Traditional Taro and Fish Farming Project
Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund’s Traditional Taro and Fish Farming Project brings volunteers into Maui’s mountain rain forest to learn about traditional taro and fish farming practices from Uncle Oliver Dukelow. The volunteers visit Uncle Oliver and Auntie Valerie Dukelow’s remote and “off the grid” farm where they practice traditional and contemporary management and land-use practices rooted in Hawaiian values.
The project was launched with the help of the Bierer family and friends in honor of their late son, Nicholas. The program, formally titled “Kahakuloa Valley Ahupua’a Restoration: Farming Taro and Farming Fish to Sustain Island Communities“, was blessed and launched in the valley with a celebration of Nick’s life: Ka Halia Aloha, Nick.
HWF also received $30,000 in funding for this project over the course of 3 years from the National Marine Fisheries Service Pacific Islands Region Marine Education and Training Mini Grant Program. It is now sustainably supported by a partnership with Bluecology, who work with HWF to provide an opportunity for students from 4th grade through college to travel to Kahakuloa Valley to work and learn.
