As we are all aware, water is a major issue on Lani and the current drought has only exacerbated the situation. While we cannot do anything about the lack of rain, we can do something about the health of the Lana'ihale which is the key to replenishing the aquifer. After working with Christine Costales and her team from the Maui Nui Seabird Recovery Project last March to help clear invasive species from the Hale, the magnitude of the problem was brought home to many of us that day. As a result, we told Christine that we would like to continue support their work. Because of this expressed interest, Christine came to us in July to ask for help on a matter of urgency.

Apparently the Maui Nui Seabird Recovery Project had just received their long-awaited new chipper, but there was a problem. The chipper did not have a winch which is essential to their operations. In order to get a winch, the machine would have to be sent back to Honolulu and an entirely new machine with a winch would have to be shipped over to Lanai. If the project was able to provide the additional $6,500 needed to purchase the machine with a winch, the supplier would bear the cost of shipping, but they needed to have an answer within a week. Having no funds available to cover the added cost of the chipper, Christine turned to us.

On July 29th the Clemens and the Greens sent out the request to Island Club Members for donations to purchase the winch and within about 36 hours we had commitments totaling $6,500 and the pledges kept coming. In the end, twenty-three Island Club members have donated a total of $12,800. We were overwhelmed with the response. The excess funds have been earmarked to support continuing efforts to clear the Lana'ihale of invasive species and re-establish native plants. In the meantime, there has been another significant development. Jay, who heads up the Maui Nui Seabird Recovery Project for the University of Hawaii, recently approached us about committing to provide 534 volunteer hours of work on the Hale over the course of 2011. He wanted to use this commitment to meet the requirements to apply for a $100,000 grant from The National Fish and Wildlive Foundation. After talking with a number of Island Club Members, we told him that we feel that we can meet this commitment.

So, if you are interested in participating, please let us know. We will let you know when we are scheduled to work and you can join in as many times as you wish. We are also hoping that Jay Penniman will be able to come to Lanai sometime over the holidays to give a presentation on the Hale project and answer any questions you might have. He would also like to take any interested people on a field trip to see what they are doing. Once this is scheduled, we will be sure to let you know. Hopefully, we will be able to find a time when the majority of you are on the island. As you can see, there's a lot going on and we want to once again thank you for your generous support and interest in this important project.