Seminar 6, Day 2 - Maui/Lanai

For Day 2 of Seminar 6 we awoke in the pleasant atmosphere of Lanai City.  Elevation 1700ft.  Temperatures mild, Annual rainfall average of 17 inches.  Much of it seems to come from the mist collecting on the trees.



Front (above) and back views of the "Social Hall" where we held our meetings and the class stayed.  During the Pineapple days, Social Hall was the plantation managers house.  Before all the Norfolk/Cook Pines grew up, you could look over pretty much all of Lanai City and the plantation. 

On the first morning in Lanai, we met with the Pulama Lanai managers in the "red couch room" of Social hall.  They shared with us the vision of Mr. Ellison and future plans for making Lanai a successful and sustainable destination.  Ed Jensen, Ed Petteys, and Doug Stephenson gave us some great updates on the conservation and operation plans.  Kepa Maly gave us some great knowledge about the history of Lanai during this meeting and toured with us for the remainder of the afternoon.

A view from the plateau above Lanai City.  We are looking south west over the ancient caldera which is pretty level and at one time was under pineapple cultivation.  The power plant, sewage treatment, airport, grass farm, and single vegetable farm for the island were all viewable from this point.  Pulama is in the process of clearing lantana and other unwanted plants from the plain to promote better grass growth.  They are looking into many farming and grazing opportunities for the old plantation land.

Kepa gave us a great history lesson about both the plantation and the mountains/forest on the plateau over the plantation. 

Pulama also does a lot of work towards conservation.  They are thinning the forests of unwanted species, replacing with native plants, and also spending a considerable amount of energy clearing sites like this old heiau for all to see.

 After a morning of Touring, we settled down for another leadership  session with Peter.  It was titled "Good, Bad, and Ugly Leadership."  We had some great discussions about what effective and inneffective organisations look like, and how we as leaders can help steer the course.  After the leadership training, many of the staff and families of Pulama Lanai came up to Social Hall for a great BBQ and fellowship.  We visited Haleakala Ranch the previous day on Maui and they provided us with a bunch of  Maui venison for our BBQ.  Pulama Lanai also has this "tasty" deer problem and has recently purchased a mobile slaughter house to help market them.....chop.....chop!  Looking forward to another visit to Lanai someday soon.