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Hawai'i Wildlife Fund and Hawaiian Electric volunteers recently partnered to collect marine debris that washed ashore on Kamilo Point. The group collected 363 pounds of debris, including 36 pounds of derelict fishing line and net bundles, 40 pounds of broken glass, and 30+ pounds of microplastics. Photo from Hawaiian Electric. |
HAWAIIAN ELECTRIC GAVE HAWAI'I WILDLIFE FUND $15,000 on April 1 to support HWF's Ka'ū Coastal Restoration Program. The program focuses on coastal restoration efforts within and around the Ka'ū Forest Reserve in Wai'ōhinu plus environmental education, anchialine pool and estuary restoration, and capacity-building across Hawai'i Island.
"We are thrilled that the $15,000 grant award will help us continue our efforts to protect native wildlife, restore habitats, and bring our hands-on environmental education programs to youth across Hawai'i
Island," said Megan Lamson, Hawai'i Wildlife Fund president. "We are grateful for the volunteer and financial support from local businesses and these unique opportunities to engage new audiences in our conservation activities!"
Hawai'i Wildlife Fund and Hawaiian Electric also partnered on two stewardship activities led by Hawaiian Electric employee Alex Kelepolo, recipient of the 2022 Kokua Community Champion Service Award. Employees and their families volunteered to collect marine debris that washed ashore on Kamilo Point in October 2019 and April 2023.
"I led this project to educate and raise awareness of the detrimental effects of plastic pollution on our environment and native wildlife and the impact volunteers and Hawai'i Wildlife Fund have made on our island," Kelepolo said. "Serving our community is priceless. It's giving your time, dedication and heart to mālama 'āina. We all have kuleana to ensure the preservation and protection of Hawai'i's natural resources for future generations."
Hawai'i Wildlife Fund has been working with community members on coastal habitat restoration and marine wildlife protection efforts along the Ka'ū coastline since 2001. With the help of thousands of volunteers, it has collectively removed more than 320 tons of marine debris from shorelines and reefs on the island. To learn more, visit www.wildhawaii.org.
"We are thrilled that the $15,000 grant award will help us continue our efforts to protect native wildlife, restore habitats, and bring our hands-on environmental education programs to youth across Hawai'i
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| Alex Kelepolo, of Hawaiian Electric. She also serves as Vice Chair of County of Hawai'i's Public Access, Open Space & Natural Resources Commission. |
Hawai'i Wildlife Fund and Hawaiian Electric also partnered on two stewardship activities led by Hawaiian Electric employee Alex Kelepolo, recipient of the 2022 Kokua Community Champion Service Award. Employees and their families volunteered to collect marine debris that washed ashore on Kamilo Point in October 2019 and April 2023.
"I led this project to educate and raise awareness of the detrimental effects of plastic pollution on our environment and native wildlife and the impact volunteers and Hawai'i Wildlife Fund have made on our island," Kelepolo said. "Serving our community is priceless. It's giving your time, dedication and heart to mālama 'āina. We all have kuleana to ensure the preservation and protection of Hawai'i's natural resources for future generations."
Hawai'i Wildlife Fund has been working with community members on coastal habitat restoration and marine wildlife protection efforts along the Ka'ū coastline since 2001. With the help of thousands of volunteers, it has collectively removed more than 320 tons of marine debris from shorelines and reefs on the island. To learn more, visit www.wildhawaii.org.
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HAWAI'I WILDLIFE FUND CLEANUP DATES are announced for April and May.
Saturday, April 22 is Ka'ū community Earth Day Cleanup. Limited space is available for this Bring Your Own 4WD event, with limited shared rides and hiking.
Saturday, May 13 is a Ka'ū community cleanup wwith BYO-4wd mostly, limited space in Hawai'i Wildlife Fund rides.
Saturday, May 25 is a Ka 'Ohana o Honu'apo Loko I'a workday from 9 a.m. til pau.
HWF also hosts private cleanups for local, school and community groups which are not always open to the public. There are biweekly net recovery patrols on Mondays and seed collection events on Thursdays for existing volunteers.
HWF President Megan Lamson said, "We encourage you to take a walk along a beach or on a hiking trail (and host your own DIY cleanup with your 'Ohana), go for a surf / swim / snorkel and pick up any trash you find along the way. We hope to see you soon, so keep in touch and check out our website calendar for more updates." See www.wildhawaii.org.
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| Megan Lamson, President of Hawai'i Wildlife Fund. |
Saturday, April 22 is Ka'ū community Earth Day Cleanup. Limited space is available for this Bring Your Own 4WD event, with limited shared rides and hiking.
Saturday, May 13 is a Ka'ū community cleanup wwith BYO-4wd mostly, limited space in Hawai'i Wildlife Fund rides.
Saturday, May 25 is a Ka 'Ohana o Honu'apo Loko I'a workday from 9 a.m. til pau.
HWF also hosts private cleanups for local, school and community groups which are not always open to the public. There are biweekly net recovery patrols on Mondays and seed collection events on Thursdays for existing volunteers.
HWF President Megan Lamson said, "We encourage you to take a walk along a beach or on a hiking trail (and host your own DIY cleanup with your 'Ohana), go for a surf / swim / snorkel and pick up any trash you find along the way. We hope to see you soon, so keep in touch and check out our website calendar for more updates." See www.wildhawaii.org.
Sign up for HWF events at kahakai.cleanups@gmail.com
To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see facebook.com/kaucalendar. See latest print edition at kaucalendar.com, in the mail and on stands.
THE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH SATELLITES ARE APPROVED FOR LAND OFF WOOD VALLEY ROAD BY WINDWARD PLANNING COMMISSION. The vote was 4-0 last week, with two planning commissioners Lou Danielle and John Cross recusing themselves since they work for Edmund C.
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| Satellite dishes, similar to those planned by Academia Sinica for deep space research off Wood Valley Road. |
According to Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, of Taiwan, which plans to install the ten dishes on two acres of the parcel, each dish will be 20 feet wide. Representatives of the academic institute described the satellite dishes as passive, designed to detect deep space radio bursts. They said Wood Valley was chosen because of its lack of radio waves and other noise like telephone and television signals. They used the term "radio silent," and said the site is protected by the mountains that surround Wood Valley.
Opponents said they objected to seeing the dishes from their homes and farms and that they feared that this could be the start of a large satellite dish campus. They said it was incompatible with agricultural activity in Wood Valley.
The Deputy Director of Acadamia Senica in Hawai'i, Ming-Tang Chen, offered to work with schools in Ka'ū to promote science, explain astronomy and offer student internships. Students doing internships here who want to further their education in the field could be introduced to the organization's international partners for more opportunities. Academia Sinica operates a Submillimeter Array of satellite dishes on Mauna Kea in partnership with Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.
One requirement for the approval of the project in Wood Valley is for the organization to provide the county with an annual report on its public outreach in Ka'ū.
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THE HAWAI'I YOUTH RISK BEHAVIOR SURVEY has been released by state Department of Health, Department of Education and University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Curriculum Research & Development Group. The high school and middle school data from the 2021 Hawai‘i Youth Risk Behavior Survey covers about 11,000 students in non-charter public schools across the state for the year 2021. The biennial survey has tracked data trends since 1991. Results are statewide and by island.
A 30-minute online webinar on how to access Hawai‘i 2021 YRBS data will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, April 11, 2023. Register at https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEtduuqqTIvHd0pF_2NrIDh1UWG-bLaXToE#/registration.
Topics include unintentional injuries and violence; tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use; sexual behaviors that contribute to unintended pregnancy; protective factors; mental health and suicide; dietary behaviors; and physical activity.
Department of Health points to the pandemic, noting that 2021 YRBS study was conducted under historically different conditions for public school students who in the previous 12 months were attending school fully or partially online. "Students’ home and school lives were dramatically affected during the COVID-19 pandemic," says a statement from the survey team.
Compared to 2019, results from the 2021 survey indicate an increase in physical activity among high school students with 23% (up from 17%) reporting they were physically active at least 60 minutes per day in the past 7 days. The data also show a decline in youth substance use with 3% of high school students (a decrease from 5%) and 2% of middle school students (a decrease from 4%) smoking cigarettes in the past 30 days; 15% of high school students (a decrease from 31%) and 7% of middle school students (a decrease from 18%) using electronic vapor products in the past 30 days; and 12% of high school students (a decrease from 17%) and 3% of middle school students (a decrease from 7%) using marijuana in the past 30 days.
The summary of results says, "It should be noted that the pandemic dramatically reduced retail
access and social interaction which may influence changes in these risk behaviors. While youth tobacco and marijuana use appear to have declined, one year of data does not constitute a trend, and they remain a priority public health concern. The decline in use of electronic vaping products was also associated with the outbreak of e-cigarette and vaping associated lung injury (EVALI) cases. Much work still needs to be done to prevent youth at risk of nicotine and other drug addiction.
"The Hawai‘i YRBS highlights the ever-evolving challenges youth face today. Adolescent mental health continues to remain a concern. Key findings from the 2021 survey reveal that more than half of students (54% of middle school and 56% of high school students) never or rarely got the help they needed when experiencing feelings of sadness, emptiness, hopelessness, anxiousness, or anger. Only 75% of middle school and 74% of high school students reported having an adult at school or at home who they could talk to about things that were important to them."
Lola Irvin, Department of Health Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Division administrator, said, “Our goal is to improve the health and well-being of Hawai‘i’s children, adolescents,
and young adults by supporting the connections between positive health outcomes and academic achievement for the betterment of our students."
Hawai‘i YRBS is part of the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The YRBS trend report, with limited National YRBS survey results, was released by the CDC and is available at https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs. The full report will be released later this year.
Hawai‘i's YRBS data is made available to the public through the Hawai‘i Health Data Warehouse, a long-standing partnership between the Department of Health and the University of Hawai‘i Office of Public Health Studies. For more information on the Hawai‘i YRBS, including state and county results from 2021 and previous years, visit https://hhdw.org/data-sources/youth-risk-behavior-survey and www.hawaiihealthmatters.org.
The following links provide custom dashboards of a selection of YRBS results, statewide and county, within HawaiiHealthMatters.org. See YRBS 2021 State Results and YRBS 2021 Hawai‘i County Results
To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see facebook.com/kaucalendar. See latest print edition at kaucalendar.com, in the mail and on stands.
A 30-minute online webinar on how to access Hawai‘i 2021 YRBS data will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, April 11, 2023. Register at https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEtduuqqTIvHd0pF_2NrIDh1UWG-bLaXToE#/registration.
Topics include unintentional injuries and violence; tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use; sexual behaviors that contribute to unintended pregnancy; protective factors; mental health and suicide; dietary behaviors; and physical activity.
Compared to 2019, results from the 2021 survey indicate an increase in physical activity among high school students with 23% (up from 17%) reporting they were physically active at least 60 minutes per day in the past 7 days. The data also show a decline in youth substance use with 3% of high school students (a decrease from 5%) and 2% of middle school students (a decrease from 4%) smoking cigarettes in the past 30 days; 15% of high school students (a decrease from 31%) and 7% of middle school students (a decrease from 18%) using electronic vapor products in the past 30 days; and 12% of high school students (a decrease from 17%) and 3% of middle school students (a decrease from 7%) using marijuana in the past 30 days.
The summary of results says, "It should be noted that the pandemic dramatically reduced retail
"The Hawai‘i YRBS highlights the ever-evolving challenges youth face today. Adolescent mental health continues to remain a concern. Key findings from the 2021 survey reveal that more than half of students (54% of middle school and 56% of high school students) never or rarely got the help they needed when experiencing feelings of sadness, emptiness, hopelessness, anxiousness, or anger. Only 75% of middle school and 74% of high school students reported having an adult at school or at home who they could talk to about things that were important to them."
Lola Irvin, Department of Health Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Division administrator, said, “Our goal is to improve the health and well-being of Hawai‘i’s children, adolescents,
Hawai‘i YRBS is part of the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The YRBS trend report, with limited National YRBS survey results, was released by the CDC and is available at https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs. The full report will be released later this year.
Hawai‘i's YRBS data is made available to the public through the Hawai‘i Health Data Warehouse, a long-standing partnership between the Department of Health and the University of Hawai‘i Office of Public Health Studies. For more information on the Hawai‘i YRBS, including state and county results from 2021 and previous years, visit https://hhdw.org/data-sources/youth-risk-behavior-survey and www.hawaiihealthmatters.org.
The following links provide custom dashboards of a selection of YRBS results, statewide and county, within HawaiiHealthMatters.org. See YRBS 2021 State Results and YRBS 2021 Hawai‘i County Results
To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see facebook.com/kaucalendar. See latest print edition at kaucalendar.com, in the mail and on stands.
UPCOMING TROJAN SPORTS for Track & Field, Boys Baseball, Girls Softball and Boys Volleyball,
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| Trojans Athletic Director Jaime Guerpo |
In Boys Varsity Volleyball, under Coach Josh Ortega, Kaʻū hosts Lapahoehoe on Thursday, April 13 at 5 p.m.. Trojans host Ka Umeke on Monday, April 17 at 5 p.m. On April 21 through April 26 are playoffs and championship games.
In Girls Softball, under Coach Donovan Emmsley, Kaʻū travels to Pāhoa on Thursday, April 13 at 3 p.m. On Saturday, April 15, Kaʻū hosts Kohala at 1 p.m.. BIIF playoffs for Girls Softball start Monday, April 17 with finals ending on April 29.
In Boys Baseball, under coach Rolland Alcoran, on April 15, Kaʻū hosts Kohala 11 a.m. BIIF playoffs for Boys Baseball start April 17 with finals ending on April 28.
In track, under Coach Tolu Rasmussen, Trojans head to Kealakehe for islandwide competition on Saturday, April 15 at 2 p.m.. The Freshman-Sophomore Invitational is on Saturday, April 22 at 9 a.m. at Kea'au. BIIF Trials are Friday, April 28 at 2 p.m. at Kea'au, followed by Finals on Saturday, April 29 at 3 p.m. Kea'au.
To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see facebook.com/kaucalendar. See latest print edition at kaucalendar.com, in the mail and on stands.
Volcano Thursday Market, Cooper Center, Volcano Village, Thursdays, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., with live music, artisan crafts, ono grinds, and fresh produce. See Volcano Evening Market facebook.
Volcano Swap Meet, fourth Saturday of the month from 8 a.m. to noon. Large variety of vendors with numerous products. Tools, clothes, books, toys, local made healing extract and creams, antiques, jewelry, gemstones, crystals, food, music, plants, fruits, and vegetables. Also offered are cakes, coffee, and shave ice. Live music.
Volcano Farmers Market, Cooper Center, Volcano Village on Sundays, 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., with local produce, baked goods, food to go, island beef and Ka'ū Coffee. EBT is used for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly Food Stamps. Call 808-967-7800.
O Ka'ū Kākou Market, Nā'ālehu, Wednesdays, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Contact Nadine Ebert at 808-938-5124 or June Domondon 808-938-4875. See facebook.com/OKauKakouMarket.
Ocean View Community Market, Saturdays and Wednesdays, 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., corner Kona Dr. Drive and Hwy 11, near Thai Grindz. Masks mandatory. 100-person limit, social distancing required. Gate unlocked for vendors at 5:30 a.m., $15 dollars, no rez needed. Parking in the upper lot. Vendors must provide their own sanitizer. Food vendor permits required. Carpooling is encouraged.
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