{"id":73,"date":"2017-03-20T09:18:22","date_gmt":"2017-03-20T13:18:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/?p=73"},"modified":"2017-03-20T09:18:22","modified_gmt":"2017-03-20T13:18:22","slug":"an-unforgettable-moment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/an-unforgettable-moment\/","title":{"rendered":"An unforgettable moment&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ntbg.org\/gardens\/limahuli-restoration.php\" target=\"_blank\">Limahuli<\/a> National Botanical Gardens is a <a href=\"http:\/\/ntbg.org\/resources\/preserves.php#limahuli\">1,000 acre preserve<\/a> set in place to maintain the purity of the Limahuli stream and to protect\u00a0endemic endangered species. According to the Limahuli website, &#8220;Preserves can be many things and serve a variety of purposes. Perhaps the most apt description in NTBG\u2019s case is to view a preserve as a refuge for nature. This means first creating a safe haven for endemic species threatened by invasive plants and animals, and sometimes from real estate development. The next step is the active intervention by NTBG staff to improve the habitats by restoring the ecologies that sustain and preserve native plant communities.&#8221; We witnessed this philosophy first hand.<\/p>\n<p>Our class had the opportunity to hike to an elevation of about 2,000 ft to\u00a0assist with restoration efforts in the\u00a0Ka\u2018upulehu Preserve. This fenced 6 acre area is protected from ungulates and is home to many endanger plants.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-76\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/files\/2017\/03\/20170314_130415-e1489967809772-300x138.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"207\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/files\/2017\/03\/20170314_130415-e1489967809772-300x138.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/files\/2017\/03\/20170314_130415-e1489967809772-768x354.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/files\/2017\/03\/20170314_130415-e1489967809772-1024x472.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/files\/2017\/03\/20170314_130415-e1489967809772-200x92.jpg 200w, https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/files\/2017\/03\/20170314_130415-e1489967809772-500x230.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We carried two trees, a rare hibiscus and about 20 native grasses to a densely-forested location. There we cleared invasive species and dug holes for our natives.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-75\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/files\/2017\/03\/20170314_130320-300x84.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"127\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/files\/2017\/03\/20170314_130320-300x84.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/files\/2017\/03\/20170314_130320-768x216.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/files\/2017\/03\/20170314_130320-1024x288.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/files\/2017\/03\/20170314_130320-200x56.jpg 200w, https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/files\/2017\/03\/20170314_130320-500x141.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I had the honor\u00a0of transporting the hibiscus, of which there are less than 50 in the wild, to its\u00a0new home. Planting this beautiful flower was an experience I will never forget.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-74\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/files\/2017\/03\/20170314_124918-e1489967503561-169x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/files\/2017\/03\/20170314_124918-e1489967503561-169x300.jpg 169w, https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/files\/2017\/03\/20170314_124918-e1489967503561-768x1365.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/files\/2017\/03\/20170314_124918-e1489967503561-576x1024.jpg 576w, https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/files\/2017\/03\/20170314_124918-e1489967503561-113x200.jpg 113w, https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/files\/2017\/03\/20170314_124918-e1489967503561-225x400.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>During our hike back to the base of the preserve, we stopped for lunch and a swim at the Limahuli stream. The clear water and untouched landscape was a testament to the impact that humans have on the environment (this stream is nearly unspoiled and has little human interaction, which was made evident by the condition of the water and land).<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-77\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/files\/2017\/03\/20170314_132136-e1489968548229-169x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/files\/2017\/03\/20170314_132136-e1489968548229-169x300.jpg 169w, https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/files\/2017\/03\/20170314_132136-e1489968548229-768x1365.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/files\/2017\/03\/20170314_132136-e1489968548229-576x1024.jpg 576w, https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/files\/2017\/03\/20170314_132136-e1489968548229-113x200.jpg 113w, https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/files\/2017\/03\/20170314_132136-e1489968548229-225x400.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Limahuli National Botanical Gardens is a 1,000 acre preserve set in place to maintain the purity of the Limahuli stream and to protect\u00a0endemic endangered species. According to the Limahuli website, &#8220;Preserves can be many things<a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/an-unforgettable-moment\/\">Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":647,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[9],"class_list":["post-73","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8tZYO-1b","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/647"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":101,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73\/revisions\/101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/kauai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=73"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}