Land and People

EP 76 Biologist Sierra McDaniel on conserving the inheritance of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

Sierra McDaniel is the resources management program manager at Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, having worked at the park for 25 years. She first came to Hawaiʻi as a bio

EP 75 Waikōloa Dry Forest biologists Jen Lawson and Rob Yagi on the interface between people and the rarest of the rare forests

In this episode, Melissa and Clay talk to Waikōloa Dry Forest Initiative executive director Jen Lawson and preserve manager Rob Yagi about their work to promote and resto

EP 74 Biologist Jim Jacobi on mapping and surveying Hawaii’s unique ecosystems across time and space

Dr. Jim Jacobi has spent the past 50 years in Hawaiʻi as a biologist specializing in mapping Hawai’i’s unique ecosystems and studying the plants and animals contained wit

EP 73 Pilot David Okita on the evolution of helicopters as an essential tool for conservation land management

David Okita has flown helicopters on Hawaiʻi Island for many decades, first for emergency responders assisting with fire department search and rescues and then later for

EP 72 Wildlife biologists Colleen and Ian Cole on making lasting alliances across diverse communities and geographies

In this interview, Clay and Melissa talk to husband and wife biologists Colleen and Ian Cole about their respective careers as land stewards and conservation program mana

EP 71 Hawaiian storyteller and conservationist Hannah Kihalani Springer on how land care begins with aloha for one another

In this re-release, Clay and Melissa interview Hannah Kihalani Springer of Hawai`i Island, a storyteller, environmental activist, and scholar of Hawaiian history for many

EP 70 Kekuhi Keali’ikanaka’ole on how we find family in `āina

In this re-released interview, we talk with renowned chanter, dancer, songwriter and educator Kekuhi Keali’ikanaka’ole about the intimate connection between humans and th

EP 69 Park Superintendent Rhonda Loh on how seeking knowledge of the land is a mind and heart endeavor

Dr. Rhonda Loh has over thirty years of experience at Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, starting out as a volunteer and now in the top position as Superintendent. Rhonda e

EP 68 Restoring the land is a family affair: researchers Pat Hart, Susan Cordell and Colin Hart on the secret world of plants, birds and cacao

Husband-wife team Dr. .Susan Cordell and Dr. Pat Hart have made their conservation careers in Hawai`i since the early 1990s in their respective fields of native ecosystem

EP 67 Land stewards Cheyenne Hiapo Perry and Lisa Hadway Spain on the leadership challenges of forest protection on Hawai’i Island

In Melissa and Clay’s live recorded interview at ʻImiloa Center in Hilo, they talk with Cheyenne Hiapo Perry of the Mauna Kea Watershed Alliance and former state Forestry

EP 66 Land manager Bill Stormont on bringing aloha to the hardships and controversies in stewardship

Bill Stormont has worked in Hawaiian land stewardship for more than forty years. Born to a multi-generational Hāmākua family and raised on Hawaiʻi Island, Bill started in

EP 65 DLNR forester Ed Pettys and Na Ala Hele program manager Debbie Chang on the value of connecting people to places through trails and land stewardship

In this interview, Melissa and Clay interview husband and wife team Ed Pettys and Debbie Chang from their home in Paʻauilo mauka on Hawaiʻi Island about their work helpin

EP 64 Contemporary art professor Jaimey Faris and fire scientist Clay Trauernicht on how story telling and land care can help us envision a world beyond capitalism

In this interview, co-hosts Melissa Chimera, Clay Trauernicht and University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa art professor Dr. Jaimey Faris explore how their respective fields in art

EP 63 Museum studies director Noelle Kahanu on repairing the human connection between land and people through the arts

Noelle MKY Kahanu is a bridge builder across art, policy and social justice through her work as a museum curator, legal scholar, Hawaiian rights activist, and teacher. Sh

EP 62 Ethnic studies professor Ty Tengan on re-membering Hawaiian identity in place and cultural practice

Dr. Ty Tengan is a professor in the Department of Anthropology at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa whose work emphasizes ethnic studies in relation to Hawaiian identity and

EP 61 Part II: Archaeologist and ethnohistorian Ross Cordy on the rise of Hawaiian kingdoms in ancient Hawai‘i

We continue our two-part conversation with Dr. Ross Cordy, Pacific Island Hawaiian-Pacific studies at University of Hawai‘i West O‘ahu. Trained as both an archaeologist a

EP 60 Part I: Archaeologist and ethnohistorian Ross Cordy on Polynesian voyaging and ancient Hawaiian settlements

Trained as both an archaeologist and ethnohistorian, Dr. Ross Cordy is a renowned scholar of Pacific Island Hawaiian-Pacific studies at University of Hawai‘i West O‘ahu,

EP 59 Pacific Islands anthropologist Patrick Kirch on the millennia of human adaptation and environmental change across island archipelagos

Dr. Patrick Kirch is a University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa anthropology professor specializing in historical anthropology, archaeology and the deep-time history of the peoples

EP 58 Co-hosts Melissa and Clay reflect on Season 3 and lessons learned after the 2023 wildfires

Co-hosts Melissa Chimera and Clay Trauernicht reflect on the past two seasons of Land and People, the most poignant and most difficult moments in the podcast, as well as

EP 57 Kauaʻi land steward and advocate Billy Kinney on how the land is our first teacher

Billy Kinney is a storyteller, cultural practitioner, connector and land back advocate whose family traces its lineage, care and kuleana to Kauaʻi’s north shore. Growing