Mauna Kea Oral History Appendix - Office of Mauna Kea Management

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Right there, okay. How many nënë were there in 1955 when you went
[thinking] I had all those records… Anyway, I went down there you see. The first few
months, a year there we just have, “okay you go feed the nënë,” maybe only about an
hour and a half. Then you get in your car, you go out in the field and work.
What were you doing in the field
That’s the kind of study they have. Woodside would tell me, “Come here,” we go through
a map in the morning, okay, like you have here now you know. “I want you to go from
here to over there.”
Was that fence line work or was it out in the field
No, no outside.
Okay.
More census stuff, wildlife in there.
Okay, what you see, you marking down what you were seeing
Put down yeah. Sheep, goats, wild pigs, and the game birds, you put that down.
Yes. Because they’ve already been bringing in the game birds like that
Yes, that’s right, and more or less you go by elevation.
So, you would start like Pöhakuloa and then go up the mountain
Yes. Today you go up there, then you go this way, then you, in the spring months you go
up there for check on breeding. See how many nests you can find.
Yes, yes.
And then in another month and a half or so, you go over the same area and you take
census of hatched, young birds. But the nënë had to be done the first hour and a half in
the morning before I take the car and go out see. When you go up there, then you have
to walk. Usually about eight miles one way, you leave your car.
Did you go around… [pointing out locations on map] this is Pöhakuloa, here’s Kalai‘eha,
Humu‘ula Sheep Station. So you would go along the old…
Yes. If they want that over there. A lot of them is on Mauna Kea. You go up to about say
Pu‘u Lä‘au is…
Yes, here’s Pu‘u Lä‘au right here [looking at map].
I think about 7,000, maybe.
Okay, so you would go up to Pu‘u Lä‘au and then you would walk that elevation
Yes, I walked the elevation, you go down, you can more or less tell. The old map they get
the contour, where rough and where smooth. You study that, when you go down there
you study, you know more what the trees look like. Maybe next time you go down, you go
up 2,000 feet or 1,500 feet you go again.
Yes, yes.
The only problem is in the fog. When you’re in the fog, you don’t know where you’re
going.
[chuckling]
You more or less, like I said, when you go down you watch, you see the kind trees, you
go down and you go ‘cause you have to come back to where the car is.
Mauna Kea– “Ka Piko Kaulana o ka ‘Äina”
Kumu Pono Associates LLC
A Collection of Oral History Interviews (HiMK67-050606) A:403