In Melissa and Clay’s live recorded interview at ʻImiloa Center in Hilo, they talk with Cheyenne Hiapo Perry of the Mauna Kea Watershed Alliance and former state Forestry and Wildlife Administrator Lisa Hadway Spain about their respective leadership experiences in conservation. Each speaks to their early fascination with the marine world, while coming to the professional world of land conservation in very different ways–for Lisa, it was studying entomology at University of Hawai’i (UH) at Mānoa, while for Cheyenne he came to UH Hilo’s Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Studies after a military career abroad. Both Lisa and Cheyenne speak to the managerial challenges of dealing with difficult people, handling politics and marshalling stewardship resources during difficult financial downturns–and ultimately how it takes grit and determination to see things through.

Bill Stormont has worked in Hawaiian land stewardship for more than forty years. Born to a multi-generational Hāmākua family and raised on Hawaiʻi Island, Bill started in high school building trails and fences beginning in 1976 through the Youth Conservation Corps. His career within the Department of Land and Natural Resources has taken him from natural areas preservation, to trails and access, and Mauna Kea stewardship. Bill gets into the controversies around feral pig removal in sensitive ecosystems, as well as managing eucalyptus stands for commercial ventures on Hawaiʻi Island, and why coming into any endeavor with heart first is always an essential approach.

In this interview, Melissa and Clay interview husband and wife team Ed Pettys and Debbie Chang from their home in Paʻauilo mauka on Hawaiʻi Island about their work helping to connect people to Hawaiian landscapes beginning in the late 1960s. They talk about growing up in Hawaiʻi–Ed from Lihue, Kauaʻi and Debbie from Kohala, Hawaiʻi and meeting through their work in the Department of Land and Natural Resources. Debbie helped to spearhead the new Na ʻAla Hele trails and access program in the 1980s while Edʻs work took him across Micronesia–from Pohnpei to Kosrae, and eventually to Kauaʻi as Forestry and Wildlife District manager. Theirs is a collective understanding of the importance of teamwork and leadership especially in the wake of hurricane Iniki.