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Emergency effort
aims to save Waimea
Valley’s rare plants

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By Harold Morse
Star-Bulletin

A call for volunteers to help care for threatened plants in Waimea Valley's 1,875 acres went out last night.

Of more than 6,000 kinds of plants documented in Waimea, hundreds have been lost forever in just the past four years, said Scott Foster, communications director for Stewards of Waimea Valley.

"They desperately need trimming, weeding and nourishing or else they, too, will be lost," he told about 120 people at a meeting called by City Councilwoman Rene Mansho at the valley's Pikake Pavilion to organize a Waimea Valley Park Advisory Committee.

Foster's group is forming an emergency community action team to help save the collection, he said.

"We must mount a Herculean effort to save as much as we can, and we must act very quickly," he said. "Those interested are encouraged to sign up tonight."

David Orr, director of the Waimea Arboretum Botanical Garden, said the plants are suffering.

"Thank God, we got this rain," he said. "We are in a crisis situation. A lot of what needs to be done here is professional work."

Mansho said the city Parks Department just had about 200 new positions funded and may be able to help.

The committee hopes it can develop a master plan for the park and provide guidance for operation and maintenance.

Orr and Heidi Bornhorst, director of the city botanical gardens, are co-chairs of a botanical subcommittee; kupuna Betty Jenkins heads a cultural subcommittee; and Manuel Menendez, executive director of the city Office of Economic Development, is chairman of a development subcommittee.

The new advisory group is seeking a workable plan, Mansho said.

The property owner is considering sale of the valley, which has a $5.1 million assessed value, she said. The city is considering acquiring the valley and continuing the recreational, educational and botanical activities. Private investment is also being considered.

"Why would you spend the taxpayers' dollars if you can achieve the same goal with some private (funding)?"

Some oppose the idea of a theme park or adventure park.

"We don't want any more thrill rides in here," Foster said.

Mansho assured the audience the city is not seeking such activity.