• Home
  • How We Work
  • Where We Work
  • News Room
  • About Us
  • My Nature Page

The Nature Conservancy in Africa - Conservation in Africa

The Nature Conservancy in Asia Pacific - Conservation in Asia-Pacific

The Nature Conservancy in the Caribbean - Conservation in the Caribbean

The Nature Conservancy in Central America - Conservation in Central America

The Nature Conservancy in North America - Conservation in North America

The Nature Conservancy in the United States - Conservation in the United States

The Nature Conservancy in South America - Conservation in South America

Ka'ū field office header

   

Eldridge Naboa, John Replogle, Katherine Postelli, Paul Makuakane  New Ka'ū office staffers (l-r) Eldridge Naboa, John Replogle, Katherine Postelli and Paul Makuakane. © TNC photo.

Explore Ka'ū Preserve

Learn more about the Ka‘ū Preserve –part of the largest and most intact expanse of native forest in the state.

 

The Conservancy has opened a new field office in the town of Na‘alehu, in the district of Ka‘ū, to enhance our conservation work in south Hawai‘i. 

The new office houses staff members John Replogle, Eldridge Naboa, Paul Makuakane, and Katherine Postelli. Together, they oversee operations for the Conservancy's 3,500-acre Ka‘ū Preserve, which sits on the southwest flank of Mauna Loa volcano and adjoins the 60,000-acre Ka‘ū Forest Reserve.

John Replogle, field coordinator for the Ka‘ū Preserve since 2002, has lived in the Ka‘ū district all his life. His work for the Conservancy has included on-the-ground management of the preserve, community outreach, and participation in many advisory groups and commissions concerned with land conservation.

Katherine Postelli, who has lived in Hawai‘i since 2002, conducted her doctoral research in the forests of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. As a field representative, she will be working collaboratively with other conservation staff, private landowners, academic institutions, and community organizations to implement regional and landscape-scale conservation across the Ka‘ū region.

Eldridge Naboa, who was born and raised in Na‘alehu, was recently hired as the natural resources manager for Ka‘ū after a two-year training fellowship with the Conservancy.  Naboa’s work in Ka‘ū will include using GPS (global positioning systems) and GIS (geographic information systems) technologies to map important natural resources, monitoring invasive plants, conducting rare plant surveys and community outreach.

Another Na‘alehu native, Paul Makuakane, has been with the Conservancy at its Kona Hema Preserve since 2003. Now, back in Ka‘ū, he is working as a field technician focusing on invasive weed removal, road and building maintenance, and fire suppression.