About Us - Adopt A Tree Hawaii

Hahai no ka ua i ka ulula'au
"The Rain Follows the Forest"

The Adopt-A-Tree program is brought to you in partnership with Ahu Lani Sanctuary, a retreat center located on the slopes of Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii. We have been planting trees at Ahu Lani Sanctuary since our inception in 2002.

Our People

John Lindelow and Roz Rapozo

The owners of Ahu Lani, John Lindelow and Roz Rapozo, are long time conservationists. They co-founded the World Turtle Trust in 1989, a Hawaii-based organization dedicated to the preservation of sea turtles throughout the world. John also served as Executive Director of Earthtrust, an organization dedicated to the protection of whales, dolphins, and other endangered animals. John has also served as a Project Manager for NASA for an image processing system aboard the Galileo space probe. In 1997 John and Roz started a business called Travel Hawaii which they still operate and which provides highly automated booking services for people wishing to visit Hawaii. And in 2002 they acquired Ahu Lani Sanctuary to further their visions of conservation and community-building.
Click here for more info on John

Roz Rapozo, Dave DeEsch and John Lindelow visiting a koa tree on Christmas (Note Dave's Santa hat)

Dave DeEsch

Dave DeEsch is a highly experienced horticulturist (Delaware Valley College, 1976) with an extensive background in the plant world. He is also a wonderful teacher of outdoor skills, survival, and habitat protection, with many years experience at Headwater's Outdoor School in Mt. Shasta teaching young people about the great outdoors, and about themselves. For many years starting in 2003, Dave managed the day-to-day operations at Ahu Lani Sanctuary, and, though now retired, is one of Ahu Lani's greatest treasures. Dave's special interests, other than plants and teaching, have been raising bees and chickens.

Brynn Burbach

Brynn Burbach is a talented social media marketing director with experience in a multitude of industries. Brynn has studied marketing and business administration at the University of Colorado Denver and is in her final semester working towards a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration and Marketing from Dickinson State University while residing at Ahu Lani Sanctuary.

Our Vision

There is a saying in Hawaiian: Hahai no ka ua i ka ulula'au, which translates as "The Rain Follows the Forest". This ancient saying describes the symbiotic relationship between forests and rain: destroy the forests and the rain will cease falling and the streams will stop flowing. We have living proof of this at Ahu Lani Sanctuary. Elders from our area, called kapunas in Hawaiian, remember when the stream that borders Ahu Lani (called Kalopa Stream) flowed all the time. Today it only flows after heavy rainfall. The reason: the forests upland from Ahu Lani have been steadily destroyed over the past 150 years by cattle ranching. Cows like young plants of all sorts and will quickly devour them. What happened in our area was that cattle existed within the forest, the trees eventually got old, died, and fell down, but no new trees could regenerate because they were quickly eaten by the cattle. Only on steep banks, where cattle couldn't go, did parts of the native forest survive.

Our larger vision is to assist in the re-forestation of these areas upland of Ahu Lani, so that one day the stream bordering our land will once again flow every day. We are dedicated to the reforestation and preservation of native Hawaiian forests.

Our Forest Workers

When we were establishing the forest sanctuary, we were assisted in our re-forestation efforts by many excellent volunteers. Most came from the Hawaii WWOOFer program, under which Ahu Lani Sanctuary serves as a host site, providing food, shelter, adventure, and forestry and farming education in exchange for 30 hours of work per week. Many thanks to all of you!

Rob

Michael

Lena

Shen

Kaitlin

Chris U

Carolyn

Raleigh

Jen

Emile

Xander

Lincoln

Brendan

Deoyani

Mirabai

Matt S

Clayton

Lizzie

Jenni

Alexis

Liz

Daniel

Brynn

Chris B

Jordan

Our Credentials

HFIA

Ahu Lani Sanctuary has been a member of the Hawaii Forest Industry Association which is dedicated to responsible forest management. HFIA offers an annual woodworking exhibition, sponsors the Hawaii's Wood trademark, and serves as an advocate for Hawaii's diverse forest industry -- from tree planting and harvesting to creating and selling wood products.

CREP: Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program

Ahu Lani Sanctuary was the first participant in the CREP program in Hawaii. The underlying philosophy of CREP is truly inspiring and is 100% in alignment with our philosophy: take care of Earth and the Earth will take care of you.

John Lindelow speaking about Ahu Lani Sanctuary's reforestation efforts at an assembly of Federal and State officials held at the Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie's office in May 2011. The officials were gathered to "announce a partnership to strengthen cooperation and coordination to help Hawaii landowners and managers conserve forest lands" and John was there to speak from a landowner's perspective.

WWOOF Hawaii

Ahu Lani Sanctuary has been a host site for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, under which we host and educate individuals who are interested in learning about organic farming and (in our case) native forest restoration. We had around 25 individual students join us over the years, and some have become part of our long-term ohana (family).

PMKCA

We have been active in our local community association, called the Paauilo-Mauka Kalopa Community Association. As part of our involvement, we gave a presentation at the 2012 annual meeting of the PMKCA on our reforestation efforts, and invited other landowners to consult with us and perhaps start their own reforestation efforts. Some are doing just that. Our senior horticulturist Dave, before his retirement, volunteered his time down at Kalopa State Park, parts of which are maintained by the PMKCA. Kalopa State Park has a very nice stand of native Hawaiian trees. John has also volunteered in the past as the webmaster for the PMKCA web site.