Liko Nā Pilina

Rebecca Ostertag

Role: I serve as one of the principal investigators of the project, which means I’ve been involved in all aspects of planning, executing, publicizing, and synthesizing the project. From the moment we wrote the first proposal on this project I was enthralled by the hybrid ecosystem concept. 

Why Conservation: The first time I stepped into a tropical forest, I knew that was where I wanted to be and what I wanted to devote my life to learn what it had to teach all of us. I work in conservation and education because I want people to understand that we are nature. It’s most important to me to mālama the ecosystems of Hawai’i because they are us–part of our natural, social, and cultural heritage.

Konapiliahi Dancil

Role: I am engaged with the Liko Na Pilina project as the current research field technician and am involved in day-to-day operations of all aspects in the project. Operations of the project range from data collection and restoration work in the field to data analysis and data processing for the Liko Na Pilina project.

Why Conservation: I grew up in Maui, Hawaii with an immediate love for the outdoors. I was fortunate to attend Kamehameha Schools and throughout my journey I became dedicated to better understanding our natural resources and the state of Hawaii’s naïve and endemic species. Ultimately, I am in this field to ensure that future generations here in Hawaii have access to the forests that made me fall in love with conservation. 

Paul Banko

Role: I’ve been involved in planning the project, which was inspired after attending a conference presentation by Becky. Her description of the basic restoration experiment prompted me to wonder how the interactions among arthropods might be affected by the different treatments. I also attempted to see whether we could observe differences in how birds were affected by the treatments, but the plots are just too small to observe any effects. My role presently is to assist with interpreting the results of the project from a food web perspective.

Why Conservation: I became involved in Hawai`i conservation partly because of a family tradition due to my dad’s work with endangered Hawaiian birds. I spent many happy days helping him in the field, and together we developed the idea that threats to arthropod prey of birds were important factors in the historical extinction and decline of many forest bird species. That theme continues in my work today.

Esther Sebastián-González

Role:  I came into the project when we started wondering about how the different treatments would be affecting higher trophic levels throughout multi-trophic interactions. For this, I was involved in the conceptualization, project writing and idea discussing. I will be leading a network analysis approach to understand how these multi-trophic interactions work.

Why Conservation: We belong to nature and we are nothing without it. Humans have been (and continue) ignoring this and destroying nature, so much more effort is needed to preserve what we have left, and to restore what was lost. I work on conservation because I want to help both in conservation and restoration and because I aim to leave a “greener” world to my son.

Trebor Hall

Role: I was an arthropod technician on the project involved in our leaf litter arthropod study and continue to contribute from afar. When I first joined the project, my focus was mainly the field collection of arthropods and the methodology of our arthropod study. As the study has progressed, my focus has shifted primarily to lab identification of our specimens, specializing in macro arthropods.

Why Conservation: As someone who has been captured from a young age by the wonder of nature, it is personally important to me that we conserve and protect our ecosystems both for us and for the well-being of our planet. I am also particularly interested in conservation as an entomologist because insects are often one of the first groups to be affected by the alteration or degradation of ecosystems.

Kūpono Aguirre

Role: I participated in Liko Nā Pilina as a student assistant who carries out the field and lab work with my team members.

Why Conservation: I enjoy building connections between people and the rest of the world. My passion for conservation stems from the understanding that humans have a role in nature because we are a part of it.

Theresa Kimnoy Bultedaob Aten

Role: I was a field assistant in the Liko Nā Pilina team. My responsibilities included, but are not limited to, data collection, website editing, checking and correcting data.

Why Conservation: Growing up in Chuuk and Palau’s islands, I have always been aware of my natural surroundings. My need to work in conservation stems from seeing the land degradation from trash and land erosion from the sea-level rise on my home islands. When typhoon Maysak hit Chuuk in 2015, my messages and email were bombarded with photos of houses, businesses, ulu trees, and taro patches destroyed, leaving the people to rely on foreign aid while they rebuild their homes, gardens, and farms. My goal is to learn as much about nature conservation and management as to return home one day and share what I have learned with my fellow islanders.

Cara Carpenter

Role: My role on the Liko Nā Pilina team is that of field assistance. My objective is to help with the ongoing tasks of data collection for each set of plots. This includes but is not limited to surveying, identifying native, non-native, and invasive species at their varying life stages, weeding, and outplanting.

Why Conservation: I believe the type of relationship human society has with nature is of fundamental importance. We have an opportunity in conservation work, to define that relationship around values of equity and mutual respect between both people and our fellow species. I believe we have the responsibility to each other and our descendents, to utilize all tools and gumption available, to secure a healthy and habitable planet for everyone. The opportunity to hold both humans and other species in compassion is why I am excited to contribute to projects like Liko Nā Pilina.

Anna Staudenmaier

Role: As an ORISE fellow through the Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry I supported the Liko Nā Pilina team by helping conduct monthly and annual data collections such as leaf litter, phenology, plot censuses, and seedling surveys. I also contributed to our rock star weeding efforts within the plots and outplanting efforts outside the plots to help continue to revitalize the forest at Keaukaha Military Reserve.  

Why conservation: I have always been passionate about conservation, the connection of humans to our environment, and the roles we consciously and unconsciously play in that environment. These interests have taken me to many different parts of the world, where I’ve learned of so many perspectives on conservation and what that word means to different peoples and cultures. I hope to continue to channel what I have learned to contribute positively to conservation efforts wherever I go.

Kawena Kawelu

Role: Most of my work was performed in the greenhouse, such as preparing seedlings, weeding trays, and ensuring the plants had adequate nutrition and water.

Why conservation: The environment is extremely important to me because we live on an island with limited resources, and I was taught to care for the land and ocean by my kupuna.