Maui County Office of Economic Development Awards FOFA $6,385 Grant
ULUPALAKUA – Friends of the D.T. Fleming Arboretum has received a $6,385.00 grant from the Maui County Office of Economic Development for “Project Health”.Project Health will professionally prune the D.T. Fleming Arboretum’s trees, top-dress the trees with rich composted mulch, cut down and transform invasive wattle trees into a onsite source of mulch to be composted for future use while clearing for restoration of native habitat.A seed source for public and private nurseries statewide, The D.T. Fleming is Maui’s oldest and largest native Arboretum. Founded in 1950 by agriculture and horticulture pioneer D.T. Fleming, today the Arboretum preserves 400 trees of 102 species, including the last seed producing survivor of the endangered Maui Alani, Melicope knudsenii.
Project Health will promote the health of the D.T. Fleming Arboretum–a valuable seed bank for the survival of Hawai`i’s rare native plant species and native habitat restoration. efforts.
For more information about the Arboretum visit www.flemingarboretum.org or call 808-572-1097.
Maui Electric Company Awards FOFA $5,000 Grant for Facility Construction
Left to right Karen Levy, FOFA Board of Directors, Eileen Wachi, Manager of HEI Administrations and Cheryl Ambrozic, FOFA Grant Writer. Hawaiian Electric Industries Charitable Foundation, on behalf of Maui Electric Company, awarded a $5,000 grant to the Friends of Fleming Arboretum (FOFA) to help build a storage facility and restroom at the D.T. Fleming Arboretum at Pu`u Mahoe. The shed and restroom facility will protect the arboretum’s equipment and enable FOFA to expand its community outreach and education efforts. The Atherton Family Foundation, the Fred Baldwin Memorial Foundation, the Cooke Foundation, Bank of Hawai`i and the A&B Foundation are also helping with the permitting and construction costs of the facility.
The D.T. Fleming Arboretum at Pu`u Mahoe is Maui’s oldest and largest native dry land Arboretum. It is a vital source of rare dry land native plants and seeds benefiting numerous statewide projects.
Protected within Haleakala’s Pu`u Mahoe cinder cone on the edge of the Auwahi Forest, this biological preserve was founded in the 1950’s by Maui agricultural and horticultural pioneer D.T. Fleming. Fleming planted the arboretum to help save Maui’s endangered dry land forest. Today, of the 245 trees and 92 species planted in the arboretum, 19 are endangered Hawaiian tree species, 4 are species of concern, and 3 are candidates. The D.T. Fleming Arboretum includes the last seed-producing survivor of Maui’s endangered Alani tree, Melicope knudsenii.
FOFA’s community outreach efforts include monthly tours at D.T. Fleming Arboretum, instruction on horticulture and care of native dry land species through volunteer workdays, landscape design utilizing Hawaiian native plants, sharing Hawaiian cultural uses of native plants, propagation workshops on air layering and sharing preservation efforts worldwide through the their Web site www.flemingarboretum.org. For more information see www.flemingarboretum.org or call #572-1097.
Kaulunani Awards FOFA $7,877.00 for Tree Out-Planting & Identification
Kaulunani, the Division of State Forestry, awarded Friends of the D.T. Fleming Arboretum (FOFA) a $7,877.00 grant for a native Hawaiian tree out planting project and irrigation and tree label upgrade at the D.T. Fleming Arboretum at Pu`u Mahoe. Kaulunani’s grant award will help FOFA purchase and plant increased numbers of existing and additional native dry land tree species into the D.T. Fleming Arboretum.Committed to the educating the public about the important role native Hawaiian trees play in the health of Hawai`i’s environment, FOFA will offer free instruction at the D.T. Fleming Arboretum on how to plant and care for native Hawaiian plants. Instruction will be offered by certified arborist Tai Kanoa Domen every Tuesday in June and July from 10:00 – 3:00 pm.Owner of Alihilani Arborcare, LLC, Tai Kanoa Domen abides by the planting standards of the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The D.T. Fleming Arboretum is Hawai`i’s oldest and largest native plant arboretum dedicated to the perpetuation of Maui’s native dry land forest species. Protected within the southern slope of the Pu’u Mahoe cinder cone on Haleakala, this unique biological preserve was founded in the 1950’s by Maui agricultural and horticultural pioneer, D.T. Fleming. Fleming’s dream was to plant an arboretum to help save Maui’s endangered native dry land tree plant species.
Throughout D.T. Fleming’s life on Maui, he witnessed the dry land forest of Auwahi going extinct due to cattle and drought. Protected from the northeast and southerly winds, Fleming chose Pu’u Mahoe’s cinder cone as a perfect place to preserve these species at the 2,600- foot elevation on the edge of the Auwahi Forest. Today, of the 245 trees and 92 species planted in the arboretum, 19 are endangered Hawaiian tree species, 4 are species of concern, and 3 are candidates.
The D.T. Fleming Arboretum includes the last seed-producing survivor of Maui’s endangered Alani tree, Melicope knudsenii. The D.T. Fleming Arboretum is a valuable seed bank. The arboretum’s Auwahi forest collection provides plants and seeds necessary to revitalize Auwahi and the surrounding slopes of south Maui. FOFA is involved in several ongoing projects to restore native dry land forest habitats on Maui and throughout Hawai`i.
One of FOFA’s most successful public / private partnerships is the reforestation project of the Auwahi area located on the southwest face of Haleakala. In 2002, The Friends of the D.T. Fleming Arboretum was formed to support the arboretum’s important work. FOFA’s mission is to preserve native Hawaiian plants through protection, propagation and distribution while providing education about native plants, their propagation and care through public workshops and tours. For more information or to join in on this exciting learning experience, call 572-1097.
