Pohaku Beach Park - Maui, Hawaii

Description

Scott Lacasse, owner of One If By Land Environmental Design LLC and a Garden Resource Teacher at Montessori of Maui, designed the gardens and led a community workday – what Surfrider calls a Garden Assistance Party (GAP). The south side shower OFG is about 286 sq. ft, while the north side parking lot-fed garden is 340 sq. ft. The design is straightforward, efficient and beautiful: slowing down, spreading out and sinking water into planted swales so it can be filtered and absorbed by soil, plants and mulch (click here for this garden's OFG map "report").

On a Saturday morning, 40 volunteers gathered at the Park to do the installation, which went from 8:30am-3pm. Activists from Surfrider were joined by experienced volunteers with sister non-profits, West Maui Kumuwai and Malama Maui Nui (Surfrider Maui collaborates with MMN on beach clean ups). Chapter Vice-Chairperson, Tim Lara, let everyone know about Surfrider’s mission. Then Josh informed people that urban runoff is the #1 source of ocean pollution, and how OFG applies CPR: Conservation, Permeability and Retention to revive watersheds and oceans.

When they split up to do the work, Josh led a crew in the north area and activist Charlie Quesnel led one in the south (shower) area, with Scott bouncing back and forth between the two areas to supervise. Scott used chalk to draw out where to dig. One volunteer, a high school student, was particularly knowledgeable about native plants. After the mulch was applied, drip irrigation was installed just to help get plants established and will be removed after that time period. Educational signage will be installed, which the Chapter will be paying.

The total budget was $17,250. Funding came from a grant through the Hawaii Department of Aquatic Resources via their cooperative agreement with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Coral Reef Conservation Program. Special thanks goes to Tova Callander West Maui Kumuwai for bringing the idea for the project to the Chapter, for helping to write the grant and sharing her considerable knowledge about working with the County (which turned out to the be the longest part of the project).

In addition to installation, Surfrider Maui is also responsible for maintaining the Ocean Friendly Garden. The Chapter will rely on active members who live in the area, as well as the surrounding community and local surfers, to help keep the plants watered and the garden healthy.

Special thanks to those who provided and delivered the garden building materials:

Plants – from Hoolawa Farms, a native plant nursery. All the plants are native to Hawaii (see the list in this garden's OFG map "report").
Rock – from Ameron HI, and Riedel Construction­ picked it up and delivered it.
Compost and mulch – from EKO Compost.

Food came from LuLu's Restaurant in Lahaina, who graciously donated lunch for 40 people! (Lulu’s has provides food for Chapter beach clean ups.) The Chapter gets a good turnout with food! Starbucks stores on the Westside of the island donated coffee.