Percentage of carbon dioxide sequestered by the various species of trees the Cornell program outplanted this spring. Note that one ohia tree sequestered more than 4 percent of the total carbon, and just five koa trees sequestered more than 20 percent of the total carbon. (Graph courtesy of The Kohala Center/Angelo Bardales)
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For the last six weeks of their semester in Hawaii, students in the Cornell Earth and Environmental Systems Field Program fanned out across the island to work as interns for various public and private entities.
The students got their hands dirty gathering and analyzing soil samples; studying the effects of sedimentation on nearshore coral reefs; helping visitors to master proper reef “etiquette” before snorkeling; surveying the succession of species which repopulate burned areas after a wildfire; studying the activity of the vent at Halemaumau since it opened last March; participating in the intensive process of caring for and training the 12 dolphins at Dolphin Quest Hawaii’s Waikoloa site; reviewing public comments on an EIS (environmental impact statement) for the largest open ocean aquaculture project ever proposed in the waters off Kawaihae; tracking legislation being voted on by the County Council; and carefully calculating their own carbon footprint by counting everything from their propane usage to the volume of local foods they consumed during their five months on the island.
As the students depart for home, they leave a legacy of good will and good work behind them. In addition to planting more than 300 trees, shrubs and other native plants in the forests of Kohala and Kona, the students developed new display boards for the ReefTeach program, compiled data on soil fertility for Hawaii Preparatory Academy’s Go Green initiative, and gathered valuable baseline data for use by local organizations that are working to preserve Hawaii’s watersheds, coral reefs, and dryland forests.
At the end of the day, the students’ outplanting efforts sequestered four times as much carbon as they emitted in the course of their program.
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