Progress is being made in the painstaking work of reviving Kaho'olawe, although with so much hard, barren ground to replant with native species, it might not seem like it at times.

"You go out there with volunteers and you feel good about what you've done, and then you turn around," said Paul Higashino, a restoration ecologist with the Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Commission.

"The destruction happened over a couple hundred years. It's going to take time."

A dedicated crew of Kaho'olawe commission staff and volunteers have been braving searing heat, scouring winds and choking red dust to fulfill the commission's vision of a Kaho'olawe whose slopes and valleys are clothed in native forests and shrublands.

The damage began in the 1800s when Kaho'olawe, the smallest of the eight main Hawaiian Islands, was leased for ranching, allowing sheep, cattle and goats to strip the land of most of its vegetation. The ground was further laid bare when the military claimed Kaho'olawe as a target range during World War II.

The bombing continued for more than 50 years before the ravaged island was transferred to state control in 1994.

The unprecedented $400 million Navy ordnance removal and cleanup project that followed collected more than 10 million pounds of bombs, shells and scrap. When the work ended in 2004, only 77 percent of the island's surface was cleared of ordnance, and of that area, only 9 percent was cleared to a level 4 feet below the ground.

The leftover hazards limit the areas where restoration crews can dig. Plans call for replanting 820 acres of the most severely eroded land on the 28,800-acre island. In riskier areas, seeds are simply scattered on the ground.

Higashino said that in the early days of the project, about 2,000 plants per week were being planted, but with so little water available to nurture the seedlings, their survival rate was only 10 percent.

MORE PLANTS SURVIVING

Today, fewer plants are being planted — about 1,000 per week — but the survival rate has climbed to 80 percent to 90 percent, thanks to new irrigation systems, windbreaks, strategic planting and other methods devised by Higashino and his staff in response to the numerous challenges they have faced while working in the harsh landscape.

A 44,000-square-foot water catchment system was built near the 1,477-foot summit at Lua Makika, the highest point on the island, and new three storage tanks hold a total of 520,000 gallons. Solar- and gas-powered pumps and gravity lines distribute the water to a network of drip-irrigation tubes.

With a staff of only five working on the island four days a week, Higashino said volunteers have become increasingly important to the restoration project. In fiscal year 2007, 750 volunteers planted 250 acres, and, little by little, the island is greening up.

"Where there was nothing, there is something," Higashino said.

Of the 80 native grasses, shrubs and trees initially proposed for planting on Kaho'olawe, only 10 have been found hardy enough to survive and produce seeds, he said. They include kawelu, 'a'ali'i, lama, naio, 'aweoweo, alahe'e and 'ilie'e.

One effective technique developed by Higashino's team is to drop bales of pili grass on the ground to create kipuka — little islands of vegetation that block runoff and spread seeds.

The Kaho'olawe reserve includes a marine component that extends two miles seaward from the coastline. Work there is concentrating on measuring and monitoring the rich variety of marine life, according to Dean Tokishi, one of two ocean resources specialists working for the Kaho'olawe commission.

CLEARER WATERS SEEN

An estimated 1.9 million tons of dirt from runoff is deposited into the ocean around Kaho'olawe annually. Tokishi said there are no scientific data yet confirming the upland plantings have reduced sedimentation, but during monthly aerial surveys, he's observed clearer waters along some coastal sections.

"Before, there was a perpetual ring of red, like the island was bleeding," he said.

With ocean resources elsewhere "crashing," Tokishi said Kaho'olawe is gaining importance as a nursery for 'opihi, bottomfish and other declining species.

This was confirmed by a recent University of Hawai'i study that found the fishing ban in the Kaho'olawe reserve was effective in helping the fish population grow to the point where fish are leaving to feed in surrounding areas.

Tokishi said one of his chief goals is to reduce poaching by educating fishermen to the value of Kaho'olawe's role in restoring fish stocks.

He also wants to pursue additional studies, such as why sea turtles around Kaho'olawe don't suffer the tumors that commonly afflict turtles in other areas of the state, and why there are no invasive seaweeds as there are in nearby Maui waters.

The Kaho'olawe commission also is racing against time to protect the island's trove of cultural and archeological treasures. The Navy cleanup included a six-year, $12 million archaeological study that identified nearly 3,000 features, mostly connected to agriculture, fishing and the quarrying of adze tools.

Because the island was spared modern development, many sites and artifacts have sat untouched over the centuries, safe from human disturbance but exposed to the elements.

One of the Kaho'olawe commission's top priorities in its five-year strategic plan is to develop a culturally appropriate program to access and stabilize cultural, archeological and burial sites.