Tipu Tipu Restoration and Sustainability is building Maui’s ability to restore native ecosystems by growing and supplying native Hawaiian plants and seeds, offering workforce training and educational outreach to schools, while restoring the dryland forest ecosystem and mitigating erosion in the Wahikuli watershed.

Tipu Tipu’s native Hawaiian plant seed farm and nursery expands restoration capacity for the state of Hawaii through generating seeds and plants used for  erosion mitigation, fire recovery, watershed and habitat restoration.

Tipu Tipu is part of a growing network of organizations dedicated to caring for the ʻAina through native Hawaiian plant propagation along with our partners in the Native Hawaiian Plant Propagation Group and as a member of the Hawaii Seed Bank Partnership and Laukahi Network.

View Tipu Tipu’s Partnerships →

Nature-based solutions to watershed management and restoration

Tipu Tipu Restoration and Sustainability uses a nature-based approach to watershed management and restoration.  Our Best Management Practices (BMPs) used are made from living rows of native Hawaiian grasses such as pili grass and kawelu grass, and vetiver. Non- living BMPs used are Coconut Coir and Sandbags.

In the zones above the BMPs, where water pools and sediment accumulates, we implement stage 2 plantings of native Hawaiian shrubs and trees such as Aʻaliʻi, Maʻo, Ilima, Aweoweo, Koaʻia, Wili Wili and others depending on altitude and local conditions.

The rows of BMPs slow and filter the water runoff during heavy rainfall events, and trap sediments, chemicals and nutrients that would otherwise end up in the ocean and contribute to brown water events and deposit on the coral reefs. Heavy sediment deposits from brown water events are also laden with chemicals from the fallow agricultural lands and it is estimated that brown water events have contributed to a 25-50% decline of the near shore coral cover in the last 15 years.

The U.S. Coral Reef Task Force and the Hawai‘i Department of Land and Natural Resources has designated this area of West Maui, including Wahikuli, as a priority conservation site.  West Mauiʻs coral reefs are important sources of Coral larvae that replenish reefs across Maui and the neighboring islands of Molokaʻi, Lanaʻi and Kahoʻolawe.

During heavy rainfall events, water that is not immediately absorbed into the ground makes its way from the fallow agricultural lands, down old road beds carrying fine sediments, nutrients and toxins into the ocean causing “brown water” events that are hazardous to human health and can smother the coral reefs with a fine layer of sediment.

Our demonstration site, in the Hākakea stretch of Wahikuli watershed above Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii has trapped over 50 tons of sediment since the inception of the project in 2017.  We are currently working on Section 6 Stage 1 and Stage 2 plantings in this priority watershed.  The completion of this Section will increase the amount of sediment retained by an estimated 25%.

The use of nature based solutions has many benefits. After site work is completed, and plants are established, any non natural materials will be removed as part of the completion prococess. What remains at the site are BMPs made from Coconut Coir and Sandbags, which over time will decompose,  leaving  native Hawaiian grasses, shrubs and trees. The native Hawaiian plants will self propagate, scattering their seeds downstream and establishing a denser, more effective and healthier riparian zone that will continue to regenerate. This reforestation is important native habitat and builds a healthy watershed.

Tipu Tipu Restoration and Sustainability uses nature based BMPs to slow the velocity of water and capture sediments, and at the same time regenrating and reforesting the riparian zones adjacent and above the streams.

Tipu Tipu Restoration and Sustainability

Tipu Tipu is dedicated to restoring Maui’s native terrestrial and marine ecosystems through culturally grounded, youth-centered environmental stewardship, education, and field restoration projects. Tipu Tipu’s work integrates native dryland forest restoration, watershed restoration, wetlands restoration projects, native Hawaiian plant propagation, native Hawaiian seed collection and saving, paid STEM education, and professional development pathways designed to provide Maui’s youth with the foundational, hands-on experience and the skills to pursue careers in conservation, STEM, and green careers at the state and federal level.

Since 2018, Tipu Tipu has been the sole contractor on the restoration of the Wahikuli Priority Watershed, located above the West Maui communities of Lāhainā, Kāʻanapali, and Honokōwai. Upon obtaining 501(c)3 nonprofit designation in 2023, Tipu Tipu has been continuing to restore the native dryland forest that once occupied West Maui’s fallow lands and mitigate the severity of regional brownwater events through the reintroduction of native grass, shrub, and tree species. In collaboration with our partners at the Keālia Pond National Wildlife Refuge, Tipu Tipu is currently working to restore critical habitat for native Hawaiian sea birds, mitigate regional coastal flooding events through the reintroduction of native shrubs and grasses, and to provide paid education and career pathways to employment under the Department of the Interior to the youth of Maui via paid workforce trainings, internships, and more.

Tipu Tipu Restoration and Sustainability supports and engages Maui communities through volunteer efforts, workforce training, outreach, and interpretive community engagement, which may include field trips for schools and corporations, hosting special events and community volunteer days, appearances at local events and conservation conferences, and restoration site visits.