"This is the first of many phases needed to achieve functional eradication of mangrove from Kailua's waterways, and community participation will be essential to its long-term success." Kristen Nālani Kāne, executive director of the Kailua-based nonprofit Hui o Koʻolaupoko, said that in an August 25, 2026 release from the Department of Land and Natural Resources. The release announced a multi-year effort to pull invasive red mangrove from nearly two miles of streams and wetlands around Kawainui Marsh.
Kailua's stream, its oldest heiau grounds and its beach dunes are all being restored on schedules measured in years, and each one runs on volunteer Saturdays. Through November and December, three separate groups have regular workdays inside town limits. Each has its own rules about who can come and whether you need to sign up first, and those rules determine which mornings you can actually use.
The Stream Behind Hāmākua Is the Hardest Morning to Get Into
The newest project is also the one with the strictest entry. DLNR's Division of Forestry and Wildlife and Hui o Koʻolaupoko, or HOK, are starting with small mangrove trees and seed pods along Kawainui Stream, between Kawainui Neighborhood Park, which also goes by Kaha Garden, and the Hāmākua Street Bridge. HOK's project page describes the work area as the stretch of stream makai of the levee.
The work is done by hand. Volunteers pull seedlings and propagules, and native wetland plants go into the cleared areas so the mangrove doesn't come back. According to DLNR, the goals are to restore natural water flow, improve water quality, and protect habitat that endangered Hawaiian waterbirds use for nesting and feeding. Red mangrove arrived more than a century ago and now clogs these channels. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and NOAA are funding the project. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser covered the launch when the state put out its call for volunteers.
Three details matter if you live nearby:
- Monthly workdays started Saturday, September 26, 2026, and are open only to volunteers 18 and older. Unlike the other two projects below, this one is not a family outing.
- The October 3 session was listed as full on HOK's calendar. It ran from 9 a.m. to noon. Within a week of launch, available spots were already running out.
- HOK plans monthly volunteer events through at least 2028. If you miss one, another is coming.
HOK hasn't posted November or December dates yet. To get on the list, use the Kailua Mangrove Removal inquiry form on HOK's Get Involved page, or choose Kailua Mangrove Removal on the form attached to its calendar. Since the first sessions filled, put your name in now rather than waiting for a date to appear.
Up at Ulupō, You Can Just Show Up
The second project works the opposite way. Kauluakalana holds a Second Saturday community workday called Kōkua Kūkanono at the base of Ulupō Heiau. The address is 1200 Kailua Road, and you gather behind and below the Windward YMCA. It runs 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and parking is at the YMCA lot, with overflow at DayBreak Church.
Kauluakalana's programs page welcomes "everyone of all ages, from keiki to kūpuna." If you're coming alone or with a small group of friends or family, you don't need to sign up. Groups of 10 or more need to email [email protected] at least a week ahead. The morning opens with a welcome circle. After that, volunteers choose between wet work like weeding loʻi kalo and dry work like weeding or mulching. The group shares Kailua-specific moʻolelo, and lunch is provided. Everyone signs a liability waiver on site that morning. Getting from the top of the heiau to the base means walking down a steep, bumpy path.
The Fourth Saturday workday, Mālama Makaliʻi, keeps the same hours and the same lunch but requires an RSVP. The location is emailed to you after you sign up. The page also warns that the site has no well-paved paths.
Kauluakalana gives the same packing list for both workdays:
- Clothes you don't mind getting dirty
- Covered shoes, boots or tabis
- Garden or work gloves
- Sunscreen, sunglasses and a hat
- A water bottle, since a refill station is available
- A mess kit for lunch
The state's own Ulupō Heiau State Historic Site Community Day calendar lists November 14 and 28 and December 12 and 26. All four fall on a second or fourth Saturday, matching Kauluakalana's schedule.
At the Beach, the Planting Is Moving From Groundcover to Trees
Kailua Beach Park is the third project, and it has the longest public record of progress. The City's Department of Parks and Recreation keeps a running log on its Kailua parks page. Here's what it shows:
- November 2024 to July 2025: crews removed undermined ironwood stumps, leaning trees, broken irrigation lines, eroding concrete foundations and damaged benches.
- May 2025: dozens of volunteers planted 344 native plants between the canoe hale parking lot and Lifeguard Tower 8B.
- September 27, 2025: more than 150 volunteers put in 1,800 plants in two hours.
- August 29, 2026: about 50 volunteers planted the first trees, 11 of them milo, kou and heliotrope. They also planted 25 variegated naupaka and 300 ʻakiʻaki grass plugs just makai of the canoe hale lot on the Lanikai side of Kaʻelepulu Stream.
Hawaii News Now reported on that August planting two days later.
The shift from groundcover to trees matters. The City's next-step list includes more post-and-rope fencing with 20-foot-wide pathways, more educational signage, and low-growing naupaka along the parking lot to keep wind-blown sand off the pavement. It also proposes trees between the Kaʻelepulu Stream mouth and the Lanikai-side lifeguard stand, which could include beach heliotrope, milo, hala and kou. The access routes you use from the lot to the water are part of the plan, and the City's signage already asks beachgoers to stick to designated paths.
The reason for all this is on the same page. The City describes the Kailua Beach dune system as stable overall, but it says steady erosion has narrowed the beach over the past few decades, with visible changes in the past five years. The page cites a Hawaiʻi Sea Grant report estimating that more than 1,700 people visit the park each day.
The City hasn't announced the next planting date. Anyone who wants to join the monthly community working group can email [email protected], the contact listed on the City's page.
Two other beach changes from this year affect the same stretch of sand. In September, the City made Kailua Beach Park's nightly closure from midnight to 4 a.m. permanent after a pilot program and community input through the Neighborhood Board. Per the City's announcement, you can still walk through a closed park to reach the ocean. Down the beach at Kalama Beach Park, the 1936 Boettcher Estate designed by Vladimir Ossipoff had its roof rebuilt between mid-January and summer 2026. Moriyama Construction did the work under a $1.2 million contract, using similar cedar shingles to keep the original design. The City says the new roof lets staff start reopening underused parts of the building, and it has invited community and philanthropic help to do more.
How the Next Two Months Line Up
Each project has a different entry rule. The mangrove work needs a sign-up and is adults only. Ulupō's Second Saturday is open to all ages with no sign-up. The Fourth Saturday needs an RSVP. Dune plantings are announced one at a time. Here's how the confirmed dates fall from now through December, along with the Kailua Town events that land on the same days.
- Saturday, November 14: Ulupō Second Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., no sign-up needed. That afternoon, Kailua Town's free second-Saturday music series has Kalaʻe & Kalena from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in the parking garage behind Longs/CVS.
- Saturday, November 28: Mālama Makaliʻi Fourth Saturday, RSVP required.
- Saturday, December 12: Ulupō Second Saturday.
- Saturday, December 26: Fourth Saturday, the day after Christmas.
- Mangrove workdays: monthly, with November and December dates not yet posted, and HOK's Kailua Mangrove Removal inquiry form as the way to register interest.
The weekly markets fill in around these dates. The Kailua Farmers' Market runs Thursdays from 4 to 7 p.m. at Kailua Town Center, 609 Kailua Road, through December 24. The Lōkahi Kailua Market runs Sundays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 340 Uluniu Street through December 27, the morning after each Saturday workday. Its listing includes food vendors, artisans, farmed goods and live music.
For the second Saturday in November, that adds up to a heiau workday and lunch in the morning, then free music in the garage behind Longs/CVS in the afternoon.
At Jaymes Song, we follow the work on Kawainui Stream, at Ulupō and along the Kailua Beach dunes the same way we follow sales. Expect better. Schedule your free market consultation, and we'll talk through how the work happening around Kawainui and Kailua Beach fits into your own plans.
