Volunteers planting trees at Hakalau Forest NWR

A weekend volunteer program, which began in the late 1980s, continues to expand vital habitat for forest birds, addressing this challenging task. People from all walks of life gather koa seeds, nurture seedlings in the greenhouse and then restore the native forest by planting koa, māmane, and ‘ōhi’a lehua trees in mauka to makai (mountain-to-sea) corridors that were three trees wide, spaced 12 feet apart.