Kula Community Watershed Alliance

10/02/2026

Now bloomimg in the Community Restoration Nursery at Pūlehunui Sanctuary: she’s our beloved Koki’o ‘ula’ula!

These blossoms bring many a smile for our staff and volunteers who care for over 20,000 plants destined for Kula’s burn scar.

Even more joyful: knowing that outplanting these rare beauties, where Kula’s fire-affected residents can see them every day, will extend that joy across generations of Kula residents.

09/25/2026

09/24/2026

No, this is not a hurricane spaghetti model. This is what a KCWA fuels reduction work day looks like….in data form. Our crews run tracks using the Natural Resource Data Solutions app, to track their invasive species management footprint and to help us keep accurate records of every inch of our efforts! We’re grateful for this tool, which is made for projects like ours! Go team!

mauiwildfires

09/21/2026

UPDATE: KCWA's upcoming Kōkua Day is being postponed due to the incoming heavy rains and/or winds predicted to arrive and begin impacts on Maui as the weekend starts. We’ll share a new date soon.

In the meantime, please stay safe, and sign up for MEMA notifcations if you havenʻt already:

https://www.mauicounty.gov/2921/Emergency-Management-Agency

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Join Kula Community Watershed Alliance for our monthly Kōkua Day:

📅 Sunday, September 27
⏰ 9:00 AM–1:00 PM
📍 KCWA Community Restoration Nursery at Pūlehunui Sanctuary

Come spend the morning caring for native plants being grown for the restoration of the Kula fire landscape. Depending on what the nursery needs, we’ll work together on seed propagation, up-potting, weeding, pot cleaning, and other hands-on nursery and restoration tasks. Itʻs also a favorable day for planting, so weʻll likely do some restoration planting, toO!

No previous experience is necessary. This is a welcoming opportunity to learn, connect with community, and help bring life back to the land.

Please wear closed-toe shoes and sun protection, and bring a water bottle, snack, work gloves if you have them, and a dust mask or bandana.

09/20/2026

Important research.

Investigating a hidden environmental health threat across Hawaiʻi—pollutants left behind by decades of agricultural and industrial activity, and whether wildfires and other disasters can bring those contaminants back into the environment and into people’s bodies—is the focus of a new Universi...

08/27/2026

We’ve always believed that Kula’s recovery would take more than projects. It would take people. Neighbors, volunteers, landowners, crews, students, partners...all helping care for the same landscape.

Now KCWA's Kula Fire Restoration Project is reaching one of its most rewarding stages, as years of preparation are making way for more planting, tending, and the slow return of native forest.

There is a place for you in this work! Come volunteer with KCWA and help restore Kula—one plant, one hillside, one morning together at a time. Sign up here: https://dash.pointapp.org/events/670471

Hope to see you Sunday at Pūlehunui Sanctuary!

08/21/2026

Maui County is asking residents and businesses affected by Hurricane Lala to file a damage report. Reports will help officials document and understand the extent of damage and identify needs.

08/18/2026

POST-STORM UPDATE FROM THE KULA FIRE BURN SCAR 🌿

Our hearts are with all communities across Hawaiʻi impacted by Hurricane Lala, especially Kaʻū. Many Upcountry Maui residents are still without water or power, and roads are continuing to be cleared for safe residential access.

There are hundreds of large trees and utility poles down, and crews from all sectors of our community have been working ‘round the clock. As always, we are grateful for the power of community-based mutual aid and rapid response. Please continue to kōkua: check in on one another, especially kūpuna.

Yesterday, our field crew completed an initial assessment of the KCWA nursery and baseyard at Pūlehunui Sanctuary, including recent plantings in our first large burn scar restoration management unit. Overall, we are lucky these sites held up well:

🌱 Nursery plants are all safe. Some wind damage and a few windblown koa, but no major breakage.

🌳 In our restoration areas, the winds broke several plants, including several larger koa and a large hibiscus. They were not fully uprooted, and we are assessing what can be saved.

🔧 We also inspected all fencelines across the site and found them intact except for one stretch that was hit by a fallen wattle tree.

🌊 Our team collected data from riparian areas and stream beds to better understand how water moved through the landscape during the storm. We’re seeing that plantings of ferns and ‘a’ali’i along the high water mark held up well in the stream flow, and all of our stabilization work on the slopes has held up and captured sediment (to be measured this week).

We are also continuing assessments across the entire Kula Fire burn scar to understand how these systems are responding to both fire and storm impacts, helping guide long-term restoration and resilience work.

Storms are both threats and teachers. What held, what failed, and what we learn now will shape how we care for this ʻāina moving forward.

If you can safely observe your surroundings, share your kilo below: What did the wind and water do where you are?

08/15/2026

**BEFORE THE STORM.**

These are some of the places KCWA will be watching closely as Tropical Storm Lala moves through Upcountry.

Our watershed is still in transition—from unmanaged invasive wattle infestation, to severely burned soil, to mulch blankets and soil treatments, log erosion barriers, wattle wattles, deer-proof fence, herd management, and now roughly 20 acres of young restoration plantings.

A major rain event gives us a chance to see what is working.

Where does water slow down and soak in? Where does it concentrate?
Where does soil move? What holds—and what needs more work?

Sure, storms are threats, but they are also teachers. For watershed restoration practitioners, events like this reveal things we simply cannot see on an average day.

Upcountry residents: please kilo (observe) with us! Prepare your homes and properties first, check in with your neighbors, and of course STAY SAFE, and observe from a safe location.

If you can, tell us in the comments what you’re noticing where you live: runoff, erosion, ponding, overflowing drains, new springs or seeps, sediment—or places where the land is holding water especially well.

📷 These photos are our **before-the-storm baseline.** We’ll be coming back to these same places afterward to see what the watershed teaches us.

08/15/2026

Fire-affected community members from Kula are so grateful for the opportunity to access Kaho’olawe, to learn histories from the caretakers of this singular place, and to contribute to its restoration with our voices, our hands, and our sweat. A true honor. Mahalo nui to everyone at Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Commission - KIRC for inviting us. 🙏🏽