Staff joined conservation leaders from across Hawaiʻi to share, listen, and strengthen relationships rooted in stewardship of place.
How do we become better stewards of the places we are privileged to serve?
That question brought representatives from W. M. Keck Observatory to the 33rd Annual Hawaiʻi Conservation Conference on Oʻahu, where more than 1,000 practitioners, researchers, cultural practitioners, educators, community leaders, and policymakers gathered from across Hawaiʻi and beyond to share ideas, strengthen partnerships, and advance conservation across the islands.
As part of the Observatory’s commitment to the Keck 2035 Strategic Plan, staff attended the conference to learn from leaders working in co-management, conservation, and sustainability, bringing back ideas that can help strengthen our own relationships with place and community.
Hosted under this year’s theme, ʻImi i ke Ēwe o ka ʻĀina (Guided by the Wisdom of ʻĀina), the conference showcased innovative resource management approaches, celebrated collective progress, and cultivated the next generation of conservation leadership throughout Hawaiʻi.
Representing the Observatory were members of the Public Affairs and Infrastructure teams, who attended sessions spanning ecosystem restoration, Indigenous knowledge, collaborative governance, community engagement, and environmental stewardship.
For Infrastructure Technician James Chong, many of the conversations resonated on a deeply personal level.
“I felt a connection with many of the projects discussed at the conference. I especially enjoyed learning about the restoration and stewardship of our native fishponds, which connect us to our kūpuna and continue to provide food for our communities. My previous work involved predator control for the Kalāhuipuaʻa Fishponds, and I still fish those waters to provide for my family. Ensuring future generations have access to a healthy ocean is an important value for me.”
While listening and learning were a central focus of the week, the Observatory also had the opportunity to contribute to the conversation.
Thirty-three years after beginning science operations on Maunakea, Keck joined neighboring observatories in presenting at Hawaiʻi’s premier conservation conference—a reflection of the Observatory’s ongoing commitment to strengthening relationships with the communities and places we serve. The moment also reflected a broader shift within astronomy on Maunakea, one that recognizes that caring for place requires more than meeting operational or regulatory responsibilities. It requires relationships, accountability, reciprocity, and an institutional culture that understands stewardship as part of everyday practice.
Community Engagement Manager Kenika Lorenzo-Elarco joined Kara Dumaguin (Canada-France-Hawaiʻi Telescope), and Leinani Lozi (International Gemini Observatory) to deliver a presentation titled Cultivating Institutional Cultures of Mutual Stewardship to a ballroom of more than 150 attendees.
Presented by three Kānaka ʻŌiwi (Native Hawaiians) working within three separate astronomy institutions on Maunakea, the session brought an important perspective to the conference: how those working within Western scientific institutions can help cultivate organizational cultures that are increasingly responsive and accountable to the places and communities of which they are part.
The presentation explored how astronomy institutions on Maunakea are intentionally cultivating organizational cultures rooted in reciprocity, accountability, and care for place. Through examples including community engagement policies, mālama ʻāina initiatives, cultural residency programs, and staff development efforts, the presenters illustrated a central idea: while policies establish expectations, institutional culture shapes how stewardship is practiced every day.
The conference theme ʻImi i ke Ēwe o ka ʻ Āina, also closely reflected the presenters’ own framing of institutional culture. In their presentation, ēwe offered a way of thinking about the relationships that connect values to practice and carry knowledge, expectations, and responsibility forward. Just as stewardship is rooted in relationship with ʻāina, institutional culture shapes what people carry with them long after policies are written. By investing in relationships—with place, with community, and with one another—institutions can become better caretakers of the places they are privileged to serve.
For Community Engagement Manager Kenika Lorenzo-Elarco, standing alongside fellow Kānaka working within astronomy and sharing this work with Hawaiʻi’s conservation community carried a significance and responsibility that extended beyond the ideas themselves to who was sharing them, the space in which they were being shared, and the history carried into that room:
“For me, it was especially meaningful to stand alongside Kara and Leinani as three Kānaka working in these spaces and to be invited into conservation conversations that astronomy has seldom been part of. We stood before a room filled with many Kānaka, including kiaʻi who stood to protect Maunakea in 2015 and 2019. We understood that we were entering that space carrying the weight of a much longer history, including the ʻeha (hurt) our communities have experienced when institutions have not been accountable to people and place. That made the opportunity to be there feel both deeply meaningful and deeply responsible. We did not stand there because we believe our institutions have all the answers or because we feel our work is finished. We were there to share what we are learning, to hold ourselves and our institutions accountable to continued growth, and to listen and learn alongside people who have been caring for Hawaiʻi’s lands, waters, and communities for generations. For me, being welcomed into that space felt like an important step toward strengthening relationships, rebuilding trust, and creating space for healing. If we are privileged to work on Maunakea, then we have a kuleana to continually ask how we can be better caretakers, better partners, and better members of the community we are part of.”
The conference also reinforced that meaningful stewardship is strengthened through collaboration across organizations and disciplines.
“One presentation that really inspired me was the U.S. Navy’s approach to plastic waste management,” James added, referencing Compressed Melt Unit (CMU) Systems which heats and reduces plastics into discs for easy disposal. “It got me thinking about how we manage rubbish on the mauna. It was eye-opening to see how much scientific expertise and resources already exist here in Hawaiʻi that we can collaborate. The conservation community is incredibly strong.”
As the Observatory continues implementing the Keck 2035 Strategic Plan, the Hawaiʻi Conservation Conference served as both an opportunity to share and to listen. Thirty-three years after opening our telescopes to the universe, the conversations throughout the week reaffirmed that stewardship is not a destination, but an ongoing practice of learning, building relationships, and working together. The lessons shared across Hawaiʻi’s conservation community will continue to inform how we care for Maunakea, collaborate with our neighbors, and fulfill our kuleana to the place that makes discovery possible.