Duane Sparkman, a project manager with the non-profit Treecovery Hawaii, is leading the committee of professionals. “What we’re trying to do right now is corralling the teams. There’s a lot of effort and interest coming from the entire country. We’re trying to bring everyone into one group and figure out what the Lāhainā community envisions for the future of their treescape.”

Duane Sparkman, chair of the Maui County Arborist Committee, co-founded a nonprofit tree-growing and reforestation organization called Treecovery Hawaii that aims to provide every owner of burned property in Lahaina and Kula with fruit trees free of charge when they are ready to rebuild their homes.

Treecovery Hawaiʻi Inc., a new Hawaiʻi-based non-profit, has been working with the Army Corps to help keep surviving trees in the Lahaina and Kula burn zones healthy while also providing soil remediation in the area. In addition to caring for existing trees, the organization is working with 14 partners to plant and oversee the growth of 30,000 new trees over the next several years, at no cost to the community.