It's annual inventory time at Lyon Arboretum's Micropropogation Lab
Among the rare and endangered seeds cataloged here for conservation are those from a pritchardia palm called “aylmer robinsoni” native to Niihau, sent in by island co-owner Keith Robinson.
"He's in a class of his own,” said the lab’s Nellie Sugii. “He's truly shown a lot of dedication in conservation."
In short he's proven to have a green thumb extraordinaire
"He's been able to save quite a bit of different types of rare plants and get them to grow in situations where other people have had a very difficult time of having any success at all," Sugii said.
"Most people don't think of farmers as environmentalists, but they live in the environment,” said island co-owner Bruce Robinson, Keith’s brother. “They're part of the environment. They don't want to destroy the environment because that destroys their livelihood."
Whether on Niihau or on family lands in Kauai, Keith's efforts over the years have shown time and again that as he says adaptability and flexibility can be more effective and efficient than a more bureaucratic approach to conservation.
"We have a far better track record in matters of preservation especially environmental preservation than the state or even the environmentalists,” Keith told KHON2 in a past interview. “We do the work. They talk."
“Past attempts by government or environmentalists to interfere with such things as critical habitat designations have led Keith to abandon plant species he says would have died without protection or under government or outside stewardship. He says private property rights come first.
"If he has success in growing the plants on his property in a certain way, he should be allowed to," Sugii said.
It's an approach and a track record that confounds many others who have tried and failed. And other conservation professionals are taking notice.
"Maybe we need to have new innovative ways of doing it,” said Christopher Dunn of Lyon Arboretum, “bring in partners that we didn't have before and put all the other stuff aside and say, this is what we're focused on. Let's find the best way."
