Avery Indermaur
Sustainability Engagement Certificate ePortfolio
DukeEngage Kauai, HI
Overview
In summer 2019, I participated in DukeEngage Kauai. The program brought ten Duke students to four different placements on the island of Kauai for two months. Each placement was focused on doing ecological restoration work in the community, from working on local environmental policy to protecting native wildlife.
My placement at Limahuli National Tropical Botanical Garden and Preserve centered around re-establishing and protecting native vegetation on the north end of the island. Overall, my DukeEngage summer was one of the most fun, rewarding, beautiful, educational, and challenging experiences I have had while at Duke
Work at Limahuli
Limahuli is divided into two parts: the garden, which is open to tourists and contains carefully-maintained terraces and plots, and the preserve, which is closed to the public and is essentially a large forest with no trails.
While working in the garden, we were doing mainly basic maintenance work like weeding, planting, and mulching. We also got to learn and lead tours about Limahuli and their biocultural approach to conservation. Biocultural conservation sees conservation with the goal of not only preserving species for their ecological importance but for their cultural importance as well. This philosophy was at the core of Limahuli’s mission and was integrated into their educational programs to show visitors and locals why they must value the landscape.
Working in the garden with my friend Danielle and another intern, Jasper!
View of the garden from the entrance
In the preserve, our work primarily involved removing invasive species and replanting natives. We would hike back for 30 minutes to an hour into the preserve with all the tools, plants, food, and water we needed for the work that day and would usually stay for 6 or 7 hours. Removing invasive species is important, because these outsiders take resources away from native plants that are ecologically and culturally significant, eventually leading to extinction and biodiversity loss. The preserve days were some of my favorites, since we were completely surrounded by lush, pristine forest and were able to see the fruits of our labor after a long day’s work and really feel like we were making an impact on the health of the forest.
Working in the preserve with Danielle at a landslide site in the preserve
Going on a stream hike in the preserve with Danielle and Jasper looking for evidence of boulder movement from a recent flood
Another unexpected but eye-opening part of working at Limahuli was seeing first-hand the battle between tourism and sustainability on the island. Given that Kauai is such a beautiful place, it attracts many tourists each year that are important for the economy and livelihoods of those on the island. However, there is serious conflict between allowing outsiders access to the island and preserving it to make sure it is functioning as well as possible, since tourists are not always the best stewards of the land. I have noticed this theme of conflict before when dealing with issues of environmental health and sustainability, so it was very interesting to hear the opinions of my coworkers who were born and raised in Kauai on how to deal with this problem.
Some of the beautiful views that bring tourists to the Kauai
Visiting Other Placements
Outside of the work at our individual placements, we also got to visit other students’ placements for group workdays. My favorite other site was Waipa, a garden and farming operation. While working there, we go to see their use of sustainable agriculture techniques like intercropping, crop rotation, low-tillage farming, etc. and experience the difficulties of doing farm work. Working at Waipa provided an uplifting example of how sustainable agriculture can be put in practice to successfully provide healthy food in a community.
Rainbow over Waipa on a community workday
Connection to Sustainable Agriculture
Living and working in Kauai taught me a lot about environmental, economic, and social sustainability. At Limahuli and during our visits to other sites, caring for the land was always a top priority. We took made sure that our actions did as little environmental harm as possible and that our projects were designed to be harmonious with the workings of nature. At Limahuli and during workdays at Waipa, we got to practice techniques of sustainable farming and gardening, learning how to work with the land to return it as close to its natural state as possible.
I had never before and have never since been in a place where everyone treated the land so well. It seemed that everyone on the island understood how dependent we are on nature and respected its role in sustaining us. Nature is even part of their native faith, as it is commonly believed that every plant, rock, tree, and stream is embodied by a spirit. Seeing the way that native Hawaiians treat their land showed me the impact that attitude has on people's willingness to make sacrifices in their own lives for the sake of taking care of the earth.
Economically, many native Hawaiians rely on nature for their income, whether it is through farming, fishing, or eco-tourism. However, while many people are tempted to abuse nature to profit from it, the people of Kauai work with it. They use nature as a means of bringing home food for their families, but never compromise the health of the land they hold so sacred in the process.
Overall, DukeEngage Kauai showed me the power of developing a community and a culture around respecting and preserving the land. It enables the people on the island to sustain themselves while minimally impacting the environment, a lesson that many people on the mainland would benefit from learning.
