2012 Annual Report - Kona Soil and Water Conservation District

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Puna SCWD Outstanding Farmer Cooperator of the Year Eva Lee The Puna Soil and Water Conservation District is pleased to announce the selection of Eva Lee of Tea Hawaii Company as the recipient of the “Puna SWCD Outstanding Farmer Cooperator of the Year” award for 2012. Tea Hawaii Company is a family farm that consists of Eva and her husband, Chew. Their farm is located in Upper Puna in the Volcano Village. She has been a cooperator since 2010. She has worked with Soil Conservationist Bobette Parson, Soil Conservationist Amelia Drury, Soil Conservationist Technician Lester Suehiro, and District Conservationist Jessica Newpher to address her resource concerns of plant health, plant productivity, plant vigor, noxious weeds, T&E species, and habitat fragmentation. Eva was selected by the Puna SWCD as “Outstanding Farmer Cooperator of the Year” for her hard work and dedication to conservation which is evident on her farm. Eva has converted a native forest with kahili ginger and waiawi noxious weeds to a highly productive 4.7 acre tea plant farm and native forest. The conservation practices she has implemented are access control fence, forest slash treatment, tree/shrub establishment, and forest stand improvement. Access control fence consist of installing a woven wire fence to exclude feral pigs to protect the native forest. Forest slash treatment & forest Stand Improvement consists of mechanically removing kahili ginger and waiawi to improve the forest. Tree/shrub establishment consist of planting native trees & scrubs that are from the area to improve diversity of the forest. The photos above show Eva Lee’s tea farm before conservaon planning. The above photos show Eva Lee’s tea farm aer implemenng her plan. 28
Puna SCWD Outstanding Rancher Cooperator of the Year Roddy Nagata Roddy has been a cooperator of the Puna Soil and Water Conservation District since 1997. He started his irst 50 acres of cattle grazing the following year on a property he purchased on South Lauko Road in Mountain View. When developing this property that was former Puna Sugar Co. land Roddy was faced with the typical Puna weedy pasture situation with remnant Sugar Cane. He cleared about half of the area of noxious weeds, and planted Pangola grass by sprigs. After establishment, he moved on to the next section. Roddy then put in the hardware necessary to establish a 7 paddock rotational grazing system. This included Fence, Pipeline, and Troughs. In 2004 Roddy, in partnership with his son Spencer, and our very own Loren Mochida along with others leased 624 acres of Umikoa Ranch in O’okala which they call Ka’ala Ranch. There, Roddy and his partners battled Waiawi, Guava, and Faya Tree. Equipped with chain saws, machetes, and back pack sprayers, the partnership spent most weekends in battle with these proliic weeds under the ‘Ohia and Koa understory. After weed management, they sprigged Pangola and Kikuyu grass as well as installed necessary hardware to create 7 paddocks for a rotational grazing system. In 2006 Roddy acquired another lease parcel close to his 50 acre ranch in Mt. View. This 27 acre parcel, referred to as Sato ranch was developed into a 3 paddock rotational grazing system with the same management approach as the irst parcel. Most recently, in 2011 Roddy acquired another lease parcel off of South Kopua Road. Here he manages 86 acres, split up into 8 paddocks. This ranch has been named Pukalani Ranch due to the large “puka” or lava tube in the middle of the property. In all, Roddy has completed 287 acres of Brush Management and 39 ac. of Herbaceous Weed Control to manage Noxious Weeds on his 4 ranches. He has installed 39,ooo ft., which is over 7 miles of Fence. Hand planted sprigs on 385 acres of Pasture Planting, and installed Livestock Watering System for his cattle which includes 1,600 ft. of Pipeline, 2 Water Harvesting Catchment Sheds, 2 Tanks and 9 Troughs. His Cow/Calf operations are managed by Above: Puna’s Rancher Cooperator of the Year, Randy Nagata forage grazing heights, modest stocking rates, and weather evaluation for implementation of Prescribed Grazing on 785 acres. 29
Page 1 and 2: Hawaii Island Soil and Water Conser
Page 4 and 5: April 23, 2013 Dear SWCD Partners,
Page 6 and 7: Biological Control of Madagascar fi
Page 8 and 9: Kona SWCD Message from the Chairper
Page 10 and 11: Top photos: The Ohia Forest Farm wi
Page 12: Kona County Farm Bureau Supports So
Page 15 and 16: Mauna Kea Soil & Water Conservaon D
Page 17 and 18: The Mauna Kea Soil and Water Conser
Page 19 and 20: Hamakua SWCD Cooperator Strives For
Page 21 and 22: Ka’u Soil and Water Conservaon Di
Page 23 and 24: Picture #2: What the cropland looke
Page 25 and 26: Waiakea Soil and Water Conservaon D
Page 27: Puna Soil and Water Conservaon Dist
Page 31 and 32: Notes Page 31

2012 Annual Report - Kona Soil and Water Conservation District

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