Waiaʻōpae Clean-Up

Contributed by Nelinia Cabiles

On December 7, 2024, about forty volunteers signed up for a Lānaʻi Culture and Heritage Center clean-up and stewardship event in collaboration with Pūlama Lānaʻi’s Culture and Historic Preservation Department and picked up marine debris along the shoreline of Waiaʻōpae, Lānaʻi’s largest loko iʻa. They also cut back or uprooted kiawe saplings throughout the camp. These volunteers collected about 390 pounds of rubbish and marine debris and helped clear invasive kiawe from the campsite area.

A marvel of engineering and built over eight hundred years ago, the ancient fishpond — originally two thousand feet of kuapā or rock wall that enclosed nine acres — nourished entire communities on Lānaʻi and helped them thrive.

The Waia’ōpae stewardship event closed out an incredible year of preservation and cultural work for the Lānaʻi Culture and Heritage Center, which saw hundreds of volunteers hauling trash and pulling weeds, out-planting native species, and removing ungulates along the eastern side of the island.

The Lānaʻi CHC wishes to thank Pūlama Lānaʻi, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and Kamehameha Schools for their support in helping provide this ʻāina stewardship opportunity.