Who was that group working at Kamaole I on Wednesday morning and what were they doing? They were a group of AmeriCorps volunteers working with Community Work Day on a dune restoration project through the KCA. They were removing the roots of hau and sea grape trees that have grown up at Kamaole I over the years and have been invading out public beach. Yes Hau is a native tree but when left uncontrolled it will turn into a bush and will travel laterally into coastal areas ruining beach reserves. These bushes if left uncontrolled harden the shoreline creating a barrier to the normal ebb and flow of the sand dunes.

In a perfect world all of the sand dunes on our beaches are left available to storm surges and storms so that when they hit our shores the sand is taken to sea where it helps dampen the shore break and helps protect the parks and roadways mauka of the coastline. Once the storm passes- the sand returns and the dunes rebuild.

This AmeriCorps group is helping to return this natural balance to our Kamaole I dunes.

If you would like to work with the KCA and other volunteer groups to protect our south Maui dunes please contact www.southmauivolunteers.com for dates and times, or call Bob Richardson at 264-1798 for details.