Mahi Pono Plants 300 Native Trees for Statewide Tree Planting Day

Today, Mahi Pono planted 300 native ulu and milo along with 30 mai‘a (banana trees) in recognition of the 2020 Hawaiʻi Statewide Tree Planting Day, in partnership with ReTree Hawai‘i.

“Mahi Pono was honored to join ReTree Hawai‘i’s efforts and others across the state to do our part for Statewide Tree Planting Day,” said Shan Tsutusui, senior vice president of operations at Mahi Pono. “We remain committed to helping restore native trees in Central Maui. Today’s efforts not only support local agriculture but will ultimately help to stem the effects of climate change in communities across Hawaiʻi.”

Mahi Pono joined other participating organizations and volunteers on Oct. 30 for Statewide Tree Planting Day to support the goal of fighting climate change by planting 100,000 trees with 10,000 volunteers on 1,000 sites across Hawaiʻi. Community volunteers assigned to Mahi Pono were also gifted with a citrus tree to plant at home.

The planting event supports Mahi Pono’s broader efforts and community partnerships to restore native trees including the milo, ulu and mai‘a that were planted today. Milo is a drought and salt-tolerant tree, and serves as an ideal windbreak plant and ulu is a staple Polynesian food crop that produces nutritious and versatile fruit.

Mahi Pono has already planted approximately 150 milo trees and 300 coconut trees for use as plant windbreak across its various farm lots. They have also secured partnerships with local Maui nurseries to grow milo, ulu, kou and mamaki in a commitment to “restore thousands of native plants across the Central Maui plain.”

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