You are cordially invited to my

Ili`iliholo Gulch Project
An Experiment in Coastal Dryland Hawaiian Forest Restoration

 One Year Anniversary Party
St. Patrick's Day, Sunday, March 17, 4-6pm
Refreshments will be provided

WHERE:  XXX W. Kamakoi Loop, Kihei, Maui, Hawai`i
WHEN:  St. Patrick's Day, Sunday, March 17, 2002
	4-5 pm  --- Reception and tour of the gulch project
	5-6 pm --- Planting party for the hardy.  If you want to get your hands dirty, you can help with the reforestation.

Directions:  Go south on Piilani Highway to south Kihei.  Turn right on Keonekai.  Take first right onto Kanakanui.  Take first left onto Alaku.  Take 4th left onto W. Kamakoi Loop.  The gulch is behind the houses at the far end.  Park along the street where you can.  Look for balloons to mark the way.  Walk down the lawn at XXX W. Kamakoi Loop and find the path to the gulch.  Watch your step!  It's wilderness.

RSVP to Dr. Lee Altenberg, 875-0745 or altenber@hawaii.edu.
If you can't make it to the party, I'm happy to show the gulch project any time.  Just call me at  875-0745  or e-mail altenber@hawaii.edu.

What's this gulch?
A year ago I finally found a place to outplant the native Hawaiian plants I had been growing --- at Ili`iliholo Gulch in Kihei, which runs from the top of Poli Poli, down past Sun Yat Sen Park, to the ocean by Kamaole Point.  

But when I saw the gulch, I got a bigger idea:  create a native dryland forest park all along its 1/2 mile traverse through the Keonekai subdivision.   How to do it?  First phase: proof of concept---see what could be grown there.  Starting with its current state, a crispy dry eyesore taken over by buffel grass, kiawe and haole koa, change it into a canopy of native forest plants.  A few natives were already there: wili wilis from seeds washed down stream, as well as ilima and uhaloa.   Could anything else native grow there?  Thrive there?  Without irrigation?  Leave keikis there?  Could natives keep the weeds at bay?  I wanted to find out.  If it worked, go on to phase two: recruit the neighborhood.

The gulch is divided among the housing lots that border it.  So I asked several neighbors, "Would it be o.k. if I removed all your weeds and planted native forest plants on your property in the gulch?"  "Oh, yeah, sure, why not?" was their reply.  So I started weeding, sprouting, and planting a strip of about 1/14 acre.  To make this a "conservation quality" restoration, I have endeavored where possible to follow my primary rule:  propagate from the nearest native stand of any species that might have once lived here.    You can see my species list below.

So it's been a year, and the plants are growing, flowering, fruiting, real Hawaiian style. I want to share the results with all of you!  So I'm throwing a little "gulch party".

For the "Planting Party":
For those who want to stay after the reception for the planting party, here's how you can help:
	* Heavy Duty help:  
			Digging holes and planting ma`o, a`ali`i (the ground is stone pudding).
			Grubbing buffel grass tufts.
			Please bring your own pick mattock   (the only tool of any use in the gulch; also, please make sure it is free of nematodes, etc.).  

	* Light Duty help:  Weeding --- the gulch has a lifetime supply of haole koa seeds, and many seedlings are ripe for the picking.  Also, new buffel grass sprouts, spurge, and miscellaneous weeds.

Species planted and how they've fared:

Flowering, fruiting, recruiting
1. Abutilon incanum - Palauea

Flowering, fruiting
2. Ma`o - Gossypium sandwicense - Piilani Highway, unknown origin
3. Awikiwiki - Canavalia pubescens - Keoneo`io
4. Anunu - Sicyos pachycarpus - Palauea
5. `Ohai - cultivated in Olowalu - Pu`u Pimoe.
6. Nehe - Lipochaeta rockii - Palauea
7. Naio - Myoporum sandwicense - Palauea, Keoneo`io
8. Sedge - Cyperus pennatiformis - Kealia Greenhouse
9. Alena - Boerhavia herbstii - Palauea
10. Ilie`e - Plumbago zeylanica - Palauea. 
11. A`ali`i - Keoneo`io
12. Kolomona - Senna gaudechaudii - Palauea

Flowering
13. Koali `Awa - Ipomoea indica - Palauea
14. Acyranthes splendens - cultivated

Cranking
15. Wili wili - Erythrina sandwicensis - Palauea and Makena

Growing
16. Na`u - Gardenia brighamiae   -    cultivated at Baseyard, Lanai 
17. Ohe Makai - Reynoldsia sandwicensis   -    Kanaio
18. Kului -   Nototrichium sandwicense - Kanaio.
19. Hala Pepe - Pleomele auwahiensis - Kanaio.
20. Aiea - Nothocestrum latifolium - Kanaio.
21. Hao - Rauvolfia sandwicensis - Kanaio
22. Ala ala wai nui - Peperomia leptostachya -  Lualailua, Kanaio
23. Aki aki - Sporobolus virginicus - cultivated at Kealia Greenhouse
24. Alahe`e - Psydrax [Canthium] odoratum 
25. Pohinahina - Vitex rotundifolia - cultivated
26. Huehue - Cocculus trilobus -  Kanaio
27. `Akulikuli, - Sesuvium portulacastrum   -  Keoneo`io
28.  Nanea - Vigna marina - Palauea
29.  Ohia Lehua - Metrosideros polymorpha - Huelo

Didn't make it
1. Nohu - Tribulus cistoides   -     Keoneo`io .   Biocontrol.
2. Lama - Diospyros sandwicensis   
3. Maia pilo - Capparis sandwichiana   -  Palauea
4.   Vigna o-ahuensis   -   cultivated plants, Kanaio
5. 'Ae'ae - Bacopa monnieri - cultivated at Kealia Greenhouse

Wish List for plants:  Everything from Pu`u O Kali, Makena, & Keoneo`io.  Ohia Lehua from Ulupalakua.  Bona fide East Maui ma`o (???).

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  Lee Altenberg, Ph.D.
  Associate Professor, Information and Computer Sciences
  University of Hawai`i at Manoa
  Phone    (808) 875-0745,   Fax (808) 875-0348
  E-mail   altenber@hawaii.edu, altenber@santafe.edu
  Web     http//dynamics.org/Altenberg/

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