Kuʻunahenani “Nahe” Keakealani

Returning to her homelands of Puʻuwaʻawaʻa and Puʻuanahulu, Nahe is a fifth generation cowgirl from Napuʻu. Growing up in Waimea and Napuʻu she found her love for the forest at a young age. Getting the opportunity to ride alongside her papa (Sonny Keakealani), she learned the ridges and forests of Hualalai and Kohala and Mauna kea. She is currently a student at Hawaiʻi Community College where she is working toward her degree in Hawaiian Studies. She started by doing Kupu in 2018 where she and a team of HYCC members put in the first fence line for the Pu‘uwa‘awa‘a Community-Based Subsistence Forest Area (P-CBSFA). During the summer of 2021 she became a Lead For Hawaiʻi fellow with the Akaka Foundation for Tropical Forests, and her work has focused on helping Nehu Shaw in the field. Fence work and maintenance, plant prep and Planting also invasive species removal.