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Budget Woes Put Rare Waimea Plants In Peril

Waimea Valley is home to thousands of plant species. The Waimea arboretum foundation tries to keep the rare and endangered ones alive. But with little money, the foundation has been forced to lay-off four people this month.

The director of the Waimea Arboretum Botanical gardens says, this is one of the plants the foundation would like to see survive. But the foundation's work is now in jeopardy, after its four remaining workers were laid off.

"We've been waiting and waiting for a keiki to appear. And here, it finally has."

David Orr cares for plants like they're his children. "We're part of a process that is reversing the general trend in the world of things just slipping away."

As head of the Waimea Arboretum Botanical Gardens, he helps rare and endangered plant species survive. What he couldn't save, his job and three others.

"You're here voluntarily. Why do that? Oh, because, I mean, money is the least of the rewards that you get working here. Just the fact, I mean, it's an honor to be with a lot of these plants," says Orr.

The nursery is located at Waimea Falls Park. The Arboretum Foundation wants the city-owned property to do more to support the research. But manager Ray Greene says, the park employs a staff to maintain all 36 gardens, and provides the infrastructure the arboretum needs.

"Currently, we provide for their library, their office trailer, their nursery, their education center. We help them with insurance," says Greene.

Some in the community have criticized park management for what they call environmentally-destructive practices, such as offering visitors, at one time, all-terrain vehicles to ride in.

"We no longer offer all-terrain vehicles. We are trying to offer products that are thematically appropriate to the valley."

Orr simply wants enough funding to continue planting the seeds for the program's future.

"We're doing pioneering propagation work here. We're growing things that used to be abundant in nature. And now, they're not."

Orr says, the work can continue on a budget of about seven-thousand dollars a month. The foundation is now seeking donations from the community.