Dr. Kalehua Krug is a mea kākau (traditional tattooist), musician, activist and school principal at the Hawaiian immersion school Ka Waihona o ka Na`auao in Nānākuli, West O`ahu. His advocacy for land and indigenous philosophy not only stems from his personal journey into Hawaiian identity, but his desire to improve kānaka (Hawaiian) health and educational outcomes, and to expand aloha `āina (love and connection to land) to all. We gain an understanding of how his activism, art and language is rooted in research, learning through practice and an urgency for greater environmental sustainability that transcends ethocentric notions of self.

For over five decades landscape designer, sculptor and naturalist Leland Miyano has connected people to Hawaiian native ecosystems through his gardens in Kahulu`u, at the Bishop Museum and at The Contemporary Museum in Honolulu. In 2019, he created an award winning double hulled canoe installation comprised of invasive guava branches which reflects a Hawaiian sense of place while acknowledging the massive ecosystem transformations Hawai`i has undergone.  He shows us his native Hawaiian garden at the Atherton Halau, his work in stone and wood, and talks about his life-long passion for endemic species from snails to plants as an expression of connectivity between science and art.

Hannah Kihalani Springer of Hawai`i Island is a storyteller, environmental activist, and scholar of Hawaiian history for many decades. As a former trustee for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and advocate for land and sea conservation, she has headed up the nonprofit `Ahahui o Pu`u Wa`awa`a which advocates for the conservation and management of forest systems including endangered Hawaiian plants. Her perspective and that of her husband retired fire fighter Michael Tomich is one of hybridity--in their support for ranching and sheep herding in fire prone grasslands while at the same time restoring native species. She brings us the mo`olelo (place based stories) of Kaʻūpūlehu which demonstrate how we might bring a holistic and reverent relationship to `āina (land) based in aloha kekahi i kekahi (love for one another).

Emily and Ann Fielding, the mother-daughter marine duo of Maui have both lived and worked in Hawai`i to help educate and conserve the ocean, its creatures, coral reefs across the Pacific. Ann's experience is as an underwater naturalist where she introduced visitors, kama`aina and students to the abundance of Maui's coral reefs and their creatures. Emily has worked in many capacities from helping to protect one of the largest marine protected areas in the world--Papahānaumokuākea--to conserving the marine life of the Hawaiian archipelago as The Nature Conservancy's Hawai`i Marine Conservation Director. Together they bring us a vision of what real and lasting ocean sustainability might mean for both people and the environment, based on their many decades bridging education, science and culture via community-based management. 

For nearly four decades, Department of Land and Natural Resources aquatic biologist Skippy Hau has been in and out of Maui's oceans, estuaries and streams surveying for Hawaiian fish, shrimp, snails, corals, limu (seeweed) and nearly every living thing he could observe underwater. Growing up as a fisherman's son in Kaneohe, O`ahu, Skippy's love of the sea and streams extends to his on-going survey work, research projects, and his students. He paints the picture of his team's painstaking biology which advocates that diverted water be returned to streams, not only for the benefit of both fresh and salt water creatures but also for traditional Hawaiian subsistence farming.

We bring together the family and colleagues of Dr. Lloyd Loope, Maui research biologist and ecologist based at Haleakalā National Park who passed away in 2017. We reflect on his legacy as the cornerstone for Hawaiian invasive species management as we know it today and mentor for so many in island ecosystem conservation.  Pat Bily of The Nature Conservancy, Teya Penniman of the Maui Invasive Species Committee, Chuck Chimera of the Hawai`i Invasive Species Council and Lloyd's daughter Brook and son Marshall speak to his unmatched intellect and laser focus, his grace and humility, and above all, his extraordinary dedication and foresight in recognizing the importance of research and conservation across boundaries.

Keahi Bustamente is the field coordinator for the Maui Nui Snail Extinction Prevention Program. He works across three islands--Maui, Moloka`i and Lāna`i--searching sometimes all day in the steepest, most remote mountains for a single individual. He speaks candidly about the logistical, physical and knowledge challenges in this work as well as the gift his mentors have given him in showing him the species and places most will never see. His kuleana is that of husband, father and professional mentor to others, while recognizing that this essential knowledge is likewise passed down to the next up and coming conservationists.

In this episode, co-host Melissa Chimera brings together stories of women in the field from Kerri Fay, terrestrial program manager with The Nature Conservancy and Ane Bakutis, Moloka`i coordinator for the Plant Extinction Prevention Program. Together they share their perspectives as women working in physically demanding jobs across remote locations, managing the logistical and interpersonal complexities of people and land, while simultaneously raising children and advocating for malama `āina in their communities and respective places.  They share an honest reflection on the female perspective of those in mid-career conservation, specifically the challenges and opportunities of the past twenty five years, as well as insight into what needs to happen next in terrestrial land conservation.

Hawaiian land and water activist Ke`eaumoku Kapu of West Maui is descended from a long line of kalo (taro) farmers and care takers of his ancestral home in Kauaula. He and his family's hard won land-back struggles and stream water repatriation in the face of powerful corporate interests serve as the backdrop of his current efforts to help his community in the aftermath and the re-build of Lāhaina town which was completely burned to the ground in August 2023.  He not only speaks to the difficulties ahead and long road to recovery, but also paints a vision of Moku`ula and the thriving fishing, agricultural and historical village Lāhaina might become in the future.

Hank Oppenheimer is a field botanist in Hawai`i for more than 30 years, re-discovering plants thought to be extinct and finding species new to science. He is the Maui Nui coordinator for the Plant Extinction Prevention Program which aims to find, stabilize and help recover the rarest of the rarest Hawaiian plants. Hank has also been witness to significant fires--not only the Lāhaina catastrophe of August 2023--but other fires impacting communities and ecosystems that up until recently escaped the public's attention. We talk candidly about the hardships he and others experience in Maui Komohana (West Maui) and what the long road to recovery might look like now and in the future.