Emily and Ann Fielding, the mother-daughter marine duo of Maui have both lived and worked in Hawai`i to help educate and conserve the ocean, its creatures, coral reefs across the Pacific. Ann's experience is as an underwater naturalist where she introduced visitors, kama`aina and students to the abundance of Maui's coral reefs and their creatures. Emily has worked in many capacities from helping to protect one of the largest marine protected areas in the world--Papahānaumokuākea--to conserving t...
Feb 02, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 29
For nearly four decades, Department of Land and Natural Resources aquatic biologist Skippy Hau has been in and out of Maui's oceans, estuaries and streams surveying for Hawaiian fish, shrimp, snails, corals, limu (seeweed) and nearly every living thing he could observe underwater. Growing up as a fisherman's son in Kaneohe, O`ahu, Skippy's love of the sea and streams extends to his on-going survey work, research projects, and his students. He paints the picture of his team's painstaking biology ...
Jan 19, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 28
We bring together the family and colleagues of Dr. Lloyd Loope, Maui research biologist and ecologist based at Haleakalā National Park who passed away in 2017. We reflect on his legacy as the cornerstone for Hawaiian invasive species management as we know it today and mentor for so many in island ecosystem conservation. Pat Bily of The Nature Conservancy, Teya Penniman of the Maui Invasive Species Committee, Chuck Chimera of the Hawai`i Invasive Species Council and Lloyd's daughter Brook and son...
Jan 05, 2024•58 min•Ep. 27
Keahi Bustamente is the field coordinator for the Maui Nui Snail Extinction Prevention Program. He works across three islands--Maui, Moloka`i and Lāna`i--searching sometimes all day in the steepest, most remote mountains for a single individual. He speaks candidly about the logistical, physical and knowledge challenges in this work as well as the gift his mentors have given him in showing him the species and places most will never see. His kuleana is that of husband, father and professional ment...
Dec 22, 2023•1 hr•Ep. 26
In this episode, co-host Melissa Chimera brings together stories of women in the field from Kerri Fay, terrestrial program manager with The Nature Conservancy and Ane Bakutis, Moloka`i coordinator for the Plant Extinction Prevention Program. Together they share their perspectives as women working in physically demanding jobs across remote locations, managing the logistical and interpersonal complexities of people and land, while simultaneously raising children and advocating for malama `āina in ...
Dec 08, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 25
Hawaiian land and water activist Ke`eaumoku Kapu of West Maui is descended from a long line of kalo (taro) farmers and care takers of his ancestral home in Kauaula. He and his family's hard won land-back struggles and stream water repatriation in the face of powerful corporate interests serve as the backdrop of his current efforts to help his community in the aftermath and the re-build of Lāhaina town which was completely burned to the ground in August 2023. He not only speaks to the difficultie...
Nov 24, 2023•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 24
Hank Oppenheimer is a field botanist in Hawai`i for more than 30 years, re-discovering plants thought to be extinct and finding species new to science. He is the Maui Nui coordinator for the Plant Extinction Prevention Program which aims to find, stabilize and help recover the rarest of the rarest Hawaiian plants. Hank has also been witness to significant fires--not only the Lāhaina catastrophe of August 2023--but other fires impacting communities and ecosystems that up until recently escaped th...
Nov 10, 2023•56 min•Ep. 23
Dr. Chris Schuler, a researcher with the University of Hawai`i at Mānoa’s Water Research Resources Center is a hydrologist and ground water modeler who experienced first hand the impacts of wildfire on Maui in 2023 where he and his family live. In his work which spans from American Samoa to Hawai`i, he speaks to the importance of applied environmental research serving communities directly. In his work and that of his collaborators, he helps test for potential pollutants most importantly in drink...
Oct 27, 2023•55 min•Ep. 22
Since 1991, Hawai`i water and environmental policy and planning expert Dr. Jonathan Likeke Scheuer has helped people seek a shared, sustainable prosperity for the communities and `āina involved, including the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, the Hawai`i State Land Use Commission, the Hawai`i Land Trust Board, and the O`ahu Island Burial Council. In the aftermath of the August 2023 wildfires on Maui, Melissa and Clay talk with Jonathan about the 2021 book he co-authored with Bianca Isaki WATER ...
Oct 13, 2023•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 21
Dr. Tom Giambelluca, University of Hawai`i (UH) at Mānoa geography and environment professor has been studying and teaching Hawaiian weather and climate in relation to the land and water across the archipelago for 46 years. In the aftermath of the devastating fires on Maui, we ask him to unpack the local atmospheric trends of the past and future, specifically how climate warming is creating greater risk for more wildfires in Hawai`i. As director of the UH Water Resources Research Center, we get ...
Sep 29, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 20
Dr. Katie Kamelamela, is a Hilo-based Assistant Professor in the Global Discovery and Conservation Science Center at Arizona State University and studies ethnoecology, ecological restoration, Indigenous conceptions of wealth, and Indigenous economies. She shares with us her on-going research into modern and Hawaiian contemporary uses of various plants like kiawe (mesquite), maile and ti (kī) and how these relationships are ever evolving. Dr. Kamelamela takes us to one of her most cherished place...
Sep 15, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 19
Dr. Mark Merlin, University of Hawai`i at Mānoa professor in the School of Life Sciences, Botany program has taught Pacific island biocultural history across many disciplines: geography, ethnobotany and biology. His fifty years of teaching human relationships to island environments past and present as well as his field research has taken him from Hālawa Valley on Molokai in the 1970s to Pohnpei, Yap, Kosrae islands and everywhere in between. He paints the picture of Pacific Islanders' intimate r...
Sep 01, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 18
Bonus Episode Season 1: Dr. Clay Trauernicht and Melissa Chimera talk with renowned chanter, dancer, songwriter and educator Kekuhi Keali`ikanaka`ole about the intimate connection between humans and the Hawaiian landscape as practiced in Hawaiian lifeways. Her perspective is that of a descendent from the legendary Kanaka`ole family, most notably her grandmother Edith Kekuhi Kanaka`ole, one of Hawai`i's first educators who made language and dance accessible to all. She talks about connecting cons...
Jun 09, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 17
Co-hosts Melissa Chimera and Dr. Clay Trauernicht reflect on Season One of "Land & People"; what they learned, surprising moments, favorite parts of producing the show, and what's next for Season Two.
May 26, 2023•26 min•Ep. 16
In this episode, co-hosts Dr. Clay Trauernicht and Melissa Chimera go on-location to the Hamākua coast of Hawai`i Island. They interview Jayson and Alberta Mock Chew and their daughter Kahealani about the history of kalo (taro) farming and the family transition into poi production with their business Mokuwai Piko Poi. Their kalo farming roots go back six generations in Waipi`o Valley, a sacred and highly productive valley that still sustains farmers and residents, some with centuries-old ancestr...
May 19, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 15
Mike Demotta, curator of living collections for the Hawai‘i National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG) on Kaua'i has lived many lives: from being the garden's horticulturalist, a hula kane (male hula dancer), and speaker of `ōlelo Hawai'i (Hawaiian language) to NTBG's curator of both native and introduced plants at the Limahuli Garden and Preserve. Mike speaks to his knowledge of Hawaiian native ecosystems by way of ancient chant and mo`olelo (stories), while painting the picture of remote places...
May 05, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 14
Native Hawaiian paniolo Lani Cran Petrie manages Kapāpala Ranch founded in 1860 in Ka'u on Hawai'i Island, one of the island's largest remaining ranches where her great-grandfather was a foreman. Having studied animal nutrition at Washington State University, she has also served as the president of the Hawaiʻi Cattlemen’s Association. Lani sheds light on the ecosystem benefits and economic challenges of managing 24,000+ acres of state-leased land for cattle while keeping weeds at bay and providi...
Apr 21, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 13
Ted Rodrigues, retired National Park Service animal control and fencing manager built some of Hawai`i's first ungulate (hoofed mammal) exclusion fences in the mid 1980s in Haleakalā National Park. He helped pioneer non-native animal removal through fencing and organized hunting aimed at limiting the damage of goats, pigs and deer in native ecosystems—programs now widely adopted throughout the state. He is the living example of an old-school park ranger versed in everything: facilities and trails...
Apr 07, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 12
Raised on Hawai`i Island, Suzanne Case has worked for forty years in public and private law and conservation as the executive director of The Nature Conservancy in Hawai`i and Palmyra, and most recently as Chair for the Department of Land & Natural Resources. Listen to her unique perspective as one raised in the wilds of Hawai`i Island and how her deep love of place has helped her navigate the legal conflicts, commonalities and moral complexities of natural and cultural resources stewardship...
Mar 24, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 11
Ed Misaki, retired director of Molokai conservation programs for The Nature Conservancy worked since 1982 on the island where he was born and raised. He faced personal and professional challenges most of us can't imagine. His controversial non-native animal removal programs--aimed at removing deer, pigs, and goats--protects the most fragile upland forests. His story is one of resilience through difficult times, inspired by his love and desire to restore and protect the wao akua (native upland fo...
Mar 10, 2023•56 min•Season 1Ep. 10
Brian Naeole, former Field Coordinator with The Nature Conservancy Molokai speaks to growing up homesteading on Hawaiian homelands, hunting, farming, raising pigs, and surfing while restoring native ecosystems on his home island. He describes the hard work that goes into fencing watersheds and removing the non-native animals like pigs, goats and deer that do so much damage to Hawaiian ecosystems within those fences, while at the same time raising livestock on his homestead for food.
Feb 25, 2023•57 min•Season 1Ep. 9
Penny Rawlins Martin is one of the first two kānaka maoli (Native Hawaiian) women to sail as a crew member on the first 1976 voyage of the Hōkūle‘a Hawaiian sailing canoe between Tahiti and Hawai‘i, a 2,500 mile journey of her ancestors. She takes us back to the energy of the 1970s during the Hawaiian renaissance where the language, music, dance, voyages and land-back initiatives were being fought for, revived and uplifted. Penny shares with us her many lessons aboard the canoe, namely care for ...
Feb 11, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 8
Beginning with his arrival in Hawai`i in 1968, Dr. Steven Montgomery University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa entomologist has studied genetics and molecular biology while discovering insects and plants new to science. While his expertise includes an extraordinary array of Hawaiian insects--from picture wing flies to the carnivorous caterpillar found no where else in the world--his passion includes everything from bee keeping and keiki education to Hawaiian ecosystem protection as a former member of Hawai...
Jan 28, 2023•59 min•Season 1Ep. 7
Pauline Sato speaks to the evolution of `āina (land)-based learning across her decades long career in environmental education with Moanalua Gardens Foundation, Bishop Museum, The Nature Conservancy, and now as the Executive Director of Mālama Learning Center. While her broad reach in introducing many generations of students and stewards to the Hawaiian outdoors is well known, few know about how she connected with nature as a child watching television or her wild times in Wailau valley on Moloka`...
Jan 14, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 6
Retired Hawai`i Pacific Parks artist, educator and Hawaiian cultural practitioner Nanette ("Nan") Ku`ulei Akau Cabatbat speaks to her decades of chanting sunrise`oli at Hāleakala National Park, connecting both kama`āina and visitors alike to the place of her ancestors. She speaks to the values of caring for the land by sharing and connecting with the people under her care first and foremost.
Dec 24, 2022•58 min•Season 1Ep. 5
University of Hawai`i at Mānoa professor emerita of biology and zoology Dr. Sheila Conant speaks to working with rare Hawaiian birds at a time when few women did so. While her publications, awards and distinctions are many, her lasting gift is painting the picture for all who will listen of both the beauty and fragility of Hawaiian creatures and plants. In this episode, she conveys the gravity of the situation with straight talk, but also humor, fun and passion.
Dec 10, 2022•58 min•Season 1Ep. 4
Steve Perlman, a botanist for the Kaua`i Plant Extinction Prevention Program (PEPP) talks about his love of Pacific island peoples in remote places, the thrill of discovering new plants, and climbing the highest sea cliffs in the world to save the last of a species.
Nov 06, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 3
Bob Hobdy, former Department of Land and Natural Resources Maui district forester time travels back to the early days of discovering new Hawaiian plant species with renowned botanists Otto Degener and Harold Saint John-- all the way to present day.
Oct 16, 2022•58 min•Season 1Ep. 2
Hawai`i-based co-hosts Melissa Chimera and Dr. Clay Trauernicht talk about their respective careers in environmental stewardship, art and research and how a more holistic understanding of our place in the natural world is more important than ever before.
Oct 01, 2022•26 min•Season 1Ep. 1
