The noisy diesel trams that once took hordes of visitors to dive shows at the park's waterfall are gone, he said, and the loudspeakers are silent.

Now the dominant sounds are swaying leaves and bird song.

When the National Audubon Society took over management 14 months ago, work began to preserve native flora and fauna and repair or remove rundown buildings.

Habitat restoration, an ongoing process in the valley, has made a world of difference for an endangered subspecies of moorehen water bird, said Diana King, director of what is now known as the Waimea Valley Audubon Center.

A well-camouflaged baby Shama Thrush flattens itself against decayed leaves at the newly restored Waimea Valley nature center. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

Small black birds with red faces, the Hawaiian subspecies of moorehen are associated in ancient myth with bringing fire to the Islands. There are now only 500 in the state. "And they exist nowhere else on earth," she said. Waimea Valley now has 25 birds.

The valley's plants are doing well, too.

David Orr has been botanical programs coordinator in the valley since 1988. Four years ago, under a previous park manager, he was escorted off the premises after he tried to place signs on the grounds that marked where endangered plants had died.

Things are better now, he said.

A nearly extinct subspecies of Kokia cookei, cultivated in Waimea Valley decades ago from a sole surviving plant on Moloka'i, blooms this month. Botanists from across the Islands have carefully nursed grafts from Waimea Valley plants, and this year a plant grows there from a seed produced on Kaua'i. Because its Moloka'i grandparent was killed in a fire, the Waimea Valley seedling is the only Kokia cookei growing on its own roots.

Another endangered subspecies — Hibiscus brackenridgei molokaianus, trees thought to have been extinct for more than 70 years but recently discovered growing in Makua Valley — are also finding new life in the valley.

"We got eight vegetated duplicates in January," Orr said. "We'll get the other half of the population soon."

Meanwhile, except for a recent controversy involving the use of bows and arrows to thin an overgrown population of peafowl, community and city officials say they are very pleased with the Audubon Society's stewardship of the valley.

"It is great to go out there and see what they've done and how they've maintained it," said Bill Balfour, director of the city's department of parks and recreation.

In just over a year, the former Waimea Falls Park has been transformed from a commercial tourist attraction into an area where plants and wildlife are center-stage and flourishing. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

The case is in mediation, said Gregory J. Swartz, deputy corporation counsel for the city, with no trial date set. Once the condemnation — in the courts two years already — is complete, the Audubon Society will get a 25-year lease, said Malcom Tom, city deputy managing director.

Operating on a shoestring budget and capitalizing on volunteer labor, the Audubon Society and park staff have been busily transforming the place.

Volunteers have put in more than 8,000 hours of work, King said, building trails and helping to maintain endangered plant and animal habitat. "What haven't they done?" she said.

Those who contribute 20 hours of volunteer labor get into the park free for a year.

Orr is proud that other botanists once again see Waimea Valley as a sanctuary for endangered populations.

"Its only because Audubon is here, with its stature and reputation, that people are now trusting us with some really valuable material," he said.