Kaua‘i community groups, old and new, throw Earth Day party at Anahola Beach Park

A slew of Kaua‘i community groups gathered at Anahola Beach Park on Monday, to celebrate Earth Day with a coastline cleanup, raffle, food, live music and more.

“We reside on this beautiful island. It’s important, I think, to help pick up the trash and do our part to keep it clean,” said Leah Klasovsky, one of many attendees who donned a pair of gloves before combing the beach for litter ranging from the very small – microplastics – to the very large: Automobile tires and driftwood brought ashore by recent floods.

Barbara Wiedner, an executive committee member of the nationwide Surfrider Foundation’s Kaua‘i Chapter and an organizer of the Earth Day Beach Cleanup Party, noted Monday’s event marked 18 years since Surfrider held its first cleanups on the Garden Isle.

“We grew enormously [since then],” Wiedner said. “We started with monthly beach cleanups, education tables and booths … Our water testing came about a year later.”

Today, Wiedner’s nonprofit is a major player in local ocean conservation. Surfrider Kaua‘i now helms a litany of additional programs like an annual marine debris art show, research studies, “Ocean Friendly” initiatives and more. The group also engages in environmental litigation.

However, Wiedner credited another, newly-formed organization with getting Monday’s Earth Day bash off the ground: The Mens Empowerment Gathering Alliance, a small group of East Side men who meet weekly and share an interest in contributing to community betterment projects.

“There’s not a lot of space for men to share what they’re going through and to have that support. Now we’ve got a place for that and it’s been a really powerful thing for us,” said MEGA founder Hunter Gentry. “Everything lined up really well, with Barbara having an opening for somebody to lead Earth Day … We were up for the challenge.

“It actually ended up being really easy. Everybody really flowed together,” Gentry continued. “Lots of people are here supporting. It’s not just any one person. It’s all of us coming together and that’s the most important thing to recognize here.”

Other groups present Monday included Mālama Waters; Mālama i nā Honu; Reef Guardians, the nonprofit responsible for discovering non-native coral species planted at ‘Anini Beach; the Ko‘olau Limu Project; World Team Now; and the Kaua‘i Humane Society, among others.

Kapule Torio, a local steward and educator for Hawai‘i Land Trust, brought cuttings of native plants to the Earth Day party. He invited attendees to help him pot the flora, which – when grown – will be outplanted at HILT’s Kāhili Beach Preserve (nicknamed Rock Quarry) on the North Shore of Kaua‘i.

Torio discussed the importance of Indigenous perspectives in conservation efforts while setting up his display.

“Surfrider has a pretty big following, primarily made up of non-Hawaiians or really new people that have just come here,” he said, praising activists like Wiedner. “I see HILT as part of a partnership, in being able to bring some balance to that. Bringing some native Indigenous knowledge and ʻike (knowledge; instruction; understanding) to a greater community – that’s needed.”

Elsewhere, Jeremy Makepa – a Kaua‘i Fire Department captain and founder of the nonprofit ‘Āina Alliance – helped volunteers collect driftwood for transportation to a wood chipper. The resulting mulch will be used to create gardening beds for local kūpuna, one of multiple ‘Āina Alliance projects in the works.

Makepa created his Anahola organization in 2021 following a spate of wildfires throughout the area caused by recreational and homeless campers, arson and chronic illegal dumping. He and his team worked to mitigate future incidents by creating access and egress paths for firefighters, constructing firebreaks and removing flammable debris and invasive plant species.

Since then, the ‘Āina Alliance has expanded beyond wildfire prevention to include other initiatives. It will soon host a series of Hawaiian cultural classes, thanks to an Office of Hawaiian Affairs grant.

“Through a partnership with Hawaiian Home Lands, we actually take care of about 400 acres of land … About three miles of coastline and everything in between,” Makepa said. “Anahola is the largest area of Native Hawaiians on Kaua‘i.

“We’re trying to do what we can in the community to help out,” Makepa continued. “And it’s been working, through partnerships with groups like Surfrider.”