Aloha,
I am just so very grateful for your continued reading of our emails and the new followers! Mailchimp says we added 10 new folks to this list since 2 weeks ago. That’s wonderful – welcome.
Although I call California my home and adore this state, I getaway to Hawaii as much as I can. Slower pace, beautiful culture and the water… This week I got to travel to the big island of Hawaii. I did a lot of thinking about biodiversity there. The beautiful ecosystem of the Hawaiian islands was decimated by European contact but slowly degraded since the first humans landed 700 years ago.
“Although comprising less than 0.2 percent of the land area of the United States, the Hawaiian Islands hold more than 30 percent of the nation’s federally listed species, including 317 taxa of plants and animals listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) as endangered or threatened, 12 taxa proposed as endangered and 105 taxa as candidates for listing. Unique and varied habitats are also found across the islands. As a result, Hawaii presents both an opportunity and a challenge for conservation.” (http://www.dlnr.hawaii.gov/forestry/files/2013/09/SWARS-Issue-6.pdf)
Although I tried to relax and not work, I thought a lot about urban conservation in Hawaii just like we are creating here. The fact is, we have developed housing and cities and destroyed ecosystems. I truly believe that conservation is achieved by protecting our untouched lands AND redeveloping with natives in the urban environment. That’s why we created the Habitat Corridor Project – to preserve biodiversity. We are so grateful for conservation organizations whose mission focuses on wildlands, but we all can make a huge difference in our own yards by planting natives. I didn’t let myself dive into native plant growers in Hawaii, However; we have followers from all over the country. I’m excited to support you in finding your native plants where you are. Send me an email and let me help you find nurseries and resources.