Kalaʻi Miller / Home is Here Aloha, I’m Kalaʻi Miller.

Hawaiian green sea turtles or honu, are the most common species of turtles found in the islands.

In fact, Hawaiʻi is just one of three places in the entire world where sea turtles come onto the beach to bask in the sun.

Although honu are protected by state and federal laws, a number of threats continue to harm the population.

In Māʻalaea, Maui a small team is working to care for sick and injured turtles, to get them back into the ocean.

(instrumental music) Chanel Browne / Sea Turtle Program Coordinator Sea turtles or honu in general are super significant to Hawaiian culture.

So, if we're looking at it from a public scale our community, why should we care, because we've always cared.

We've always loved our wildlife, we've always wanted to give back, this is an opportunity to kind of show that you know, we see our animals, we see that they're getting hurt from the things that we do.

Our organization is Maui Ocean Center Marine Institute.

We are a nonprofit organization here on Maui that does sea turtle rescue, coral restoration, and various threat mitigation projects on island.

We also work with various education departments here, as well as local fishermen and people in the community.

Morgan Gardner / Sea Turtle Technician So, everything in the ocean is an ecosystem.

It's all going to work together to keep running, keep everything happy, and healthy.

And turtles are a really important part of the ecosystem in all of the oceans of the world.

Chanel Browne / Sea Turtle Program Coordinator So, our organization runs a 24-hour stranding hotline, where you can call in any sick or injured or even dead sea turtle and we will go out and respond.

We get calls every single day from people in the public, tourists, community members.

And this is also a great way for us to build relationships with them.

But without this hotline, you know, there are so many areas that we wouldn't even have known that there were stranded or sick sea turtles.

It's really a big partnership with those all around us.

After we receive a phone call, we move pretty quickly.

We'll pack up our car or truck with all of the gear that we need.

We'll head straight to that beach.

Most of the time our responses are in water.

So, we'll have our snorkel gear, we'll have our raft and we actually go out and do all the responses ourselves.

We'll get the turtle up onto the raft, bring it into shore, then we'll bring the sea turtle back to our facility where we can treat it determine whether or not it gets released or becomes a rehab patient.

The greatest threat to sea turtles here on Maui that we've seen through our work is different types of interactions with fishing gear.

So, fishing line entanglements and foul hooking, or hooking in the mouth are some examples.

So this large nest of fishing line came from one sea turtle.

Um, the bobber included.

We do see this pretty commonly here in Hawaiʻi.

Um, just because of the amount of recreational fishing that we do have.

We’ve definitely seen cases of line ingestion or hook ingestion.

Just this year we started doing necropsies, so we’ve been able to see unfortunately that is the cause of death for some of these sea turtles.

McKenzie Mungai / Sea Turtle Conservation Technician This turtle is Mistletoe.

This turtle came to us with a bilateral entanglement around both front flippers.

What that basically means is that there was fishing gear, fishing line very tightly wrapped around these both front flippers.

So, these are the two main focal points that we're actually treating here in our rehabilitation facility.

The way that we're going to treat Mistletoe is with conservative laser therapy.

So, this is a laser that we're going to use here on our sea turtle patients.

And first off, its antimicrobial, so it's going to be able to clean that wound.

Second off, it's going to be able to reduce pain and inflammation.

And third off, it's going to help with tissue regrowth, so it's actually going to help to be able to regrow a lot of the tissue inside this actual strangulation wound.

Morgan Gardner / Sea Turtle Technician But it's a really cool therapy because it's super non-invasive, it doesn't involve us to have to really put anything into the turtles, which is nice.

Especially with like medications, it's hard to get a turtle to take pills.

So, next we do topical treatments which is just on the skin on the surface so we use betadine, a common antiseptic used in veterinary medicine.

It is really going to help clean out that wound to make sure there's nothing in there.

And we also have a silver ointment that's an antibacterial and then that we put in the wounds.

McKenzie Mungai / Sea Turtle Conservation Technician So we treat over 200 sea turtles every single year and about 87-percent of the turtles that come to us have come to us with injuries pertaining to interactions with fishing gear.

As far as the severity of the actual wound on these flippers, it ranges from just very superficial, so sometimes it doesn't even break that skin.

Sometimes, the fishing line is just there, it's wrapped around, but we're going to be able to cut that and then immediately release that turtle that same day.

But in most of our cases, range from moderately severe to severe.

So, that means that some of the skin might have been broken.

The most severe cases are actually all the way down to the bone.

So, their humerus bones are very thin in sea turtles.

So, you have to be very careful not to break them, but they can break them themselves as well.

So that being said, sometimes we do have turtles that come in here with a self-amputation.

So, they might have amputated their own flipper, just from that fishing gear.

Chanel Browne / Sea Turtle Program Coordinator We also deal with various types of responses some, a little more common than others, like getting stuck in the rocks or stuck in the sand.

We deal a lot with boat hits unfortunately as well.

Other types of responses that we do could be to for disease.

So, the goal for us is to, get in these sick and injured animals, make sure they get the care that they need, get nicely rehabilitated and the end goal is always to get them back out into the water.

When a sea turtle is getting ready to be released, we do something called pre-release.

We will actually give the sea turtle its last dose of antibiotics.

And then we will tag it in a number of different ways.

So, the first way is we do PIT tags.

PIT tags are passive integrative transmitters.

They're kind of like microchips for your dog or your cat, they go in the hind flippers of the sea turtles, and then we actually etch the carapace.

So, the carapace of the sea turtles the top shell.

The top layer is made out of keratin, which is the same thing as our fingernails.

We are able to kind of track the sea turtle.

You know, make sure its behavior is the same as from before it came in to rehab.

See its overall health and kind of what it does after it leaves.

So, the turtle that we're releasing came in with a suspected vessel strike and it's an unknown vessel at this point however the wounds on top of the carapace or the top shell are pretty superficial.

So, we are going to tag this turtle and get it released back into the ocean.

McKenzie Mungai / Sea Turtle Conservation Technician I think that when we do a sea turtle release, in general, no matter if it was a long-term rehabilitation patient or patient that came in same day, and was clear for immediate release, and we were able to get it back out, I don't think the feeling changes.

I just think that you know, when a turtle comes in, and you know that you and your team are able to rehabilitate that turtle and get it back out into the population, it's a feeling you really can't describe.

(instrumental music) Chanel Browne / Sea Turtle Program Coordinator To this date, we have not had a sea turtle rehabilitated and not been able to be back out into the wild.

So, that's something that we're pretty proud about.

And it honestly makes us as staff members feel like we're doing the right thing and we're doing our jobs correctly to be able to have this wild animal treated and back out into the water.

McKenzie Mungai / Sea Turtle Conservation Technician We are the only sea turtle rehabilitation facility in the entire Hawaiian Islands at the moment.

So, we do see sea turtles from surrounding islands.

So, we do a lot of work here and sometimes we are very busy.

But we would never turn down a turtle, we would always make space for a turtle.

Morgan Gardner / Sea Turtle Technician We get far more turtles from Maui than we do from the other islands just because this is where we're located.

But I'm sure there's just as many turtles that need our help on those other islands as well that just aren't getting seen to, because there's not a program in place for it.

Chanel Browne / Sea Turtle Program Coordinator We are a small facility at the moment.

However, we do have plans within the next three to five years, hopefully to open our own facility where we can have different types of care on different levels.

So, care for our sea turtles on the bottom, corals, we also want a level for education because to me, as someone who grew up here, I didn't feel like I had very many opportunities to branch out into marine biology.

So, it is very important to me to be able to have an educational space, a classroom for kids to actually come and enjoy and see what we do, because it is really fun.

We also want to have a space for meetings and conferences and a place that we can actually meet with other scientists, and do more research.

So, on top of doing rescue and rehab, we also have a really large research component to what we do.

And that's just to build our knowledge on the honu here in Hawaiʻi.

McKenzie Mungai / Sea Turtle Conservation Technician When you work with a small team, it's very important that you all really like each other, and that you love coming to work and love what you do.

Because the people that you work with can make or break your job.

And I'm very lucky to be surrounded by such a wonderful team.

And I'm very lucky that we all love what we're doing as well, because passion is infectious.

Morgan Gardner / Sea Turtle Technician We also all started as either interns or volunteers so we all voluntarily chose to be here before we even this became our job.

Chanel Browne / Sea Turtle Program Coordinator Honestly, it feels great to do what I do.

All aspects of the job getting in the water every day, I'm so grateful to say that I'm able to go to the beach and work.

I'm also grateful for my team, I have an amazing team.

They are really the ones who, you know, keep my passion alive.

And being able to work with students here on island is also super important to me.

Sometimes it feels like pulling teeth to get kids to come back home, you know?

And I remember being in high school and me and my friends were like, oh my god, I'm so ready to get off this rock, you know, and being away, you look back at our tiny home and you realize how much help it needs and how much you can give to make it a better place for others.

Sometimes it's kind of is looked at as like a failure to come home.

And I don't see it like that at all.

I look up to anybody that decides to come home after receiving an education and wanting to make their home a better place.

So that's kind of what I'm trying to do.

(instrumental music) Kalaʻi Miller / Home is Here From mauka to makai, Hawaiʻi is home to thousands of plant species.

At the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, a dedicated team is working to share these species with the world by turning the physical, digital.

(instrumental music) Karolina Heyduk/UH Herbarium Director The Joseph F. Rock Herbarium was founded in the early 1900s by Joseph F. Rock.

And since then, it has grown to a collection of about 55,000 specimens Our collection focuses mostly on native and endemic flowering plants in Hawaiʻi.

We also have a very large collection of ferns that are native to Hawaiʻi and lichens as well.

And so, we have a great repository of species that, you know, maybe were once abundant in the early 1900s and now are really hard to find in nature.

We have a great historical record of where those species were before our islands became more developed.

When I started here, as director in 2020, I wanted to make sure that our collection was preserved.

And so, one way to do that is to digitize our whole collection, meaning take photos of it and put it online.

And so, I applied for federal funding from the National Science Foundation, and as was awarded a grant to help us with the digitization project.

Gabriel El Hajji / Undergraduate Assistant Here we have a sample of Jatropha, which is from Guam here.

See on the label?

So usually, the first step is to just make sure that it's free of like, any debris on top of the paper.

So, it can take a good picture.

So, I take this brush, and I just brush off any usually it’s beetle dung or just um, pieces of plant that have fallen off from it being so old.

This specimen is from 1975.

So, after that, I put it into the photo box.

And we have it set up so you can take a picture with just clicking on the screen.

So, you take a picture.

It takes a few seconds to load.

And then we grab it out of here and to rename it so that there's a name here on this barcode.

And we want the name on the computer to match the name on here.

So, we just scan the barcode and it transfers that abscission number onto the file on the computer.

And then we just stamp it imaged and that's one specimen done.

Karolina Heyduk/UH Herbarium Director By digitizing our specimens, we allow a greater number of researchers across the world to actually access our collection.

We're pretty remote.

So having them accessible online is really helpful.

And researchers can use the online database to see what specimens we have.

Helps them maybe request loans, where they, we actually would send them a specimen, and they could look at those specimens, maybe collect small samples from them.

But also, researchers can now just study the trends over time, see where species were historically where they are, or are not now, and measure traits on those specimens, as well, all through the digital specimens, were putting online.

So the plant specimens have a lot of information not only on the label, but also within the tissues themselves.

So, for example, you can extract DNA from those specimens and use that to study the evolution of groups of plants.

So, by studying things like that we can understand how species are changing naturally through processes of evolution, but also potentially in response to climate change.

That's affecting our islands and Pacific islands more generally.

A lot of our native flora here in Hawaiʻi is disappearing, whether due to climate change or human development or loss of pollinators.

A large proportion of the native plants are threatened or endangered.

And so having this historical record allows us to study those plants as they existed tens to almost 100 years ago now, and allows us to have this record of biodiversity that for many people, we can't see it anymore.

So, it's a, it's a nice repository of that historical biodiversity and a reminder of sort of what we're losing.

The benefits of this project, aside from the digitization, and preservation of our specimens is also the engagement of students in the research.

We have a mighty crew of undergraduates who are helping us with the process.

And through that process, getting hands on experience with the scientific process and contributing to research.

G. Young Kim / Graduate Assistant I think what I like the most is that we're actually creating, like a whole specimen, that the university didn't have any information on it.

So, starting from data collection, and then mounting and the whole, the whole process, we are the way that we actually create the specimen available to other scientists that that's I think that's really important and what I love about specimens.

Sometimes those plants are extinct, or they are in the location that we cannot access.

So, by having that specimen, we can totally use them as resources.

But not only that, we know these Hawaiian plants were here and then.

And then they can potentially for, like found in the future.

Chase Kane / Undergraduate Assistant Here in Hawaiʻi and the Pacific, this herbarium is so important, because it just acts as a permanent record for all the different diversity that we have here in this part of the world, and there's no other place like it.

And it's so important because here in Hawaiʻi, there's this belief that we come from the land.

And after at the end of our lifespan, then we return to the land as well.

So, these plants that we have here in the herbarium, they represent our moʻokūʻauhau, our genealogy.

And just ultimately, it's important to have an understanding of these specimens across time and to have accessibility for these things as well so that people all over the state, all over the Pacific, can also have a better understanding of them.

(instrumental music) Kalaʻi Miller / Home is Here Knowing how to read and write is something many of us take for granted.

But the reality is, a number of people in our community struggle with these fundamental skills.

For more than 50 years, Hawaii Literacy has been giving adults a second chance to learn to read and write, as well as provide resources for keiki to succeed in school.

For the non-profit, literacy equals equity.

(instrumental music) Stops at the dairy farmers everyday.

Jill Takasaki Canfield / Hawaii Literacy Executive Director Literacy is foundational and impacts every area of your life.

If you don't have a level of literacy, you you will struggle with many day to day simple tasks.

But if you if you can improve, and and you can learn, it just opens up all kinds of possibilities for someone.

It is fun to have friends.

Good job Sandy.

Hawaii Literacy started in 1971 when two people from the community found out that one in six adults, it was actually I think one in five at the time, did not have basic literacy skills and they wanted to do something about it.

So Hawaii Literacy works in communities that are disproportionately affected by high poverty and low literacy rates and so, we offer a number of programs for adults.

We have our adult literacy program that provides one-to-one tutors for anyone who wants to improve their reading and writing skills.

We have our E-L-L program, so English Language Learners, so students can join a class where they improve your English skills, but also have I think, a sense of community that's developed.

For youth, we have family literacy libraries in public housing sites and we have our bookmobile program.

Part of the challenge of the work that we do, especially, you know, when we think about helping people to understand why our work matters, it's because I think if you don't struggle with it, it's hard for you to understand and put yourself in someone's shoes.

Jenny Lewis / Hawaii Literacy Digital Literacy Manager I am blown away every day by people's courage to take action to walk into our doors to ask for help.

Unfortunately, there's a lot of shame and stigma associated with not being able to read and write in the community or be able to use a computer.

But these men, women, children kind of come in and they're asking and willing to get the help they need.

Rodney Wayne Beauchamp / Learner When I was growing up, I took the wrong turn.

I got into a lot of drugs and stuff like that, and I hanged with the wrong people then.

I mean, I slowly by slowly I lost everything.

I was tired.

I didn't know how to read and write.

And I would just, I felt stuck.

I didn't, it's like I couldn't go no more.

I felt uncomfortable around people.

I just felt uncomfortable.

I just didn't want to learn.

I thought everybody was against me.

But it's like I was against myself.

I didn't want to learn but the Lord said I would teach you.

He gave me, he gave me the patience to learn.

It takes it takes a lot of patience to learn how to read, a lot.

(instrumental music) Sk, sk for?

Skeleton.

The same thing.

Sk.

Sk, for?

Skunk.

There you go.

Jenny Lewis / Hawaii Literacy Digital Literacy Manager I was gifted with getting to work with Rodney, he was probably the first learner that I was working one on one with.

And right away it connected to what our mission is, and why we do the work we do because here's someone who had all the cards stacked against him and has overcome so many odds and has learned to read and write and not only read and write and take this computer class, but he serves as like the motivation for all the other learners.

He's always encouraging everyone and just reminding everyone that it takes time, it's not easy and to just be patient.

Rodney Wayne Beauchamp / Learner It's hard if you can't read and write.

And it's just, I just want to learn more.

I mean, it's hard but if you want it, you have to go and get it.

Suffers.

Soften.

Soften and breaks down the grass but cannot make it without eating grass.

Jill Takasaki Canfield / Hawaii Literacy Executive Director You know, the pandemic really underscored the need for people to have digital literacy skills so that they could access the resources that they needed.

And it showed really the gulf between people who have access to technology and can leverage the resources and those who can't.

And so, because of that we launched in 2021, in honor of our 50th anniversary, our digital literacy program.

Jenny Lewis / Hawaii Literacy Digital Literacy Manager So, the pilot course was six weeks, and within those six weeks, we kind of broke down skills of like, what is a computer?

What are the parts?

Like, how do you get online?

How do you search for things?

How do you create and set up an email, all skills that a lot of us take for granted, but are new to most of our learners.

Kercy Michael / Learner I've been helping out at the family library at Hawaii Literacy.

We've been working on computers so, that's the reason why I really wanted to learn more about computers, because I don't know much more about computers.

Greatlynn Lorenzo / Learner I decided to take this digital class because I lost track.

I wasn't paying much attention to like computers anymore.

So, I was trying to make myself learn again.

Jenny Lewis / Hawaii Literacy Digital Literacy Manager The whole class has been amazing.

We have a brother, sister, we have a mother, daughter.

We have a member of our community.

Everyone has learned to kind of work together and to champion each other to get better at skills and support each other when everyone's struggling.

It's been amazing to watch everyone grow and exciting to see the skills that they've learned and developed.

Greatlynn Lorenzo / Learner Yeah I feel a little bit confident because I've learned something new from Jenny.

And she taught me a lot, a lot step by step.

And I'm grateful for that.

Kercy Michael / Learner I feel really happy that I've learned a lot and learned much from this class.

Rodney Wayne Beauchamp / Learner I want to learn more because after this computers I know there's more.

But I have to master that first.

Jill Takasaki Canfield / Hawaii Literacy Executive Director I think in terms of the adult learners, you see changes in terms of just people's confidence.

But I think the positive thing especially with children is just getting them excited about reading, you know?

We want to promote a love of reading, we want children to be lifelong learners, you know, whatever they go into.

That's the exciting thing, because, you know, they talk about, up till third grade, you're learning how to read, um, not that you can't keep learning, but the idea is that you learn to read and then you read to learn.

And so, to see that excitement, is something that is really rewarding.

Jenny Lewis / Hawaii Literacy Digital Literacy Manager All of Hawaii Literacy programs are free, because it's part of our commitment to our community.

And also, it's because of the generosity of donors in the community as well.

Jill Takasaki Canfield / Hawaii Literacy Executive Director We wouldn't be where we are without a dedicated staff and board but really dedicated volunteers and learners who won't quit.

Jenny Lewis / Hawaii Literacy Digital Literacy Manager Our doors are always open, there's always someone who's willing to help.

We all feel embarrassment, we all experience it.

But the first step to moving past it is to at least sort of acknowledge it.

Greatlynn Lorenzo / Learner It's okay to feel embarrassed because once you feel embarrassed, you'll learn that feeling embarrassed is what makes you learn.

Jenny Lewis / Hawaii Literacy Digital Literacy Manager To be frank, I feel incredibly fortunate to have a job in a position where I get to support people, to have them achieve their life goals, and to see them tackle obstacles they never thought that they could succeed from.

Jill Takasaki Canfield / Hawaii Literacy Executive Director It's not okay, that one in six adults can't read.

It's not okay, that all of the children in our community don't have the resources they need to be successful.

So, I'm passionate about the work that we do, because literacy is foundational to so many other things.

And if I can invest my time and energy in the work that we do here, I know that it'll make an impact in people's lives and in our broader community.

We want to make a difference and this is a way that we can do it.

Kalaʻi Miller / Home is Here Thank you for joining us.

Head to pbshawaii.org for bonus features from this episode, including how the experts determine sea turtle gender.

For Home is Here, I’m Kalaʻi Miller, a hui hou.

I forgot my slippah.

McKenzie Mungai / Sea Turtle Conservation Technician Sea turtles have a very similar life expectancy to us as humans so they can live anywhere from 80 to over 100 years old.

Karolina Heyduk/UH Herbarium Director We're helping train the next generation of plant scientists through their studies in the herbarium.

Jill Takasaki Canfield / Hawaii Literacy Executive Director When the bookmobile drives up, and there's this excitement, it's like, the manapua man or the ice cream truck, you know?