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Hannah Kihalani Springer

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Hannah Kihalani Springer is a Hawaiian scholar, communicator, environmentalist, and storyteller. She is a former trustee of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and an advocate of the "Try Wait" initiative as a member of the Kaʻūpūlehu Marine Life Advisory Committee (KMLAC).

Springer has advocated for the expansion of the Papahānaumokuākea National Monument, and is a council member of Kuaʻāina Ulu ʻAuamo and the president and board member of the Akaka Foundation for Tropical Forests.

Career

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I am shaped by my geography.

Hannah Kihalani Springer, Kukuiohiwai, The Global Intercultural Communication Reader (2013)[1][2]

Springer is an educator on indigenous Hawaiian culture and advocate for the protection of the Hawaiian environment. She is an author of Kōkua aku, kōkua mai: an indigenous consensus-driven and place-based approach to community led dry land restoration and stewardship, which details the forced relocation of many Indigenous people of the Hawaiian land, coupled with the disruption of the natural ecology.[3] Springer has worked with multiple outlets to publish stories of Hawaii, including through the Kona Historical Society,[4] the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo,[5] the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority's Kūkulu Ola—Living Hawaiian Culture Program,[6][7] and joined multiple podcasts, including Ka Leo o ka Uluau.[8]

During our time, we have seen aliʻi (royalty) rise and fall. We have seen our island nation born and die before its time. We have seen political parties wax and wane. We have seen elected and appointed officials come and go. But we remain. We have been chiefs and fishermen, goat herders and cattle ranchers, gardeners and homemakers. We have lived under two flags and a series of constitutions. Personally, caring less about the flag flying over the land than the life on the land, we aspire to contentment and to share the joy and blessing of calling Hawaiʻi Nei home. We aloha kekahi i kekahi (love or have reciprocity with one another), and mālama (care for) the same. And we remain on the land and pray that this long be so.

Hannah Kihalani Springer, Lineal Descendant of Kaʻūpūlehu, "Indigenous stewardship through novel approaches to collaborative management in Hawaiʻi", Ecology & Society (March 2023)[9]

In 1979, Springer began work at the Pu‘ukohola Heiau National Historic Site, and was an employee as well as a volunteer at the annual cultural festivals.[10] In 1986, she presented a lecture at the site on political conflicts and warfare in Hawaii between 1778 and 1898,[10] and was a planner for the County of Hawaii.[11]

In November 1996, Springer was elected trustee to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.[12] In 2001, as president of the nonprofit ʻAhahui o Puʻu Waʻawaʻa, she advocated for the protection of endangered plants during a campaign to encourage the state Board of Land and Natural Resources to assume the lease of 21,000 acres at Puuwaawaa in a proposal that would allow Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians to act as stewards and create some limits on ranching and hunting.[13]

As a member of the Kaʻūpūlehu Marine Life Advisory Committee (KMLAC), Springer was an advocate of the "Try Wait" initiative for fish restoration,[14] which was a proposal to create an area without fishing to restore declining fish populations,[15] with the title based on "a play on a colloquial term uttered when requesting patience."[9] In 2016, a 10-year "rest area" was created by the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources through the establishment of the Kaʻūpūlehu Marine Reserve on the Kona coast of the Big Island.[9][15]

On September 7, 2014, Springer authored an op-ed entitled “Expansion of Pacific marine sanctuary is consistent with Hawaiian practice”, which was a call to action to then-president Barack Obama to increase the size of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, in order to replenish the natural resources of the Hawaiian Islands.[16] The area was increased in size by Presidential Proclamation on September 25, 2014.[17]

Springer is a council member of Kuaʻāina Ulu ʻAuamo,[18] and president and board member of the Akaka Foundation for Tropical forests.[19]

Personal life

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Springer is a Hawaiian elder, whose family has lived in the North Kona region of the Big Island of Hawai’i for generations.[20][21][22] Her home, Kukuiʻohiwai, was historically part of Huʻehuʻe Ranch.[23] She has said that her native Hawaiian lineage can be traced back for 93 generations.[23] Her great-grandmother was Mary Kihalani Parker Maguire.[10]

Her family participated in a local forest restoration project for the Ka‘ūpūlehu Dryland Forest in the 1990s that began to be formally managed by the Hawaiʻi Forest Institute in 1994.[21] Springer is married to Michael Prosper Tomich,[24] and has two children.[19]

References

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  1. ^ Yin, Jing; Asante, Molefi Kete; Miike, Yoshitaka, eds. (June 26, 2013). The Global Intercultural Communication Reader. Taylor & Francis. p. 136. ISBN 9781135048716. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
  2. ^ Chávez, Karma R.; Asen, Robert; Howard, Robert Glenn; McKinnon, Sara L., eds. (2016). Text + Field: Innovations in Rhetorical Method. Penn State University Press. ISBN 9780271078106. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
  3. ^ Kamelamela, Katie L.; Springer, Hannah Kihalani; Ku'ulei Keakealani, Roberta; Ching, Moana Ulu; Ticktin, Tamara; Ohara, Rebekah Dickens; Parsons, Elliott W.; Adkins, Edith D.; Francisco, Kainana S.; Giardina, Christian (2022-02-15). "Kōkua aku, Kōkua mai: An Indigenous Consensus-driven and Place-based Approach to Community Led Dryland Restoration and Stewardship". Forest Ecology and Management. 506: 119949. doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2021.119949. ISSN 0378-1127. S2CID 245586221.
  4. ^ "Kona Historical Society". Kona Historical Society. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
  5. ^ "He Kōkua – Ka Leo o Ka Uluau". Retrieved 2023-05-09.
  6. ^ "Breadfruit Festival 2012 Mahalo". Retrieved May 8, 2023.
  7. ^ Two Girls Roasting Breadfruit, retrieved 2023-05-09
  8. ^ "Episode 16: Kihalani Springer, Moku of Kona – Ka Leo o Ka Uluau". Retrieved 2023-05-09.
  9. ^ a b c Winter, Kawika B.; Vaughan, Mehana Blaich; Kurashima, Natalie; Wann, Lei; Cadiz, Emily; Kawelo, A. Hiʻilei; Cypher, Māhealani; Kaluhiwa, Leialoha; Springer, Hannah Kihalani (1 February 2023). "Indigenous stewardship through novel approaches to collaborative management in Hawaiʻi". Ecology and Society. 28 (1). doi:10.5751/ES-13662-280126. ISSN 1708-3087. S2CID 256967630. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  10. ^ a b c "Warfare night special: Island battles". Hawaii Tribune-Herald. June 13, 1986. Retrieved 2023-04-24 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ Apple, Russel A (March 16, 1986). "Island Paradox: It may be fun, but is it really a luau?". Chicago Tribune. ProQuest 290909894
  12. ^ Omandam, Pat (April 8, 1997). "Pair battle for OHA leadership: Apoliona challenges Hee, who has led the board since 1991". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Circuit Judge James R. Aiona today swore in trustees Hannah Kihalani Springer of the Big Island and Machado [...] Apoliona, Machado and Springer defeated incumbents in last November's election. The trio ran under the Na Lei Lokahi platform, which emphasizes balance and harmony on the often-embattled board. [...] Springer and Machado have participated in OHA board meetings and discussions since last Nov. 5 while waiting for the Hawaii Supreme Court to rule on an election challenge ProQuest 412225659
  13. ^ Thompson, Rod (March 31, 2001). "Ranchers, hunters protest native plan for Puuwaawaa: A family wants to be stewards when the state lease comes up". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Ahahui President Hannah Kihalani Springer, a former trustee of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs with generations of family ties to the area, spoke of the need of endangered plants of the dry land to take in water and thrive. ProQuest 412296992
  14. ^ "Mālama I Ke Kai Speaker Series: Ep. 7 - Try Wait with Hannah Kihalani Springer". Maui Nui Makai Network. YouTube. January 12, 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  15. ^ a b "Kaʻūpūlehu Administrative Record" (PDF). November 21, 2014. Retrieved May 8, 2023.
  16. ^ "Case for Support of Central Pacific Monuments » Marine Conservation Institute". Marine Conservation Institute. Retrieved 2023-04-17.
  17. ^ "Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument". NOAA. 2022-05-27. Retrieved 2023-04-17.
  18. ^ "Board and Leadership". KUA. Retrieved 2023-04-17.
  19. ^ a b "Who We Are". Akaka Foundation For Tropical Forests. Retrieved 2023-04-17.
  20. ^ Rose, Deborah Bird; Chrulew, Matthew; van Dooren, Thom, eds. (2017). Extinction Studies: Stories of Time, Death, and Generations. Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231544542. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
  21. ^ a b Sachs, Jessica Snyder (July 15, 2016). "Hawai'i at the Crossroads". National Wildlife. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  22. ^ Maly, Kepa (December 5, 2000). "Appendix A: Oral History Interviews – Nä Küki'o Ma Ka 'Äina Kaha — A Collection of Traditional and Historical Accounts of Küki'o at Kekaha, North Kona" (PDF). Report HiKu38-Appedix A.
  23. ^ a b Anderson, Karen (May 29, 2011). "Daughter of Huʻehuʻe: At Home with Hannah Kihalani Springer". West Hawaii Today. Retrieved 2023-04-25 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ^ "Mea Kipa ~ Guests – Ka Leo o Ka Uluau". Retrieved 2023-04-17.
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