Baron Horiuchi and His Merry Band Of Volunteers - Ohana, Energy, Laulima

A little over a quarter century ago, this Hilo native, like many of his contemporaries, migrated into construction after high school. In relatively short order, the resulting toll on his body left him in a sling for a year with all manner of ailments. Realizing that this path might be rather short and uncomfortably limited, he decided to expand his horizon at UH Hilo.

Serendipity and a flier in an ag orientation class which touted plant quarantine jobs seemed like a good option. But a chance discussion with Department Head Dr. Michael Tanabe, guided his path toward horticulture. He later realized, as many people later in life do, that their future was made possible by chance or special teachers. In Baron’s case, professors Michael Tanabe and Bill Sakai became his mentors. And, as if by magic, perhaps true magic, a diploma appeared just in time to cause Hakalau’s Manager Dick Wass and Biologist Jack Jeffrey to literally pull Baron Horiuchi’s job application out of the waste basket. And the rest has been history.

Refuge Manager, Dick Wass, a man of few, but well chosen words, as Baron received accolades and awards that then and now continue to embarrass him, confided to Baron: “You may not know this, but you were NOT my first choice….. But you have turned out to be better than anyone else could possibly have been.”

What exactly was Baron’s assignment 25 years ago? He was hired initially on a two year part time contract by RCUH. At that time the Refuge was gamely attempting to plant koa seedlings from a Waimea nursery with help from Oahu and Big Island Sierra Club and Outdoor Circle volunteers, in nice little lines in old cattle pastures, very much a trial with lots of learning opportunities (see last newsletter about the frost guards).

So now that Baron was propagating non-koa native seedlings, someone needed to PLANT these seedlings before they became root bound. But as with most organizations, when pressed to assign work and responsibility, tasks flow down hill, especially to those whose kuleana is not well known or understood by the assigners. Hakalau Forest’s successes to date had been, in no small part been due to volunteer planters— but someone needed to be responsible for these volunteers. Because the volunteers were primarily to “plant”, the “plant guy” seemed the natural choice, so Baron’s work week was changed to Friday through Monday to accommodate the volunteers. Weekend after weekend for years on end, Baron found himself spending his weekends with the volunteers on the mountain at 6,000 ft elevation, at least an hour’s 4-wheel drive from Hilo and hours away from his family’s weekend activities.

Why? Because they were part of Baron’s Ohana. Over the years many others also showed up and pitched in. Refuge meet the Community! Community Meet the Refuge! Parents showed up and were led around by their children who knew and loved the Refuge. You’ve heard of Kids At Risk- these children were delivered to Hakalau Forest as part of their program and taught by Baron how important the native forest at Hakalau is “to make the birds happy”. (These kids also came up with the idea for the laulima sign.) Some day, post ROD and COVID, we may again all meet at a Refuge Open House.

Volunteers over the years came in many sizes, shapes and backgrounds from all over the state and even the mainland. One of the groups that came every year was The Wilderness Women from the mainland who said that volunteering at Hakalau was their favorite volunteer activity of the many that they were involved with all over the US. One local volunteer from a different volunteer group was even found playing the violin for the greenhouse plants in the early morning to make them happy

Mahalo nui loa to the collaborative effort started so many years ago by Dick, Jack, Jim and Baron, sowing the “seeds” of the know how and know what and know when to accomplish this transformation allowing our native birds to migrate with the seasons and the accompanying bloom and fruiting. As a result, today Hakalau Forest is the only place where the native Hawaiian birds have stabilized and may be even expanding .

Photo Credits - Jaime Tanino, Dick Wass, Rob Schallenberger, Pauline Kawamata, Ken Kupchak

The territorial foresters of the early 20^th century set out to protect Hawaii’s watersheds by planting trees. Contrary to popular opinion, they did plant hundreds of thousands of native trees, including over a million koa. Almost none of these koa can be found today, though, having been destroyed by cattle, wildfires, weeds, or even frost. The foresters then turned to hardier species such as eucalyptus, silk oak, and ironwood.

When the Refuge established at Hakalau the mangers knew that the first order of business was to get rid of the remaining cattle and fence the Refuge off from the wild cattle still on the mountain. Only then could the real business of reforesting begin. Refuge Manager Dick Wass hired Baron Horiuchi, a new horticulture graduate from UH Hilo, and the rest is history. Under Baron’s leadership, the Refuge nursery produced hundreds of thousands of koa seedlings and later thousands of other seedlings of other tree and plants important for the birds on the refuge: ‘ōhia, ‘ōlapa, ‘ākala, and many others. Baron not only grew the trees everyone already knew how to grow; he also figured out how to grow many rare and endangered plants such as the Clermontia lindseyana and Cyanea shipmanii. Today Hakalau is the largest native reforestation project in Hawai‘i. The job would not have been done, though, without the hundreds of volunteers who outplanted all the seedlings. It turned out that Baron not only had a green thumb, he had a way with people and has mentored hundreds in his more than 25 years at the Refuge. We wish him a happy retirement and happiness in his legacy of a thriving forest at Hakalau.  

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