Merwin Palm Forest Conservancy - Maui

[Dypsisdean]

This was sent to me, and I thought it would interest some of you here. The beginning of the story starts out so (with a link to the web page at the end).....

"When W. S. Merwin, a Pulitzer Prize-winning U.S. Poet Laureate and resident of Maui, Hawaii, came upon a parcel of land in the small valley of Pe’ahi Stream in the late 1970’s, he found an agricultural wasteland with the soil decimated and eroded by a failed pineapple plantation. Merwin set about a nearly 40-year journey to give back to the land, cultivating and creating a lush botanical garden, which today has become a dense forest of palm trees. Hand planting seedling-by-seedling, tree-by-tree, day-by-day along with his wife, Paula, W. S. Merwin restored the natural environment, transforming a once-barren space into one of the largest and most extensive private collections of palm trees in the entire world.

Local land conservationists at the Hawaiian Islands Land Trust, along with non-profit organizations The Merwin Conservancy and Copper Canyon Press, announced today the permanent conservation protection of the Merwin Palm Collection near Haiku, Hawaii. This announcement is the culmination of several years of collaborative work by the Hawaiian Islands Land Trust, The Merwin Conservancy, Copper Canyon Press and Mr. and Mrs. W.S. Merwin, to save and preserve forever what has become one of the great palm collections known to exist anywhere on Earth."

http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=f33f9b3284f5f4ba54388d0c3&id=2a960f5966&e=2abb792f3a

[bgl]

Thanks Dean! That's wonderful news! Would love to see the garden one day!

Bo-Göran

[LJG]

This is stuff the IPS needs to get it on and help raise funds.

[waykoolplantz]

A friend and Merwin fan brought this to my attention a few months ago after a visit to my garden.

This should be on the IPS's radar.

[dmc]

Very cool thanks for sharing

[Central Floridave]

“A lot of people who love palms have that feeling that you’re dealing with our elders—with great, great antiquity—that have been here a long time, and they know more about the Earth, in some ways, than we do.”

APRIL 29, 2015 The Palm Trees and Poetry of W. S. Merwin BY CASEY N. CEP

http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-palm-trees-and-poetry-of-w-s-merwin?intcid=mod-yml