For nearly 20 years, Paradise Helicopters has provided a bird's-eye view of Hawai'i's natural wonders and access to its most remote landmarks. Now guests can have this experience for free just by sponsoring the planting of native Legacy Trees here in Hawai'i.
Read MoreThe Hawaii Convention Center, Hawaii Tourism Authority and visitor industry leaders throughout the state are coming together to help grow the world's only Hawaiian Legacy Forest, one endemic tree at a time.
Last fall the Hawaii Convention Center and Hawaii Tourism Authority launched a historic effort to plant more than 1 million native trees for permanent reforestation across the state.
Read More“If you think about it, planting trees is sustainable development in its simplest form. We are just creating innovative ways to let others participate.”
—Jeff Dunster
Paradise Helicopters has launched a first-of-its-kind program in partnership with the Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative and Legacy Carbon that gives guests the opportunity to “green their seat” while experiencing Hawaii’s most incredible sights.
Read MoreThe Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative is launching a second "legacy forest" that will preserve 700 acres of land at the 8,500-acre Kahua Ranch on the slopes of the Big Island's Kohala volcano.
The forest will be home to about 250,000 newly-planted "legacy trees" for permanent reforestation, the head of the nonprofit confirmed to Pacific Business News this week.
Read MoreIt’s noon on a Wednesday in November.
Jeff Dunster, CEO of Hawaiian Legacy Hardwoods, sits cross-legged on the floor of his sprawling, gated mansion in Nu‘uanu Valley, leaning back on locked elbows.
“We’re down to about 10 percent of what we had with koa forests just a century ago,” he says. “I’ve been [in Hawai‘i] a few decades, long enough to see the change, and it’s really not that long as time goes. When you see how quickly [the forest] goes away, you realize that your grandkids may not see any of this, and it’s kind of sobering. I also was part of the problem because I love koa furniture.”
Read MoreGetting dirt under your nails while on vacation is always a good sign that you’ve climbed a mountain, built a sandcastle, or scurried over a fallen log. During my family’s last trip to the big island of Hawai’i, we got dirty nails by planting koa trees in a large native forest restoration project. Little did I know, that bit of dirt would have a bigger story to tell.
Read MoreSince the arrival of man in the Hawaiian Islands, over half of the native forests have been lost. Since its inception in 2014, The Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative (HLRI) has been working hard to reverse this trend and return these forests to the native landscape. Working together with community minded businesses, non-profits and individual Legacy Tree sponsors, more than 400,000 endemic trees now cover nearly 1200 acres in the state’s first Hawaiian Legacy Forest.
Read MoreRenowned woodworker Scott Hare is among a group of talented local artisans working with the nonprofit Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative to raise awareness around native forests and wildlife.
Read MoreWith growing interest from government agencies and local landowners, the rare 'Iliahi tree (Hawaiian sandalwood) is poised for a comeback in the islands.
Read MoreThis fall, more than two dozen Hawai'i Island youth trekked up the slopes of Mauna Kea to plant hundreds of koa seedlings. They are the latest in a long line of environmental stewards who are taking part in an ongoing demonstration of social ecological responsibility. In just six years, hundreds of businesses and tens of thousands of individuals have helped plant more than 350,000 endemic koa, sandalwood and other native trees in the state's only Hawaiian Legacy Forest.
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