 Well, after 10 years of holding the Ridge to Reef Rendezvous annual community event to celebrate mauka to makai environmental stewardship in West Maui, we're all finding ourselves having to adapt to the new socially distanced reality. After we did the requisite amount of moping and lamenting, what did we decide to do? Move it entirely online, of course! So now, we have worked with the West Maui Ridge to Reef Initiative partners to put together the “Ridge to Reef Rendez-VIEW,” a monthlong series of events and opportunities in the online ecosystem but also spilling over into your and your family's real life. These free opportunities will include evening presentations, a trivia night, and an online scavenger hunt. Prizes in the form of gift cards to local Maui businesses will be given out through a drawing for all Maui residents who participate in any of the events and who complete our online scavenger hunt form. The trivia night will be held via Zoom on Friday, October 30th, and will feature prizes for the winners as well as even more prizes via a live drawing for scavenger hunt participants. Instead of asking West Maui businesses to donate prizes this year, West Maui Kumuwai has purchased gift cards to support these local businesses that are enduring ongoing hardship due to the pandemic. The virtual event will also highlight the work of over a dozen West Maui organizations who will each be given two days of the month, supported by the network of Ridge to Reef partners who will share and amplify their messages on social media. Parents and teachers should watch for educational activities and resources they can use with their children and students. Free Zoom webinars with Q&A The schedule for the series of free evening presentations to be held over Zoom is below. Please register for the presentations using the links provided.  Tuesday, October 6th: Register HERE. “Silver Lining of the Pandemic – COVID creates an experiment to study reduced human impacts on water quality and coral reef health at Kahekili, West Maui” presented by Andrea Kealoha of the University of Hawaii Maui College, and Yina Liu and Katie Shamberger of Texas A&M University. On March 26, 2020, a mandatory 2-week quarantine for all out-of-state visitors went into effect. The quarantine dropped visitor arrivals to Hawaii by 99.5% and has led to a substantial decline in Maui’s population, as well as a reduction in the amount of wastewater received, treated and injected. In this presentation, we will discuss the impacts of reduced tourism on water quality at Kahekili Beach Park in West Maui, including nutrient loading, emerging organic pollutants, and acidification, and what these changes could mean for coral reef health.  Wednesday, October 14th: Register HERE. “Using technology for better natural resource protection: Community role and outcomes of supporting DOCARE officer response in West Maui” presented by Kirk Deitschman and Cole Hendrickson of the Division of Conservation and Resource Enforcement (DOCARE). DOCARE utilizes their DLNRTip app for community reporting of perceived violations, which enhances the eyes and ears of the division. For the Kāʻanapali-Kahekili Makai Watch Area, DOCARE will present on the rules of the area, how to best provide tips using these rules, and analyses generated from tip app and DOCARE report data.  Wednesday, October 21st: Register HERE. “The Climate Crisis is at Our Shores: How Rising Seas Are Compelling Action in West Maui,” presented by Tara Owens of the University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program. Coastal Erosion is a continuing and worsening problem, with eighty-five percent (85%) of Maui shorelines experiencing long-term erosion. Sea level rise is a primary factor in the changing size and shape of Hawaii’s shorelines. UH research examining 100 years of data indicates that Maui is losing beaches to erosion faster than Oahu and Kauai due to locally higher rates of sea level rise. Further, West Maui has had the highest percentage of beach loss of any region. In the coming decades, Hawaii shorelines will continue to move inland to further impair infrastructure, property, and ecosystems. In this presentation, we will discuss the shoreline trends along with the many research, policy, and mitigation initiatives that are underway, or being considered, to manage these conditions.  Wednesday, October 28th: Register HERE. "Who pledges to protect the ocean? The role of place attachment in motivating voluntary commitments and support for conservation among coastal users in West Maui, Hawaii,” presented by Francisca Santana, Stanford University. Coral reefs in Hawai'i are under threat from global and local stressors, including rising ocean temperatures, overharvesting, pollution, and increasing ocean-based recreational activity. For example, West Maui’s once abundant reef, Nā Papalimu O Pi‘ilani, now shows significant signs of human impact. Despite important links between coastal user activity and coral reef health, the factors that influence human behavior in nearshore environments are not well-understood. What motivates individuals to take pro-environmental action to protect coral reefs and support conservation, such as taking a voluntary pledge? And how might communities effectively promote respectful reef etiquette among coastal users? Through a partnership with the community group Polanui Hiu, The Nature Conservancy, and Stanford University, we investigate these questions by conducting an in-person survey of 299 coastal users in West Maui from Keka'a Point to Olowalu in October and November of 2019. We collected information on individual coastal users’ 1) reef-based activities, 2) perceptions of reef health, 3) social-psychological indicators (such as place attachment), and 4) willingness to take the "pono pledge" and share their email address. We found that higher levels of natural place attachment (the emotional bond with the physical characteristics of a place) predicted a willingness to sign the pono pledge, whereas higher levels of civic place attachment (the emotional bond with the community in a place) predicted a willingness to provide an email address. Also, we found significant differences in resident and visitor perceptions of coral reefs, with visitors perceiving corals in West Maui to be healthier and the water cleaner. These findings provide community partners with insight into what motivates coastal users to take action to protect coral reefs and suggests targeted ways to conduct future outreach and education.  Trivia Night on Friday, October 30th: We're using the pub quiz model for the Ridge to Reef Rendez-view Trivia Night, starting at 5 pm on Friday, October 30th - join us over Zoom for a fun event with great prizes! Form a team of 3-5 people in advance or join one when we get underway. Please use this form to sign up in advance. After we wrap up Trivia Night we'll hold the random drawing for those who entered our virtual scavenger hunt.  How to participate in the virtual scavenger hunt: We've moved the Ridge to Reef Rendezvous scavenger hunt online - all you have to do is fill out a form and show us what you learned from all the Ridge to Reef hui partners and how you took action during the month of October. You can also download the form to print out and send it back to us via email if you prefer. We will be giving out prizes via a random drawing for all those (Maui County residents) who submit the form before noon HST on Friday, October 30th.  We convened our characters from previous years' scavenger hunt booklets and they're bummed we can't all gather in person this year for the Ridge to Reef Rendezvous. But let's make the most of it - get some friends together to form teams and join us for Trivia Night! Schedule of West Maui Ridge to Reef Hui partners being featured online:
watch our Facebook page and this section of our website! • Week 1 (week of Sept. 28th): West Maui Kumuwai, Maui Nui Marine Resource Council • Week 2 (week of Oct. 5th): County of Maui Department of Public Works • Week 3 (week of Oct. 12th): Hui o ka Wai Ola, Mauna Kahālāwai Watershed Partnership, Marine Institute at Maui Ocean Center, Whale Trust • Week 4 (week of Oct. 19th): Coral Reef Alliance, Hawai‘i Association for Marine Education & Research (including SHARKastics & Hawaiian Hawksbill Conservation), Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, University of Hawai‘i Sea Grant Program • Week 5 (week of Oct. 26th): Hawai‘i Department of Land and Natural Resources - Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW), and the Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR), Maui Nui branches Grant support for these events has been provided by the State of Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Aquatic Resources and the Doolin Foundation for Biodiversity.  For our Earth Month activities, we encouraged people to share their ocean-friendly practices with us. Now, we’re asking Maui residents to share their friends and neighbors’ ocean-friendliness with us! For some inspiration, check out what West Maui hotels and resorts have done. You can do a bunch of those things on your own property, like redirecting a downspout to water a garden, or installing some permeable pavers to promote infiltration. That helps our groundwater health and could mean more water in streams, less in storm drains. If you’ve seen anyone doing that, show us! Has anyone you know installed some drip irrigation or a fancy timer system connected to weather reports? Put in a rain garden? We want to know about it!
Here’s how to participate: get out there are “bust” your friends and neighbors being ocean friendly with their properties by snapping a photo (*safely socially-distanced of course), send us the photo (*with their permission of course), and if you can, post it on your own social media as well using #OceanFriendlyMaui. Include your mailing address when you email us so we can send you a gift card (if you’re a Maui resident). We’ll share it on our pages and website to highlight the positive action people are taking.  Have you noticed an uptick in gardening since the coronavirus pandemic started? We sure did! Mahalo to everyone who sent in photos of their ocean-friendly victory gardens! Well we’re not done...we’re now encouraging Maui residents to catch their friends and neighbors in the act of gardening - the ocean friendly way! What exactly does it mean to be “ocean friendly?” It has to do with what you put in your garden (such as fertilizers and pesticides, and the plants themselves), and how you water it (the tech you use and the timing). Check out our list of “Ocean-Preferred Products” for starters, and also see our tips on fertilizing, dealing with pests, and watering your garden.
Here’s how to participate: get out there are “bust” your friends and neighbors being ocean friendly with their gardens by snapping a photo (*safely socially-distanced of course), send us the photo (*with their permission of course), and if you can, post it on your own social media as well using #OceanFriendlyMaui. Include your mailing address when you email us so we can send you a gift card (if you’re a Maui resident). We’ll share it on our pages and website to highlight the positive action people are taking. |
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