Island of Hawaiʻi Visitors Bureau Media Contact:
Cheyenne Maltezo, (808) 539-3409, [email protected] 

Island of Hawaiʻi (April 22, 2021) – You’ve likely heard of Mālama Hawaiʻi, an initiative to inspire mindful travel to the Hawaiian Islands. One where industry partners and volunteer organizations across the state joined forces in encouraging visitors to help perpetuate and even regenerate the natural beauty and unique culture of our communities. Volunteers experience some of Hawaiʻi’s most unique locations while gaining a more enriching appreciation of our island values working side-by-side with residents and other volunteers. Opportunities range from reforestation to fishpond restoration, ocean reef preservation to creating quilts for the kūpuna (elders). For a convenient statewide list of these opportunities and special offers from participating hotels, visit www.gohawaii.com/malama. Residents are also encouraged to join in on any of the many volunteer opportunities.

Mālama Hawaiʻi on Hawaiʻi Island
Understanding the need to preserve nature’s resources, visitors are not only increasingly opting to explore the island of Hawaiʻi with an environmental conscience, but also going the extra mile to seek volunteer work opportunities positively impacting the island’s well-being. And there are multiple opportunities for everyone to pay it environmentally forward while enjoying the island’s boundless natural wonder. If you’re looking to do some good and leave some good on your next trip, the experiences listed here offer ample opportunities to mālama (take care of) the island of Hawaiʻi.

Listen to the moʻolelo (stories) of Hualālai volcano on the Hualālai Crater Experience with Uluhao o Hualālai. Led by guide Kimo Duarte, whose family has been stewards of the 8,271-foot mountain since the 1950s, guests on the five-hour tour will traverse the volcano’s Native Hawaiian koa and ʻōhiʻa forests listening to the sounds of native birds, such as the ʻapapane, ‘ākepa, ʻiʻiwi and palila. They’ll also visit the Duarte family’s cabin, built in the 1950s, and hike two miles around Hualālai’s summit craters. At tour’s end, guests partake in the ultimate giveback: planting a koa sapling to help Hualālai’s reforestation. For more information, visit uluhaʻo.com/">www.uluhaʻo.com.

Mālama Hawaiʻi Offer: Receive your 5^th night free when booking the Mālama Hawaiʻi package at Sheraton Kona Resort & Spa at Keauhou Bay or Courtyard King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel, and participating in this volunteer activity. For more information, visit hotel-deals.marriott.com/malama-hawaii. 

In its goal of restoring the native forests that once dominated the 2,000- to 6,000-foot elevations of Hawaiʻi’s tallest mountain Maunakea, the state-government-sponsored Mauna Kea Forest Restoration Project brings together volunteer groups and individuals to hand-plant acres of māmane, koa, ʻiliahi and ʻaʻaliʻi seedling trees. Its efforts are also aimed at bringing back endemic Hawaiʻi birdlife – especially the palila (Hawaiian honey creeper) – to these newly created mountain forests. For more information, visit Hawaiʻi.gov/restoremaunakea/">www.dlnr.Hawaiʻi.gov/restoremaunakea.

Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, the largest national park on the island of Hawaiʻi, welcomes volunteers to participate in stewardship work within the scenic summit landscapes of Kīlauea volcano and the Hawaiian forest Kipukapuaulu, a biologically diverse oasis home to more native tree species than any of the park’s forests. The park’s Stewardship at the Summit work includes clearing out invasive species that keep native and understory plants from thriving. A bonus? Working the forest with a serenade of native ʻapapane and omao bird songs accompanying you. For more information, visit www.nps.gov/havo/planyourvisit/summit_stewardship.htm.

Mauna Kea Resort is inspiring mindful travel and encouraging guests to leave the island of Hawaiʻi better than when they arrived with a new offer, available at the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel and The Westin Hāpuna Beach Resort. Participating guests are invited to join a daily morning ē ala ē (“get awake”) ritual on The Westin Hāpuna’s beach lawn to greet the sunrise, hear a Hawaiian ʻoli (chant) and find peace within. They can then join others in walking the beach to remove trash and take it to the resort’s beach services desk for discarding. For more information, visit www.hotel-deals.marriott.com/malama-hawaii. 

Mālama Hawaiʻi Offer: 20 percent off each property’s best available rates. Promotion Code: ZZ1

Castle Resorts & Hotels invites travelers to take a vacation that gives back. Help promote the health and productivity of Hawaiʻi’s forests and earn one free night when you sign up to volunteer with Hawaiʻi Forest Institute. Participating properties include Halii Kai at Waikoloa Resort, Hilo Hawaiian, Kanaloa at Kona by Castle, Kona Reef Resort and Waimea Country Lodge. Booking is available through November 30, 2021 for stays through December 20, 2021. For more information or to book, visit www.castleresorts.com/special-offers/malama-hawaii.

Mālama Hawaiʻi Offer: 3^rd or 5^th night free, depending on property booked

Puakea Ranch offers individual guest cottages, wide-open spaces to roam, friendly animals to visit, and complimentary fresh fruits and vegetables available from its garden. Situated near some of the world’s most spectacular beaches as well as the North Kohala town of Hāwī, Puakea Ranch is committed to sustainable practices for the benefit of conscious travelers and in support of its surrounding community. Guests are invited to volunteer to plant native trees on the Ranch and surrounding lands every Saturday in partnership with Terraformation, a local company that is working to reduce carbon by reforesting native trees all over the planet. For more information, visit www.puakearanch.com.

Mālama Hawaiʻi Offer: 7^th night free

Stay at the Fairmont Orchid and volunteer during your visit to the island of Hawaiʻi and you’ll earn a free night’s stay at the resort. Guests can connect with the resort’s partners Waikoloa Dry Forest Initiative, Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund and Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative to participate in meaningful voluntourism activities or simply do a self-directed beach clean-up at their leisure to get their free fourth night. For more information, visit www.fairmont.com/orchid-hawaii/offers/fourth-night-free-with-breakfast.
 
Mālama Hawaiʻi Offer: 4^th night free with daily breakfast for two

Mauna Lani, Auberge Resorts Collection’s Mālama Honu program creates guest awareness of the endangered Hawaiian green sea turtle through education and conservation practices. In partnership with O‘ahu-based marine and wildlife center Sea Life Park, captive-reared hatchlings are sent to Mauna Lani to be cared for in the hotel’s saltwater ponds. In two to three years, they grow to appropriate-enough size for release into the wild. During the honu’s stay at Mauna Lani, guests from around the world learn much about the species, which aids its survival. For 30 years, Mālama Honu has celebrated the release of its turtles every Fourth of July, a tradition also known as Turtle Independence Day. For more information, visit www.aubergeresorts.com/maunalani.

To be mindful while exploring nature in the Puna District’s Volcano area on the island of Hawaiʻi is to listen to bird songs, take in the changing light as it filters through trees or around mountains, and pick up scents from the forest’s plants and wildflowers. Adjacent to Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, find unique lodging options in Volcano Village’s quiet, lush rainforests and gardens, including everything from a boutique hotel to bed-and-breakfasts and vacation rentals. Experience Volcano Hawaiʻi, a Volcano Village-based community group, recommends seeking volunteer work with the area’s Volcano Art Center helping remove invasive species from a native-plant trail behind the center’s Niaulani Campus. The group can also assist with visitor sign-ups for volunteer stewardship projects at Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park once programs resume. For more information, visit www.experiencevolcano.com.

Social distancing doesn’t mean lost connection. Shaka Guide offers five GPS audio driving tours of the island of Hawaiʻi on its mobile app. Each provides a guided-tour experience users can enjoy in the comfort of a car while driving. On their journey, travelers listen to stories and music giving them a deeper understanding of the island as they become more mindful of its culture, respectful of the ʻāina (land), and immersed in the experience. Through GPS-triggered audio narration, the tour offers users advice on being a responsible traveler as they explore the island. For more information, visit www.shakaguide.com/islands/2/big-island/tours.

Founded and originally nurtured by noted Hawaiʻi botanist Amy Greenwell, the 15-acre Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden is a legacy of her dedication to Hawaiian botany, archaeology and culture. Home to more than 200 species of endemic, indigenous and Polynesian-introduced Hawaiʻi flora, the garden welcomes volunteers for workdays spent caring for plants and pulling invasive weeds. Volunteers also get to tour the garden and pick up knowledge of its rich flora and Hawaiian ethnobotany. For more information, visit www.amygreenwell.garden/get-involved/volunteer.

The nonprofit Edith Kanakaʻole Foundation invites volunteers to participate in its monthly community workdays at Haleolono fishpond just outside of Hilo. In addition to helping with the gritty work of restoring and repairing Haleolono’s lava rock sea wall, participants learn about Hawaiian aquaculture traditions, including traditional fish farming, and the fish and seaweed propagation still practiced at the site. The foundation also caretakes a number of other critical island cultural sites. For more information, visit www.edithkanakaolefoundation.org/sites.php - HaleOLono.

The Puna district’s Keau‘ohana Forest Reserve is home to one of the largest and most intact lowland (from sea level to 1,000-foot elevation) rainforests in Hawaiʻi. Since 2014, the Hawaiʻi Environmental Restoration project has relied on volunteers to control invasive plant species in the forest, restore native flora, create trails and post educational signage about restored species. You can volunteer on quarterly or weekly workdays, or schedule a private workday for your group. For more information, visit www.hawaiienvironmentalrestoration.org/volunteer-sign-up.

Fairmont Orchid invites guests to care for the ʻāina (land) as the ʻāina cares for us with the launching of its complimentary weekly Aloha ʻāina garden tour. Guests on the tour are introduced to the resort’s chef’s garden, botanicals collection and four on-site beehives, whose buzzing occupants produce raw, white, monofloral kiawe honey, one of the world’s rarest varieties. The special tour features an in-depth exploration of several tropical plant species and is led by Fairmont Orchid’s director of Hawaiian culture Kaʻiulani Blankenfeld who shares Hawaiian legends and stories behind pollinator-friendly plants such as the native naupaka. Tour guests also learn about becoming good stewards of the land by participating in the tending of property trees, including the ʻulu (breadfruit), and plants, such as the tī, which grow abundantly in the chef’s garden. For more information, visit www.fairmont.com/orchid-hawaii.

In honor of its 30^th anniversary, Fairmont Orchid is celebrating three decades of aloha with its new 30^th Anniversary Package. Book a three-night stay and you’ll enjoy your fourth night free and receive a $300 dining credit per stay. Plus, $30 from every stay benefits the nonprofit Waikoloa Dry Forest Initiative, which works to protect, promote and restore the native Hawaiian dry forest. Fairmont Orchid has planted 30 wiliwili trees in the Waikoloa Dry Forest in honor of the resort’s 30^th anniversary and is excited to invite guests to join in its efforts to restore and preserve the forest for future generations. For more information, visit www.fairmont.com/orchid-hawaii. 

Being stewards of the land and sea at Four Seasons Resort Hualālai is taken to heart with their Marine Life department. They maintain the eight ponds and marine resources of the resort and have developed unique programs for guests and residents to learn about and interact with Hawaiʻi’s fascinating wildlife and ecosystems. At Kumu Kai Marine Center, director of natural resources David Chai and his team offer a plethora of programming and experiences that educate guests on marine preservation and ocean health such as the Behind the Scenes Pond Tour which takes a closer look at how the resort operates their saltwater systems and maintain the health of their fish. For more information, visit www.fourseasons.com/hualalai.  

A part of a series of exclusive "Only at Hualālai" experiences curated specifically for guests and club members at Four Seasons Resort Hualālai, the Iliahi (Sandalwood) Farm and Spa Experience takes guests on a spiritual journey to a Native Hawaiian ʻiliahi farm followed by a sound bath and health spa treatment. This experience allows guests to further explore the natural healing properties of the native plants and flowers Hawaiians used as medicine decades ago. Iliahi is a native tree to Hawaiʻi with anti-viral, mental clarity and anti-inflammatory properties, and has long been over-harvested in the islands. Four Seasons Resort Hualālai elected to partner with Haloa ʻāina, an organic and sustainable sandalwood farm, for its dedication to restoring the native forests and environmentally and culturally responsible reforestation plan. For more information visit www.press.fourseasons.com/hualalai/hotel-news/2019/iliahi-farm-and-spa-experience. 

Four Seasons Resort Hualālai has partnered with Hawaiian Legacy Hardwoods to offer a custom tree planting experience. Guests can participate in a curated experience where they’ll visit the Hawaiian Legacy Hardwoods farm, learn about sustainability efforts and plant a dedicated tree. For more information, visit www.fourseasons.com/hualalai. 

The Hawaiian Dictionary (Pukui/Elbert) defines mālama as: 1. To take care of, tend, attend, care for, preserve, protect, beware, save, maintain; to keep or observe, as a taboo; to conduct, as a service; to serve, honor, as God; care, preservation, support, fidelity, loyalty; custodian, caretaker, keeper. In many cultures, values are often reciprocal. In Hawaiʻi, the concept of mālama is no different, ē.g. if humankind takes care of nature, nature will, in turn, take care of humankind. 

I ke kānaka no ʻoe ke mālama i ke kānaka.
You will be well-served when you care for the person who serves you.
‘Ōlelo Noʻeau, Hawaiian Proverbs and Poetical Sayings, Pukui (#1185)

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About the Island of Hawaiʻi Visitors Bureau
The Island of Hawaiʻi Visitors Bureau is an Island Chapter of the Hawaiʻi Visitors and Convention Bureau (HVCB). HVCB is contracted by the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority (HTA) for marketing management services in the continental U.S. The Island of Hawaiʻi Visitors Bureau also supports HTA's international marketing partners in Canada, Japan, South Korea, and Oceania. The state of Hawaiʻi’s tourism agency, HTA was established in 1998 to ensure a successful visitor industry well into the future. Its mission is to strategically manage Hawaiʻi tourism in a sustainable manner consistent with the state of Hawaiʻi's cultural values, preservation of natural resources, community desires, economic goals and visitor industry needs. For more information about the island of Hawaiʻi, visit www.gohawaii.com/Island-of-Hawaii.