Green Magazine Hawaii

Miss Hawai'i finalists leave a lasting legacy in Hawai'i by planting Legacy Trees on Hawai'i Island, including one for each Miss America contestant at the national competition.

For the past five years, each participant in the Miss America Competition has taken a piece of Hawai'i home with them. A group of Miss Hawai'i finalists travels to the Island of Hawai'i every summer to plant native and endemic Legacy Tree seedlings that are individually dedicated as gifts to the Miss America contestants.

"Our Miss Hawai'i Legacy Forest brings these women together in the shared goal of leaving a lasting legacy in Hawai'i," said Ryan Brown, executive director of the Miss Hawai'i Organization. "We are honored to support the ongoing growth of the Legacy Forest and share this aloha nationally at the Miss America Competition each year."

This June, Penelope Ng Pack, Miss Hawai'i 2018, planted 250 Legacy Trees alongside the group of participants in the Miss Hawai'i program. She will present each Miss America contestant at the national competition with a Legacy Tree certificate dedicated in their name.

Legacy Trees are planted through the Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative (HLRI), a nonprofit organization with Legacy Forests on O'ahu and the Island of Hawai'i. The total planned area of the forests encompasses more than 2,300 acres, allowing HLRI to exceed its initial goal of reforesting 1.3 million native and endemic trees across the state - one for each person in Hawai'i.

"As volcanic activity in Hawai'i creates changes in the natural environment, it reminds us of how some of our endemic forests and wildlife are being lost," said Jeff Dunster, HLRI's Executive Director. "The Miss Hawai'i Organization is replacing some of these lost treasures through the planting of Legacy Trees."

Together with sustainable forestry company HLH LLC, HLRI has reforested more than 400,000 native and endemic Hawaiian trees since 2010.

This year's tree plantings included māmane, a rare Hawaiian tree with striking bright yellow flowers found at higher elevations on Mauna Kea. The seeds of the māmane tree are the primary food source for the critically endangered Palila bird. It is estimated that less than 3,000 of these birds are left, all on the Island of Hawai'i. The restoration of these māmane forests may well save this endemic bird from extinction.

Established in 1948, the Miss Hawai'i Organization has maintained a tradition for many decades of empowering Hawai'i's women to achieve their personal and professional goals, while providing a forum in which to express their opinions, talent and intelligence. The program offers nearly $1 million in scholarship assistance to the young women of Hawai'i each year.

Legacy Trees can be individually sponsored for $90, which includes a $30 donation to a designated nonprofit organization of the sponsor's choice, via LegacyTrees.org or planted personally through the award-winning Hawaiian Legacy Tours. HLRI uses state-of-the-art radio-frequency identification technology to record the growth, health, location and sponsorship details of each tree. Trees can be tracked online through HLRI's TreeTrackerTM program.