Aloha all,  

I’ve learned so much about language, culture, geology, wildlife and myself while working at Haleakala. Although I’m familiar with living in Hawaii, theres always more to absorb and every moment has something to learn from here. 

Some of the most memorable things that I’ve learned have been about the wildlife, birds and plants. The plants and animals here are so diverse and mostly exist only here at haleakala, nowhere else in the world. One of these rare items is the Ahina’hina, or silver sword plant. It has fuzzy little hairs on the outside of it so it can catch and hold onto the mist/clouds that roll in. It also gets its food from the minerals in the soil which are phosphorus,calcim and silica rich. It has roots that can grow up to four feet long so the strong winds dont blow it away. Right now is a really special time at Haleakala because the Silver swords only bloom once in their lifetime and then they die, like a honey bee. And right now there are a few plants at the park right that are blooming! Its a big deal to see them because they can live up to 90 years, but the blooms right now that are happening are roughly around 60 years of age!  

Mahalo for reading!