of hula ʻolapa with Hālau o Kekuhi for nearly three decades.
Within the last four years he was given the privilege to elevate to papa pāʻieʻie alakaʻi. This hula position requires that the student has intimate knowledge regarding the forest, the ocean, gathering regulations and reciprocity of both the forest and ocean.
Kealiʻikanakaʻoleohaililani’s training in hula ceremony, protocol, and oli have afforded him the opportunity to teach workshops and present to diverse audiences on these topics. His long association with the hālau and the Edith Kanakaʻole Foundation has taught him to be constantly aware of forest life. Through his experience with the foundation’s loko iʻa and kalo restoration projects, he has observed how a clean water cycle is applicable from the forests to the reefs.
Kealiʻikanakaʻoleohaililani also is a presenter with Papakū Makawalu Papahulihonua, where he tells stories, discusses important facts about the forest from a Hawaiian scientific point of view and performs oli.
Via Big Island Now News.
