Fleming Arboretum to expand efforts with grant

ULUPALAKUA – With the assistance of a state-federal forestry grant, the Friends of D.T. Fleming Arboretum will expand its efforts to restore native Hawaiian plants and will offer a series of workshops on planting native species.

The friends received a $7,877 grant from Kaulunani, an urban forestry program of the state Division of Forestry and Wildlife and the U.S. Forest Service.

The grant will support two arboretum programs:

” Acquiring and planting more native tree species in the arboretum on the southern slope of Puu Mahoe cinder cone on Haleakala.

” Upgrading irrigation and labeling the Hawaiian plants.

The arboretum also will offer free instruction on how to plant and care for native Hawaiian plants. Arborist Tai Kanoa Domen will teach every Tuesday in June and July from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. A certified arborist and owner of Alihilani Arborcare LLC, Kanoa Domen follows standards of the International Society of Arboriculture and the American National Standards Institute, according to the friends announcement.

To sign up for the classes and to arrange entry to the arboretum, call 572-1097.

The arboretum was founded in the 1950s by Maui agricultural and horticultural pioneer D.T. Fleming to help save Maui’s endemic trees. Seeing the loss of native dryland forests from cattle and drought, Fleming set up the arboretum on a site at the edge of Auwahi forest at 2,600 feet.

The arboretum provides protection to about 245 trees and 92 native species, of which 19 are listed as endangered Hawaiian tree species. It includes the last seed-producing alani, Melicope knudsenii, which is being restored to the Auwahi area.

FOFA was formed in 2002 to support the arboretum’s work, preserve native plants, educate the public about the role of native plants in Hawaii’s environment and offer classes, workshops and tours.

For more information about the D.T. Fleming Arboretum, visit ww.flemingarboretum.org.