“I make leis. Are you spraying pesticides? We learned that pesticides are dangerous for my body and our planet. What do you think? From your friend Adia.”
This letter was written by a first-grader from Kua o ka La New Century Public Charter School to a county representative after witnessing spraying at the local park.
As part of the school’s campaign for safe parks, Adia and other students and parents joined volunteers at Isaac Hale Beach Park on April 26 for their first workday in a trial program to stop the spraying of herbicides in Big Island parks.
In early March, community representatives from Puna, Honokaa and Waimea met with Charmaine Kamaka, Parks and Recreation Department director, and other county staff to discuss the use of herbicides in parks – echoing Aida’s concerns for the health of people, wildlife and the aina.
The main barrier to the wholesale “greening” of parks and eliminating the dead brown weeds is the extra manpower required to weed whack or prune instead of spraying chemicals, as Kamaka learned when she spearheaded the five herbicide-free oceanfront parks in Hilo in 1991. With help from volunteers guaranteed, the county agreed to three new trial parks.
“The Parks and Recreation Department is pleased to have formed a working relationship with these community Friends of the Park who have willingly donated their time and energy to this exciting project to reduce herbicide use at Hawaii County Parks,” Kamaka said.
At Isaac Hale Beach Park, volunteers weed whacked, edged, trimmed and hauled away a truckload of weeds on their first workday, with refreshments donated by Island Naturals Pahoa. Clumps of dead cane grass were dug out and replaced with shrubs and ground cover provided by Rozett’s Nursery.
“It’s fun to come together with others who love the community, and to meet new people as you work to help take care of the park,” said volunteer Geoff Last.
After the mechanical work was done, the students from KOKL arrived at the park with their kumu, Pomai Emsley, and several parents to help do a final cleanup.
The next Isaac Hale Beach Park workday is scheduled for 8-11 a.m. May 24. More volunteers are welcome there and at the other two trial parks in Honokaa and Waimea.
The Friends of Honokaa Park hosted its first meeting on April 30. The group examined aerial maps and divided the large 25-acre park into five zones to be tackled with weed whackers, hedge trimmers, mulch, ground cover, strong backs and hands. Volunteers will work there as their individual schedules permit.
Waimea Park’s first work party was May 5, with volunteers removing the brown, sprayed weeds.
The long-term goal of the Herbicide-Free Trial Parks is not only to make these three heavily used parks safer for people, wildlife and the aina, and more aesthetic as well, but to come up with alternatives to spraying chemical herbicides that can be used throughout the county’s parks and along its roadsides.
People who would like to volunteer their time, expertise or supplies, can learn more by joining one of the Facebook groups set up for the Herbicide-Free Park Trials: Friends of Isaac Hale Beach Park, Friends of Honokaa Park, Greener Hawaii Waimea Town, or the overarching Greener Hawaii 2.0.
For more information, contact organizers at GreenerHawaii@gmail.com.
