Legacy News

Large tree-planting initiatives often fail — and some have even fueled deforestation. There’s a better way.

On this trip to Oahu, Hawaii, we went beyond the beach.

In an effort to make Waikiki a greener place, hotel workers at the Embassy Suites Waikiki on Wednesday planted an alula tree on property.

Mahalo to the entire Eco Rotary team for restoring more than ten acres of native Hawaiian forest at Gunstock Ranch through the planting of 5,260 endemic trees.

As hotels across the state start to re-open, there’s a new incentive designed to lure more visitors. It's part of a program created by the Hawaii Tourism Authority called Malama Hawaii.

Hawai‘i Visitors and Convention Bureau, in partnership with the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority, announces the launch of Mālama Hawai‘i – a heartfelt invitation to mālama, or to take care of, our earth, each other and ourselves. As visitors look forward to traveling when the time is right, we ask them to take a trip that gives back – to Hawai‘i and to them.

During the World War II battle for control of the Japanese island of Iwo Jima, 6,821 Marines were killed.

The Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative wants to honor the fallen.

The Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative and an affiliate have planted 500,000 native trees over a decade in Hawaii, including part of the forest shown here on former ranch lands on Hawaii island.

The Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative just hit half a million.

A new partnership is changing things up for Gunstock Ranch, a multi-faceted tourism business in Kahuku.

Greg Smith took over the family farm in 2006, about 30 years after his dad started the ranch. Since then, he has grown the cattle and horse ranch into an agritourism business that offers trail rides and UTV tours, and serves as an event space and horse boarding facility.

It also became the new site for a reforestation initiative through a partnership with the Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative, which brings in customers and employees of hotels like the Alohilani Resort and The Kahala to plant trees on the property.

Travelers can help restore native trees that once covered much of the islands.

Far from the forest of skyscrapers in Waikiki, a ranch on Oahu gives visitors an opportunity to help reestablish the island’s forests of native trees.

Gunstock Ranch, a working cattle ranch on the North Shore, invites visitors to plant “legacy trees” during their time on the island. The ranch adds this activity to its other attractions, such as horseback riding and off-road tours.

Gunstock’s new forest, which is expected to one day span 500 acres and include 600,000 trees, is part of the nonprofit Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative. It is the first project of its kind on the state’s most populous island.

FOR ITS CREWMEMBERS, HŌKŪLEʻA IS more than just a canoe: it changes how they live their life, and how they plan to care for the world. “Hōkūleʻa,” which means “star of gladness,” has for many in Hawai‘i become a shining example of how to inspire new generations of Hawaiians to keep their culture alive and share it with the world.

A Hawaii resort is celebrating its grand opening with a pledge to plant 100,000 native trees on Oahu and the Big Island. The Alohilani Resort Waikiki Beach made the pledge in partnership with the nonprofit Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative, the Star-Advertiser reported Tuesday.

The ʻAlohilani Resort Waikiki Beach celebrates its grand opening this evening with a pledge to plant 100,000 native trees on Oahu and the Big Island in partnership with the non-profit Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative.

The Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative revives forests by allowing guests to either sponsor or personally plant native trees, which includes koa, milo and sandalwood, through guided tours at ‘Alohilani’s forests on the north shores of Oahu and the Big Island. The koa and sandalwood are planted on the Big Island, and the milo at Gunstock Ranch on Oahu’s North Shore.

The women who run the North Shore ranch are the third generation to carry on its rich 45-year history of sustainable operations. Today, Gunstock Ranch is an award-winning destination for thousands of visitors each year.

The Hawaiian islands have a growing community of Certified B Corps that are using business to bring about positive societal and environmental impacts. Below are the stories of three B Corps committed to positive economic development that puts nature and people first.

The Kahala Hotel & Resort guests are now planting trees in their sleep.

Through a unique partnership with the nonprofit Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative (HLRI), The Kahala is helping to establish Oahu's first-ever Legacy Forest with the planting of 200,000 native Milo trees.

As he moves slowly along a narrow ribbon of road not often traveled by tourists, Douglas Nakata shared an exhilarating caution with his passengers.

“Be ready for the downward motion,” he warned. “It’s the steepest road in the state of Hawaii.”

With that, he downshifts his 4x4 for the 900-foot drop from the top of the ridge down into the lush, untamed landscape of Waipio Valley.

“The road is pretty impressive,” he understated.

Partnering with Legacy Land Steward Monty Richards, HLRI furthers its forestry goals.

About an hour north of Kailua-Kona, on the western slope of Hawai'i Island's oldest volcano, Mount Kohala, cattle, sheep and horses graze along verdant rolling hills. Above them rise ancient cinder cones. In these rough, steep patches of largely untouched terrain, the island's newest native forest is taking shape.

The first O‘ahu Legacy Forest was announced by the nonprofit Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative (HLRI), located at Gunstock Ranch in Lā‘ie-Mālaekahana. The initial project will span more than 500 acres of land slated for permanent reforestation. The forest will support over 600,000 newly planted Legacy Trees and be home to numerous rare and endangered species.

An Oahu ranch operated on land owned by an affiliate of the Mormon Church has partnered with its landlord and a nonprofit to re-establish a native forest on most of the 750-acre property in Laie and Malaekahana.

Hawaii is an ecologically unique place in the USA and its forests are home to 10,000 unique species. Yet deforestation also means it’s home to 25% of the country’s endangered species, leading the WWF to dub it ‘the endangered species capital of the world.’ Now one project is aiming to restore the landscape and ecological balance.

The long-term goal of the Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative is to plant 1.3 million trees

“Forests aren’t like other commodities. You cannot accelerate the time it takes to grow a tree,” says Jeffrey Dunster, executive director of the Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative. “The Chinese understood this. A Chinese proverb says: ‘The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.’”

It was a horrible year where everything fell apart. Foremost among them was the loss of my grandmother, with whom I was close.

While my grandma would have approved of the big turnout for her wake, it seemed more like a fun social gathering with attendees laughing and sharing stories. It clashed with the somberness enshrouding me. The funeral ritual, the well-meaning assurances that she led a long and wonderful life and being surrounded by her loved ones didn’t give me much comfort.

A month later, I still was numb about the ordeal. But I was set to visit Hawaii Island with Hawaiian Legacy Tours. The eco-pioneering company offers tree-planting tours that can serve as tributes. I went looking for an authentic local experience, but left with much more.

Many of us remember stories of Winnie the Pooh and the Hundred Acre Wood. The nonprofit Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative is bringing these iconic places to life through LegacyForestGifts.com.

When the nonprofit Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative (HLRI) started planning its new O‘ahu nursery and visitor center, a group of military veterans stepped in to help turn the dream into reality.

A new state-of-the-art TreeTracker technology takes a unique approach to tracking the reforestation of native and endemic trees in Hawai'i.

Each year, tens of thousands of Legacy Trees are planted for permanent reforestation in the Hawaiian Legacy Forest high on the slopes of Mauna Kea. Now, with the click of a button, it is possible to watch them grow.

A new Hawai‘i website has shoppers seeing green.

The nonprofit Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative (HLRI) has planted nearly 400,000 endemic and native trees for permanent reforestation across 1,200 acres on Hawai‘i Island. Now, HLRI has launched legacyforestgifts.com, an online store offering artisan-made goods and one-of-a-kind words of art both for purchase and as gifts for the tax-deductible sponsorship of the organization’s koa Legacy Trees.

Over the past year, Faith Elarionoff was joined by her friends and family on an unforgettable journey to reforest more than 1,000 endemic Hawaiian Legacy Trees.

For nearly 20 years, Paradise Helicopters has provided a bird's-eye view of Hawai'i's natural wonders and access to its most remote landmarks. Now guests can have this experience for free just by sponsoring the planting of native Legacy Trees here in Hawai'i.

The Hawaii Convention Center, Hawaii Tourism Authority and visitor industry leaders throughout the state are coming together to help grow the world's only Hawaiian Legacy Forest, one endemic tree at a time.

Last fall the Hawaii Convention Center and Hawaii Tourism Authority launched a historic effort to plant more than 1 million native trees for permanent reforestation across the state.

“If you think about it, planting trees is sustainable development in its simplest form. We are just creating innovative ways to let others participate.”
—Jeff Dunster

It’s noon on a Wednesday in November.

Jeff Dunster, CEO of Hawaiian Legacy Hardwoods, sits cross-legged on the floor of his sprawling, gated mansion in Nu‘uanu Valley, leaning back on locked elbows.

“We’re down to about 10 percent of what we had with koa forests just a century ago,” he says. “I’ve been [in Hawai‘i] a few decades, long enough to see the change, and it’s really not that long as time goes. When you see how quickly [the forest] goes away, you realize that your grandkids may not see any of this, and it’s kind of sobering. I also was part of the problem because I love koa furniture.”

Getting dirt under your nails while on vacation is always a good sign that you’ve climbed a mountain, built a sandcastle, or scurried over a fallen log. During my family’s last trip to the big island of Hawai’i, we got dirty nails by planting koa trees in a large native forest restoration project. Little did I know, that bit of dirt would have a bigger story to tell.

This fall, more than two dozen Hawai'i Island youth trekked up the slopes of Mauna Kea to plant hundreds of koa seedlings. They are the latest in a long line of environmental stewards who are taking part in an ongoing demonstration of social ecological responsibility. In just six years, hundreds of businesses and tens of thousands of individuals have helped plant more than 350,000 endemic koa, sandalwood and other native trees in the state's only Hawaiian Legacy Forest.

To hear Brook Kapukuniahi Parker tell the story of the Battle of Moku‘ōhai, instrumental in Kamehameha the Great’s rise to power in the late 1700s, is to feel the personalities, strengths and struggles of Hawai‘i’s legendary leaders come alive.

In his 2012 debut oil painting “Ahu‘ula O Kamehameha Kunuiākea” and a subsequent collection of 6-by-8-foot original works of art being installed throughout Hawai‘i, Parker has visually depicted some of the islands’ most iconic historical events and leaders.

Hawaiian honeycreepers have lived in the islands’ tropical forests for millennia, but the colorful finch-like birds are facing “imminent collapse” on Kauai, experts say.