On any given day, Chuck "Doc" Burrows can be found ankle-deep in muck pulling out trash and invasive species from Kawai Nui Marsh.

If he's not at the marsh, he's at the state Capitol testifying on legislation to protect the 850-acre wetland in Kailua, half of which is a former Hawaiian fishpond. The marsh is home to four endangered waterbirds: the ae'o, 'alae ke'oke'o, 'alae ula and koloa (Hawaiian versions, respectively, of the stilt, coot, moorhen and duck).

Burrows, who has been called Lord of the Marsh, has spent three decades saving the largest remaining wetland in the state.

"You just have to be committed and dedicated to caring for the land," said the 74-year-old Burrows, who lives in Nu'uanu. "I've always had these values and I've encouraged others to use their values and work together."

In 2005, the area was placed on a global list of important wetlands called the Ramsar List.

Burrows founded 'Ahahui Malama I Ka Lokahi and the Kawai Nui Heritage Foundation, which cares for the wetland and its two heiau, Ulupo Heiau and the Na Pohaku O Hauwahine.

Burrows, then a science teacher, started his work in the marsh in 1981 when he would take his Kamehameha Schools students there to teach them about wetlands and ecology.

He was recently named a Living Treasure by the Honpa Hongwanji Mission.

"Chuck walks the walk," said state Rep. Pono Chong, D-49th (Kailua).